It was all change at the top after yet another very wet weekend in the Manx Petroleum sponsored Outdoor Winter League Bowling Club which had three scores falling just short of the season’s 12^th maximum.

Two of them resulted in new leaders, as Seven-Up took over at the summit of the table on an average of 117.6, which is 0.2 ahead of Mean Machine.

Sevens kicked-off the session with a comfortable success against Bits n Bobs, before overcoming Mooragh Lakers who had started the afternoon in second spot and were in a good run of form.

Lakers themselves had earlier defeated basement side Castletown Cannons who also lost out in their second encounter against Bits n Bobs.

Results for Saturday, January 16: Bits n Bobs 92 (1) Seven-Up 125 (5), Mooragh Lakers 124 (5) Castletown Cannons 81 (1), Seven-Up 125 (5) Mooragh Lakers 104 (1), Castletown Cannons 92 (2) Bits n Bobs 116 (4).

Parkers took an opportunity on Sunday to close the gap on the side directly above them and after scores of 117, against Bowl Rollers, and 121 whilst beating Erin Porters, they are now level with Titans on an average of 110.

The two remaining results saw Porters maintain their position just behind the leading six with a four games to two victory, while Bowl Rollers came within millimetres of recording their first maximum win, both played Castletown Corkers.

In the very last game on the green, Rollers player Sylvia Kennaugh measured for victory, but the decision went in favour of opponent Byron Mercer, who then went on to win the last end and secure his first winter league success and deny Bowl Rollers in the process.

Results for Sunday, January 17: Bowl Rollers 102 (2) Parkers 117 (4), Erin Porters 114 (4) Castletown Corkers 97 (2), Parkers 121 (5) Erin Porters 101 (1), Castletown Corkers 89 (1) Bowl Rollers 125 (5).

I think we can all guess what the conditions were like for the midweek round robin, but nevertheless an entry of 24 was split into two groups of doubles, each winning duo having a member of the Callister family – Rita, being partnered by Alec Taylor and Louis, making a rare outing was supported by Derek Clarke.

Finishing in second were Roy Moore/Sylvia Kennaugh and Shirley Whelan/Mike Ware; whilst third spots went to Mike Skelly/Derek Allen and Doug Allan/Tricia Bull.

The first full weekend of action in 2016 took place in the Manx Petroleum sponsored Outdoor Winter League Bowling Club and saw a first defeat for the merit leader, the season’s 11th maximum score line and three positional changes in the table.

Another very wet morning didn’t help the conditions on Saturday and it was perhaps fitting that Lakers were the team to take advantage, carrying on where they left off before the festive break.

First up they beat Castletown Corkers and notched up 119 points in the process; next they just missed out on a full house with success against Parkers.

There was also a very good win in this session for Bits n Bobs when they dropped just three chalks against Corkers, who as a result saw their average slip.

Parkers won the other outcome from this group, but also saw their average fall and as a consequence of their loss slipped down a position to sixth.

Lakers meanwhile moved in the opposite direction and took over second spot from Seven-Up by the slender margin of 0.01 off a point – which equates to them both now about 13 behind the leaders.

Results for Saturday, January 9: Parkers 120 (5) Bits n Bobs 94 (1), Castletown Corkers 83 (1) Mooragh Lakers 119 (5), Mooragh Lakers 125 (5) Parkers 85 (1), Bits n Bobs 123 (4) Castletown Corkers 95 (2).

There were three different winners on the second day also, with top outfit Mean Machine beginning with a close success over Titans, before racking up the campaign’s eleventh maximum victory when they took on Govags.

It wasn’t all good news for the leaders, however, when Glynn Hargraves, the last undefeated player in the merit table, was beaten 21-17 by Lyn Bolton (Titans).

He still heads the list for the Derek Killey memorial trophy on an average of 20.7, but is now only three points ahead of teammate Alan Moore and a further one behind comes Stefan Kelly, also Mean Machine.

Two more players are averaging 20 plus, in fourth is the leading woman, Jenny Moore (Moorage Lakers), closely followed by Mike Thomas (Parkers).

Making up the top ten are Rob Monk (Lakers), Nigel Thomas (Seven-Up), Adrian Skinner, Steve Parker (both Lakers) and Margy Tasker (Angels).

Back to the action where Govags began the afternoon with only their second win, achieved when they overcame fourth placed Louie’s Angels and as a result of their efforts the westerners moved out of the bottom two.

Titans meanwhile proved they have the capability to upset any side on their day and inflicted a heavy defeat on Angels, who after two defeats slipped further behind the top three and now have a tough ask to bridge that gap.

Results for Sunday, January 10: Mean Machine 111 (3) Titans 100 (3), Louie’s Angels 111 (3) Govags 113 (3), Titans 124 (5) Louie’s Angels 89 (1), Govags 79 (0) Mean Machine 126 (6).

A rare dry afternoon had 34 entrants compete in the midweek round robin with the pairing of Derek Clarke and John Lightfoot topping their group ahead of Bernard Thackrah and Alec Taylor, while in third it was Philippa Taylor and Ken Clarke.

The trio of James Teare, Derek Allen and Doug Allan won the other gang, with second going to Peter Kelly, Rob Cowley and David Clucas, just ahead of Allan Kennaugh, Jean Thackrah and Terry Bates.

Louie’s Angels were the happiest side leaving the green after the weekend in the Manx Petroleum sponsored Outdoor Winter League Bowling Club, whereas Parkers were the happiest team not playing.

Another very wet morning on Saturday made for difficult playing conditions, however three teams did manage to improve their averages, whilst the other participants had a poor afternoon and slipped down two places.

Mooragh Lakers and Titans started the session with comfortable victories over Bits n Bobs and Govags, before they went head to head in a contest that saw Lakers come out on top.

Titans could only reach a total of 79 which saw them drop to seventh in the table, promoting Erin Porters to fifth and Parkers to sixth.

The final tussle of the day went in favour of Bits n Bobs who got the better of their western opponents by just nine points, both improved their averages in the process and moved that little bit further away from the bottom.

It could have been a different outcome for Govags who were a player short and therefore conceded 30 points, as was the case for Titans who will now struggle to get back into the leading group.

Results for Saturday, December 12: Bits n Bobs 88 (2) Titans 109 (4), Mooragh Lakers 116 (4) Govags 88 (2), Titans 79 (1) Mooragh Lakers 122 (5), Govags 102 (3) Bits n Bobs 111 (3).

Whilst 24 hours earlier members were waiting for the rain to stop, on Sunday it was a case of hoping it would stay away, but about an hour into the session, the conditions went from bad to worse as down came the rain to add to the extreme cold.

Things didn’t seem to deter Louie’s Angels however as they went on to record the highest total of the weekend, notching up two scores of 122 – firstly against Erin Porters and then with victory over Bowl Rollers.

Table toppers, Mean Machine, were also in action, but they were not firing on all cylinders, so along with their opponents, Bowl Rollers and Porters, saw their average drop and for Porters it cost them a place in the top six, as they dropped back down below Titans.

The gap on averages between fourth and fifth before the two days, was less than one point, but at the end that margin, now between Angels and Parkers had opened to 5.2; whereas first to fourth has closed from five down to just two, with Mean Machine on 117, Seven-Up 116.4, Lakers 115.2 and Angels 115.

Results for Sunday, December 13: Mean Machine 107 (4) Bowl Rollers 87 (2), Louie’s Angels 122 (5) Erin Porters 98 (1), Erin Porters 105 (3) Mean Machine 114 (3), Bowl Rollers 98 (2) Louie’s Angels 122 (4).

An entry of 23 in the midweek round robin was split into doubles and triples with the duo of Mike Skelly and Derek Clarke winning their gang ahead of Philippa Taylor and Bernard Thackrah; whilst the trio of Ken Karran, Tricia Bull and Terry Bates were successful, beating Bernie McPhee, Sylvia Kennaugh and Doug Allan into second.

Three of the top four sides were in action on Saturday in a set of fixtures postponed a few weeks earlier as the Manx Petroleum sponsored Outdoor Winter League Bowling Club made it to their festive break.

Third placed Mooragh Lakers were the team in form as they notched up two great victories, firstly overcoming fourth placed Louie’s Angels with a 23 point margin and dropping just four themselves in the process.

Table toppers Mean Machine were also in the group and they were not handing out any early Christmas gifts when recording the season’s tenth maximum at Bits n Bobs expense.

As the very windy conditions continued, Bits did fare a little better in their second outing and scored just over 100 points against an Angels side who slip back away from the top three.

The final outcome brought an end to a few unbeaten runs, as Lakers inflicted a first defeat of the campaign on Mean Machine with a two point success, which cements their hold on third spot, just 20 behind the leaders, with Seven-Up sandwiched between them.

This fixture also saw two previously unbeaten players lose their games, which just leaves 2005 and 2013 merit winner, Glynn Hargraves (Mean Machine) as the last one with a 100 per cent record, more on this in next week’s report.

Results for Saturday, December 19: Mean Machine 126 (6) Bits n Bobs 84 (0), Louie’s Angels 99 (2) Mooragh Lakers 122 (4), Bits n Bobs 102 (2) Louie’s Angels 114 (4), Mooragh Lakers 112 (3) Mean Machine 110 (3).

Two round robins were held either side of the league games, on Wednesday, 26 played in groups of doubles with the victors being Philippa Taylor and Bert Quayle, along with Terry Bates and Alec Taylor.

Runners-up being Derek Clarke and Jean Thackrah, also Mike Ware and Steve Moore, while in third spots were Gordon Corrin and Tricia Bull, Rob Cowley and Peter Karran.

The Christmas tombola round robin session on Sunday saw Steve Moore and Ken Karran win one section just ahead of Alec Taylor and Ken Clarke, while in the black jack gang it was Steve Parker and Derek Allen who came out on top, just pipping Terry Moore and Peter Karran.

Things didn’t go quite to plan over the opening weekend of the new year in the Manx Petroleum sponsored Outdoor Winter League Bowling Club with a set of fixtures postponed in December put on hold once again.

Everyone arrived on Sunday to a waterlogged green, a sight not evident too often this term thankfully, despite the continuing wet conditions, mainly thanks to the great work being done by the Corporation staff.

The revised date for these games will be Saturday, January 30, which leaves just one free afternoon before the scheduled completion of fixtures.

The non-league sessions did however go ahead over the festive period, four round robins to catch up now, starting with a midweek one held just before Christmas.

None of them had large entries, probably due to lots of other things taking place, however seven triples fought a contest eventually won by Alec Taylor, Ken Clarke and Peter Kelly; second going to Doug Allan, Lil Smith and Mike Skelly. In third spot were Steve Parker, Glen Boland and Philippa Taylor.

A small entry of 18 took part in the round robin held on Sunday, December27 with the leading trio of Gordon Corrin, Thomas Keggen and Jenny Moore winning a roll-up to beat Allan Kennaugh, Steve Crampton and Bob Berry into second; third spot went to Steve Parker, Derek Allen and Ken Karran.

In the Festive midweek outing just nine battled against their opponents and gale force winds, with the victors being Doug Allan, Derek Allen and Steve Parker.

To kick-off 2016 it was a session of doubles with the winners being Steve Parker and Steve Moore, along with Philippa Taylor and Derek Allen. Just falling short were James Teare and Lil Smith, and Shirley Whelan paired with Dave Faragher.

There seems to be a familiar pattern developing as the weather made things difficult once again in the Manx Petroleum sponsored Outdoor Winter League Bowling Club.

Three postponements, three Saturdays, all involving two sides, Bits n Bobs and Mooragh Lakers, who now have a bit of catching up and as they are already involved in a re-arranged set of fixtures on Saturday, December 19, the latest group of games will be played in the New Year, on Sunday, January 3.

Just like most other events the decision to call off Saturday’s games was fairly easy, but what a difference a day makes, as the following afternoon’s results went pretty much as expected and included the season’s ninth maximum in almost perfect conditions.

The session involved just three teams and it was Louie’s Angels who came out on top in the opening encounter, after a share of the games against Parkers, as they enjoyed a 20 point winning margin.

Angels kept their momentum going in the next fixture, when they did enough against Castletown Corkers to move up one place in the table and missed out on the season’s ninth maximum by just three points.

That milestone just missed by Angels, was reached in the final six games of the session, as Parkers brushed aside a Corkers outfit who find themselves in the bottom three, just above Govags and stablemates Cannons.

Results for Sunday, December 6: Parkers 95 (3) Angels 115 (3), Angels 123 (5) Corkers 90 (1), Corkers 80 (0) Parkers 126 (6).

The wet weather cleared in time for 24 entrants to compete in one gang of triples in the midweek round robin, from which Bernie McPhee, Doug Allan and Ken Karran emerged as victors.

Second position had to be settled by a roll-up, with Jeff Wilson, Ken Clarke and Terry Bates just pipping Derek Clarke, Derek Cadamy and Mike Skelly.

Subject to things going as planned this weekend, the schedule for the remainder of the month and over the festive period is: Saturday, December 19, fixtures from November 22; the following afternoon, Christmas Tombola and round robin.

Sunday, December 27, round robin; Saturday, January 2, round robin; Sunday, January 3, fixtures from December 5. The Wednesday round robin sessions will be held as normal.

The weather played havoc with the schedule once more over the weekend in the Manx Petroleum sponsored Outdoor Winter League Bowling Club with Saturday’s fixtures falling foul of the wet conditions.

Things had dried up a little by Sunday afternoon and in a very windy session three of the participating teams managed to improve their averages, one of them recording the season’s eighth maximum scoreline.

Second placed Seven-Up kicked-off taking on a Parkers side who have been improving after a slow start, both of them finishing with fairly low totals, but an eight point margin win to the Sevens.

The two Castletown outfits were also in action and it was Cannons who notched up their second win of the campaign – both of which have come against opponents Corkers.

The session unfortunately didn’t get any better for Corkers as they struggled to just 76 points against Seven-Up who racked up a full house and got their chase for the top back on track.

Parkers also completed their afternoon on a high and with a good total, as they dropped only four points with victory over Cannons, who remain at the foot of the table.

Results for Sunday, November 29: Parkers 101 (2) Seven-Up 109 (4), Corkers 92 (2) Cannons 108 (4), Seven-Up 126 (6) Corkers 76 (0), Cannons 90 (1) Parkers 122 (5).

The games which were postponed will now be played on Saturday, December 19, the day before the Christmas tombola draw, numbers for which are now on sale during club events.

A small but hardy gang of 18 signed in for the midweek round robin, from which Doug Allan, Pauline Worrall and Tricia Bull emerged as victors ahead of Roma Ware, Derek Allen and Bernie McPhee and the trio of Derek Cadamy, Bob Berry and Erwin Gelling.

Two teams participated on both days over the weekend as the Manx Petroleum sponsored Outdoor Winter League Bowling Club played catch up with a set of fixtures held over from a couple of weeks earlier.

They both also improved their advantages in the process, beginning with two wins apiece on Saturday, when Parkers and Castletown Corkers beat Titans, a side above them in the table.

It was a good session all round for the southern outfit as they recorded their first victory of the campaign when they took on an under strength Govags.

This was followed by a nail biting two point margin win against Titans, to make it a double success. Both teams dropped a total of just 12 points between them as they shared the games three-all.

Meanwhile, Parkers had earlier recorded a narrow victory over their fourth placed opposition, the gap on this occasion being three points; before they completed the first of their two days with a comfortable win against Govags.

Titans may have lost both fixtures but they came away with just one point less from the afternoon than their opponents and hold onto their position in the standings.

Results for Saturday, November 21: Titans 107 (2) Parkers 110 (4), Govags 78 (2) Castletown Corkers 106 (4), Parkers 117 (5) Govags 96 (1), Corkers 121 (3) Titans 119 (3).

Having had a pretty good Saturday, Parkers started the second session where they left off almost 24 hours earlier and repeated their 117 points tally when they took on Bits n Bobs.

Corkers meanwhile had their mini winning run brought to an end as they fell just short of the 100 point mark when defeated by Mooragh Lakers, who themselves scored just below their average.

The two victors then fought out a share of the six games in an outcome that saw Parkers lose for the first time over the weekend, whilst opponents Lakers did just enough to maintain their third place in the league table.

In the final result Bits n Bobs notched up their second victory of the season and brought to a conclusion what began as a promising two days for Corkers.

Results for Sunday, November 22: Bits n Bobs 79 (1) Parkers 117 (5), Mooragh Lakers 109 (4) Corkers 99 (2), Parkers 100 (3) Lakers 115 (3), Corkers 96 (2) Bits n Bobs 117 (4).

The wet weather abated long enough for a small gang of 20 to take part in the midweek round robin, with Terry Bates and Bernie Thackrah winning one group and the pairing of Bernie McPhee and Tricia Bull the other.

Runners-up spots went to Doug Allan and Hazel Hughes, along with Derek Clarke and Lynda Wilson.

Mean Machine extended their advantage at the top of the table in the Manx Petroleum sponsored Outdoor Winter League Bowling Club over a weekend which saw both days go ahead, albeit in far from perfect conditions.

Saturday’s participants got a real soaking for their efforts with two from the leading six maintaining their positions behind the front-runners at the end of a very wet afternoon.

Highest scorers from the opening fixtures were sixth placed Erin Porters, who dropped just five points against Govags; this while Titans, who were one place ahead, also lost just one game when they took on Bowl Rollers.

Porters and Titans then went head to head in a clash, which ended three-all on games and with a slender five points winning margin for the latter, which proved crucial 24 hours later.

The final encounter saw the Rollers cope with the conditions better than opponents Govags, who were unfortunately not helped by being a player short.

Results for Saturday, November 14: Titans 119 (5) Bowl Rollers 91 (1), Govags 84 (1) Erin Porters 121 (5), Porters 98 (3) Titans 103 (3), Rollers 114 (5) Govags 89 (1).

The weather didn’t look very promising for Sunday’s session, but to be honest it couldn’t have been much worse than 24 hours earlier and went ahead in dry and breezy conditions.

The top two sides kicked off proceedings and the clash ended with an 11-point advantage to Mean Machine who inflicted a first defeat of the campaign on Seven-Up.

Third placed Louie’s Angels were also competing, and they began with a comfortable five games to one victory over Castletown Cannons to maintain the pressure on the two above them.

The question was, how would Seven-Up recover from that defeat, well very well was the simple answer as they brushed aside the Angels, leaving them trailing with a total of just 79 and as a consequence they slipped down two places to fifth behind Mooragh Lakers and Titans.

Mean Machine meanwhile lived up to their name and notched up the season’s seventh maximum; this against a Cannons outfit who struggled with the difficult conditions.

Results for Sunday, November 15: Seven-Up 106 (2) Mean Machine 117 (4), Castletown Cannons 71 (1) Louie’s Angels 119 (5), Angels 79 (1) Seven-Up 115 (5), Mean Machine 126 (6) Cannons 59 (0).

This Sunday will feature a set of matches postponed from November 8, involving Castletown Corkers, Parkers, Bits n Bobs and Mooragh Lakers, so unfortunately there will be no round robin, as was the case last Wednesday due to rain.

Leaders Seven-Up won the big clash on the one day of play that was possible over the weekend in the Manx Petroleum sponsored Outdoor Winter League Bowling Club with the weather putting paid to Sunday’s programme.

Things didn’t look too promising on Saturday morning either, but the schedule went ahead, with the opener pitching together Seven-Up and Titans, a fixture which had the makings of a tough battle and proved so as they ended all-square on games, but with a vital six-point advantage for the table toppers.

However, southern outfit Castletown Cannons didn’t have a good session, firstly they lost out to Govags with 87 on the card, before Titans romped to a maximum against them and they recorded a total of only 70 points in the process.

Govags meanwhile did put up a spirited performance against Seven-Up in their second outing, taking two games from their opponents and leaving for home with an average of 102 for the afternoon.

Seven-Up slipped down the standings after these two scores and now have an average of 117.63 and sit behind Mean Machine by 0.04 of a point, next come Louie’s Angels in third. All very close ahead of a weekend, which sees Sevens take on those two teams directly above and below them in the table.

Results for Saturday, November 7: Seven-Up 113 (3) Titans 107 (3), Castletown Cannons 87 (2) Govags 108 (4), Titans 126 (6) Cannons 70 (0), Govags 96 (2) Seven-Up 120 (4).

The midweek round robin gang were split into two sets of triples with the winners being Derek Cadamy, Roy Moore and Alec Taylor; along with Derek Kneen, Margaret Tasker and Erwin Gelling.

Second places in the two groups went to Ken Karran, Jeff Wilson and Pauline Worrall after a roll-up in the yellow jacks, while the trio of Bob Berry, Jean Thackrah and Mike Skelly missed out in the blacks.