In the latest round of Senior Inter Club fixtures Houghton Sancroft made their first ever club visit to Shildon. After the narrow loss to Gateshead the Sancroft squad bounced back with a 5-0 away win. Dave Yarrow, Michael Galley, Billy Roberts and Richie Mckie were always in control against Phil Rowlands opening up a 15-0 lead which ended up being 23-3. Michael Wright, Gary Loadman, Peter Brickle and Frankie Froud were also in the box seat running out 16-7 winners. The remaining rink of Chris Blake, Ray Potts, Ian Whorlton and David Wright won eleven of the fourteen ends played but ten of them were singles. A dropped five on the eight end saw Wright pegged back to 8-7 and with the scores at 9-9 the Houghton quartet managed to score on the remaining four ends to get home 13-9. Overall it was a good 52-29 win, Sancroft end 2025 with a home game against Durham B.
Latest Table – Gateshead 2-7, Houghton Sancroft 2-7, Durham A 2-6, Houghton Gilpin 1-5, Ferryhill 2-4½, Shildon 3-4½, Durham B 2-1
In Division One the Vipers were looking to make it three out of three however came unstuck away at Darlington A losing 4-1 (43-37).
Latest table – Vipers 3-10, Stanley 2-7, Darlington A 3-7, The Parks 3-7, Hartlepool A 2-6, Great Aycliffe 2-5, Darlington B 2-5, Hartlepool B 3-3
The latest round of Inter County games saw Houghton make the trip up to Stanley, the new format means all four rinks play at the same venue and it turned out to be a good morning for the Houghton lads. Frankie Froud’s rink of Michael Wright, Gary Loadman and Peter Brickle eased to a 27-5 win over M Brooks. Chris Blake, Dave Robson, Michael Galley and Colin Watson withstood a late Stanley charge but a good five on the sixteenth end helped secure a 21-14 win over D Stoker. Ian Armstrong, John Webster, David Armstrong and Richie Mckie collected a seven early doors en-route to a 27-7 win over B Turnbull. The only Houghton loss came from David Wright’s rink of Billy Roberts, Ray Potts and Mal Baker. Despite battling back from 17-10 down to 17-17 they let it slip over the last three ends to finish 22-18 down against Jack Dixon. So overall it was a 8-2 (93-48) Houghton win and it takes them top of the Northern Section. Houghton end the year off with a home clash against The Parks on 21 December
Latest table – Houghton 2-13, Durham 2-6, The Parks 1-5, Stanley 3-4
In the National Singles the Vipers Josh Minto defeated West Denton’s Clive Knott 21-9, the win sets up an all Vipers clash with David Sykes. Another all Vipers clash in the pairs saw Shaun and Ian McIntosh beat Mal Peach and John Leeman 23-8 and will now face club mates David Sykes and Gary Farquhar next. The latter beat Stewart Hubbard and Josh Minto 21-11.
The Houghton trio of Michael Wright, Bryan Sanderson and Frankie Froud suffered a 18-9 loss in the opening round of the triples away to The Parks Jonny Morgan. There was better news for Houghton in the fours as Colin Milburn, Richie Mckie, Patrick & Peter Thomson won a thriller against West Denton’s Matthew Bishop 17-16 on an extra end, Thomson will host the Vipers Paul Timney next.
In the Two Bowl singles the Vipers Richard Hopwood beat Houghton’s Peter Thomson 21-11 and will play club mate Paul Hart next, Hart beat West Denton’s Stephen Bolton also 21-11. Gateshead’s Brian Poulter was beaten at home 21-18 by Stanley’s James McKenna.
Layton Sykes secured an Under 25 area final place with a 8-10, 9-3, 2-1 tie break win over club mate William Gray, Sykes will tackle West Denton’s Luke Jameson for a place at the national finals. However in the Under 18’s there was disappointment for Sykes as he suffered a tie break defeat against Harrogate’s Thomas Bielby.
The Vipers Dave Paterson and Alan Lawton had a cracking 14-13 win at Stanley in the Over 60 Pairs against Bret Arkley, in the next round they will face either Gateshead’s Ronnie Richardson or Stanley’s Jimmy Hutchinson.
Stanley’s James McKenna booked an area final place in the Champion of Champions with a 21-13 win over The Parks Martyn Hayden, the Stanley lad will face Cumbria’s Martyn Rice in the final.
In the Family Pairs the Vipers duo of Karen and Dave Paterson beat Houghton’s Patrick & Peter Thomson 22-13 and will play the Mckenna’s from Stanley. There have been plenty of wins for the Vipers in the Open Pairs – Stewart Hubbard, Ryan Henson, David Sykes, Paul Hartley, Jaxon McKenna and Paul Hartley all progressed to the next round.
The Vipers mixed pairs partnership of Verity Bennett and Paul Hartley came out on top in an all Vipers affair beating Pat Browne and Gary Farquhar 17-6 and will host Gateshead’s Jean Clift in the next round. Another Vipers partnership progressed, Anne Upsall and Jaxon McKenna beat West Denton’s Nick Armstrong 21-8 to set up a trip to Gateshead against Alex Bryden.
It will be an action packed weekend for the South Shields Vipers. On Saturday they return to Denny Cup action in what should be a cracking clash with Hartlepool (10am). The ladies are also in Yetton Plate action as they also take on Hartlepool. The following day the Vipers head over to Carlisle to face Cumbria in the next round of the Top Club.
Singles – C McGready & M Charles, Mixed Pairs – JS Tallack & D Bolt
Mixed Triples = C Williams, D Oram, P Hartley, Mixed Fours – P Browne, A Upsall, G Farquhar, J Minto
There was some sad news for the local bowls scene as it lost one of the games characters. Bernard “Barney” Walsh (92) sadly lost his health battle and passed away. Barney was a much respected bowler and once met never forgotten, a former member of the Coles Cranes works team and more recently South Hylton he will be missed by many.