Chris Dobson and Sue Holdsworth secure victory in Terry Summersgill Drawn Pairs at Bridlington Bay

This competition was established in memory of Terry Summersgill a stalwart of Borough Bowling Club to give bowlers who were not selected for the Yorkshire Men’s Inter-District Competition, at least in part to encourage less experienced to enter competitions.

With 18 pairs entered four pairs had to play a preliminary round. Tim Purcell (Whitby) & Dave Hensby (Bridlington Bay) saw off a North Cliff pairing of Judith Andrews & Pam Moment 21-13 while a quirk of the draw had paired husband and wife Ray and Jo Leeman (both Whitby) who just went down 21-20 to one of last year’s winners Brian Whitehouse (Dukes Park) & Roger Lambert (Bridlington Bay).

In the first round Malcolm Gilbert (Huddersfield) & Alan Lee (North Cliff) beat Ronnie Noble (Borough) & Linda Armstrong (Castleford) 21-15 while Tony Bland (Borough) & Denise Dobson (Dukes Park) had a close 21-18 win over Larry Dixon (Westgate) & Nadine Smyth (Dukes Park).

Chris Dobson (Dukes Park), the other joint holder of the cup, this time paired with Sue Holdsworth (Hunmanby) went through 21-13 against Denis O’Neill (Dukes Park) & David Muir (Eastfield) while Whitehouse & Lambert beat Purcell & Hensby 21-17.

In the first quarter-final Gilbert & Lee beat Bland & Dobson 21-6 while Dobson & Holdsworth had another 21-13 win, this time against Gary Thornton (Borough) & Robert Child (North Cliff).

In the bottom half of the draw Ed McCormack (North Cliff) & Malcolm Griffiths (Bridlington Bay) had a close 21-19 win against Pauline Allison (Borough) & Billy Holdsworth (Hunmanby) while Jackie Turner (Bridlington Bay) & Ian Hadden (Whitby) ended Whitehouse & Lambert’s interest with a 21-12 win.

Unfortunately the semi-finals and the final were all rather one-sided.

Dobson & Holdsworth had a 21-11 win against Gilbert & Lee while Turner & Hadden beat Mc\Cormack & Griffiths 21-13.

In the final it was all square at 4-4 after four ends but Dobson & Holdsworth took the next four ends to lead 10-4.

Turner & Hadden did win the odd end after that but Dobson & Holdsworth kept scoring to win 21-9.

Whitby BC hosted an Over-60s Singles Merit on a breezy but often sunny Friday

The entry of 35 was respectable but meant that some bowlers missed out on bowling on a green that was in very good condition but also challenging.

Early games were played off scratch but after the first round proper there was three on the card.

Six bowlers had to play in a preliminary round which did not produce any real surprises although Robert Child (North Cliff) was run close by home bowler Trevor Smith, Child winning 21-17.

The first round did produce some surprises and near-surprises though.

One notable win was Larry Dixon (Westgate) who won 21-20 against home bowler Ray Leeman. Dave Moment (North Cliff) beat his clubmate Child by the same margin.

The other outstanding game saw Phil Todd (Hunmanby) scrape home 21-19 against David Muir (Eastfield) having been down for most of the game.

In the second round Alan Boland (Whitby) had a good 21-14 win over Pam Watson (Hunmanby) while Sue Green (Whitby went down 21-12 to Nigel Trotter (North Cliff).

This was also the score when Barrie Watson (Borough) beat Hunmanby’s Geoff Oldham while Billy Holdsworth (Hunmanby) completed the top half of the draw with a 21-13 win over North Cliff’s Ian Richardson.

In an all-Whitby clash in the bottom half, Geoff Watson beat Geoff Coleman 21-8 while Todd cruised through 21-5 against Dixon. Tim Purcell (Whitby) went through 21-14 against Ronnie Noble (Borough) while Moment won 21-13 against Peter Fewster (Robin Hoods Bay).

In the first quarter-final Trotter demolished Boland 21-8 while Holdsworth had a 21-20 win over Barrie Watson.

In the other half of the draw Geoff Watson ended Todd’s run 21-11 while Moment beat Purcell 21-15.

The semi-finals were both very close affairs with the score in each 21-20. In the first Trotter beat Holdsworth and in the second Geoff Watson beat Moment.

The final was no less tense, the second close contest in less than a week following Paul Morgan’s William Boyes Cup win against Trotter.

Watson won the first four ends to lead 10-3 before Trotter pulled back to 8-10 after seven ends.

Watson then won two ends only for trotter to win the next four to level the scores at 13-13 after 13 ends.

After this it was “nip and tuck” with the scores 15-15 after 16 ends. Trotter then eased to 19-16 after 19 ends only for Watson to come back to 19-18 before Trotter went to 20-18.

Watson then scored two singles to level the scores and create an effective shootout. On the 24th end Trotter scored the single that he needed to win a great final.

In the Inter-District at Cleckheaton the East Coast team got off to very good start winning 9 of the 10 games against Airedale & Wharfedale for an aggregate of 199-151.

The winners were Kevin Gates (Dukes Park) 21-18, Geoff Oldham (Hunmanby) 21-17, Paul Morgan (Whitby) 21-14, Josh Emmerson (Whitby) 21-13, Dave Pryce (Borough) 21-12, Danny Cooper (North Cliff) 21-17, Nigel Trotter (North Cliff) 21-11 Geoff Watson (Whitby) 21-19 and Kenny Wale (Whitby) 21-9).

The only loser was Alan Landers (North Cliff) 10-21.

The second match against Castleford was a different matter though with only three winners, Gates 21-15, Cooper 21-12 and Trotter 21-5.

The losers were Barrie Watson (Borough) 16-21, Emmerson 15-21, Morgan 5-21, Matthew Bell (Borough) 9-21, Pryce 15-21, Watson 17-21 and Wale 18-21 for an aggregate of 179-158 to Castleford.

As Castleford had already beaten Airedale & Wharfedale they went through to the semi-finals to face West Riding.

It is obviously disappointing that our team lost but it must be remembered that East Coast is the smallest District in Yorkshire with nine clubs with Airedale & Wharfedale next smallest with 12.

Castleford have 22 member clubs and were able to put out a strong team on Sunday.