The Northern Counties championships were held at Appleby at the weekend however there were slim pickings for the Durham hopefuls. With no Durham entry in the singles it was down to the pairs, Blackhall’s Danny Ray (sub for Mark Hodgson) and Paul Hartley won their morning semi final against Northumberland’s Luke Jameson 21-9. Sadly the Durham pair narrowly missed out in the final losing 12-8 to Cumbria’s Stu Irwin.
In the triples the Darlington RA trio of Keith Burton (sub for Colin Boston) Lee Shepherd and Andrew Kirtland navigated the morning semi final beating Yorkshire’s Pete Lund 15-10. In the final against Cumbria’s David Forster a penultimate end dropped four sealed Kirtland’s fate 20-17.
The Silksworth Pumas quartet of Layton Sykes, David Sykes, Paul Baker and Josh Halcrow were never in there semi final against Yorkshire’s Gary Lewington and eventually succumbed 15-3. Ra’s Alex Wood also lost in the Uner 24’s singles final 21-6 to Yorkshire’s Marcus Mosley. In the Two Bowl singles Silksworth Pumas Neal Ridley lost his opener against Lancashire’s Anthony Booth Young 17-7.
The Durham U24 squad of Owain Moss Watkins, Sophie Wood, John Lyons, Layton Sykes and Alex Wood finished runners up in the Mixed Rink round robin.
With Leamington and the National Championships under a week away their was good news for the area in the Bowls England (BE) Mixed Pairs as the Silksworth Pumas pairing of Sophie Wood and David Bolt secured a spot in the last eight in August with a 22-16 last sixteen win at Dunnington against Anthony Booth Young.
There was not so good news in the BE Double Fours as former national champions Silksworth Pumas lost 32-17 against Gosforth. In the BE Top club Darlington RA’s hopes came to an end as they were beaten 4-1 by Gosfoth.
At the Glasgow Commonwealth Games Team England carried off 3 gold’s, 2 silvers and 1 bronze. England took both the men’s and ladies singles. Sam Tolchard took the men’s singles title and Katherine Rednall took the ladies. Amy Pharoah and Sian Honor landed gold in the women’s pairs while Nicky Brett & Jamie Walker had to settle for silver in the men’s pairs. Joe Peplow and Kieran Rollins beat Scotland to secure the bronze medal in the men’s Para Pairs. The sixth medal came in the Para Mixed Pairs for Ron Homer & Sally Ann Lewis-Wall.
This year’s Earl Cup title looks like it could go the distance, with four weeks left there is only a single point covering the top two. Leaders Barnes Park suffered a 5-1 loss at Pemberton while Dairy Lane beat Roker Marine 5½-½, the top two clash at Dairy Lane on Monday. Holders Silksworth Pumas have an outside chance of spoiling the party, a 5-1 win at North Biddick drags them to within 10 points of the leaders and a game in hand plus they host Dairy Lane in a fortnight. Sunderland’s stay in Division 1 came to an end as a ninth straight loss this time 6-0 at home to Dairy Lane B sealed relegation. North Biddick’s fate also looks sealed as they are twenty points adrift of the pack.
Division 2 leaders Hetton Workmen won 6-0 at South Hylton and could be promoted on Monday, the form team however Usworth made it ten wins on the trot with a local derby 5½-½ win against Washington.
Houghton Dairy Lane are the Swan Cup champions, a 6-0 win at the Pumas sealed the deal, North Biddicks 6-0 loss at Barnes Park confirmed there relegation. The other spot is one from three as a single point covers Hylton Colliery, Roker Marine and Seaham Town.
Division 2 leaders Simonside beat Thompson Park 4-2 and have a 12 point lead over Hetton Workmen, Usworth’s promotion hopes took a hit as they lost 5½-½ at Whitburn.
There is a thrilling climax in prospect to the Harold Howey title race, in the battle of the top two New Herrington B beat holders Barnes Park 3-1 to go top and lead North Biddick A by just half a point, Biddick won 4-0 at Seaham Town. Holders Barnes need results to go their way while Hetton Workmen are three points behind the leaders and have a game in hand. Hetton beat Whitburn B 4-0, the two relegation spots have been confirmed as Hylton Colliery A and New Herrington A drop down to Division 2.
With three rounds of games left in Division 2 only 2½ points cover the top four, the top four all won 4-0. Leaders Usworth beat South Hylton, Pemberton B rich vein of form stretched to six after beating Ryhope, Thompson Park beat Hylton Colliery B and the Pumas returned to winning ways against Washington A.
The Storey Bowl leaders Seaham Town beat Jarrow West End 6-1 and will retain the title if they beat nearest challengers Thompson Park on Saturday.
The men’s Senior Champion of Champions final saw Hetton Workmen’s beat Barnes Park’s Bryan Sanderson 21-12 at Pemberton, this was the Hetton lads second senior success adding to his 2019 win and also joins the elite club of winning both champion of champions titles.
The new Grindon League champions are Pemberton, a 4-1 win over New Herrington was enough to see them over the line for the first time. The Tommy Thompson double fours final saw Usworth defeat Hylton Colliery Welfare 41-33.
The Washington Glebe club are celebrating their 70th Anniversary this weekend, on Saturday they are making the day about the public. Music, refreshments with fun and games on the green for adults and kids to take part in. As a nod to the clubs links to Glebe pit they have commissioned a pit tub to be built by Bowes Museum as homage to the miners who lost their lives in the Glebe pit disaster; this will be unveiled at 2pm on Saturday along with an exhibition of memorabilia. On Sunday they end the weekend with a game against Usworth and North Biddick.