It has been another busy week for both our local teams. The Vipers booked there place into the next round of the Egham Trophy with a comfortable 105-50 win over the Parks. At Shields both home squads got home, David Bolt steered Jackie Tallack Stewart, Margaret Tindale and Mal Peach to a 42-6 win over Steve Miller, the other rink skipped by Gary Farquhar won 36-14 against D Rootham to give the Vipers a massive 58 shot advantage. Over at North Tyneside Josh Minto beat Chris Yeomans 15-13 while the only loss saw Jaxon McKenna finish 17-12 down against Jonny Morgan. In the next round the Vipers will face either Durham or Hartlepool.
In the EIBA Over 60’s double fours Houghton B over powered Durham B 51-17 with both Houghton squads running out comfortable winners. At Houghton David Wright steered Chris Blake, Bob Johnson and Freddie Fletcher to a 26-8 win over M Hunt. That score was nearly replicated at Durham as Peter Thomson, Brian Race, Ray Robinson and Dave Sim beat D Gall 25-9, in the next round the Houghton lads will face Gateshead B.
It’s a season of one shot thrillers as Houghton’s inter club squad found themselves on the wrong end of a 53-52 score line against Gateshead. At Houghton Dan Todner nearly recovered from 12-6 down against Alan Jobling but had to settle for an 18-15 loss, the other rink skipped by Gary McPheators came out on top in a low scoring 10-9 win over John Garthwaite, which left Gateshead 27-25 up. At Gateshead Jimmy McAdoo’s rink of Colin Brown, Chris Blake and David Armstrong produced a late charge to turn round a 13-11 deficit and get home 16-13 against L Lowden. The other rink skipped by Dale Oram did lead 10-9 against Jacky Taylor with three ends left but succumbed 13-11 in the end to leave Houghton one shot up away but overall it was Gateshead won by one and 6-4 on points.
There was better news for Houghton ladies as they opened up their inter club campaign with a 10-0 whitewash against Durham. At Houghton Joan Rodgerson’s rink of Jean Watt, Margaret Eggleston and Karen Sinclair narrowly got home 14-13 against Arlene Stafford. Val Bamborough’s run of wins continued as she steered Jaclyn Classen, Gloria Armstrong and Ellen Faith to a 18-7 win over Christine Budd. At Durham both Houghton rinks came back victorious, Margaret Godfrey, Evelyn Barkes, Brenda Robson and Joan Baker had a cracking 25-14 win over Ann Stirrat. The whitewash was completed by Maureen Hall, Liz Morris, Florence Pythian and Norma Stephenson who beat Eileen Horran 20-15.
All eyes were focused on the Scotland based West Lothian club as it hosted the Scottish International Open. Prior to the main event there was one qualifying place still up for grabs and again it was heartbreak for the Vipers Paul Hartley. After a cracking win over Scotland’s Darren Weir the Shield’s star held his nerve in a winners takes all group clash against former Commonwealth Games medallist Grant Knox on a one end shot out. In the semi final Hartley’s nerves were tested again against Alan Rough as it went to another one end shot out which Hartley won to set up a final against another Scottish internationalist John McHutchison. In a tight first set the Vipers star missed out 6-4 and then despite playing a cracking bowl on the sixth end to level the set at 6-6 there was more agony on the last end as McHutchison collected the shot and leave Hartley licking his wounds again.
In the main event two local lads had already secured there places, Stanley’s Brett Arkley beat the 13th seed England’s Jamie Chestney 9-4,1-11, 2-0 before narrowly losing to Scotland’s David Gourlay 8-6,7-6. In fact Arkley was the only qualifier to make it past the opening round, the Vipers David Bolt had a tough morning against a rampant Les Gillett losing 11-2,10-1. The title stayed in Scotland as last year’s winner Stewart Anderson beat the current World Indoor Champion Jamie Walker 11-6,8-3.
The final PBA qualifier took place at the West of Scotland club with the remaining place into the world singles at Potters on the line. Three local lads made the trip up but were all unsuccessful, Stanley’s James McKenna beat David Wilson 10-1,10-2 before losing in straight sets to Kenny Bald. Hartlepool’s Neil Reid lost out in his opener 10-1, 5-5 against Colin Cruickshanks. The remaining hope saw the Vipers Paul Hartley ease past Lewis Milligan 9-3,9-0 before once again suffering a heartbreaking 2-1 tie break loss to Andy Furye. The Potters golden ticket ultimately went to Scotland’s Billy Mellors who beat the host clubs Sam O’Donnell on a tie break 2-0, Mellors will face Jason Greenslade at Potters.
It has been a tough few weeks for the local bowls scene as we lost another three well known faces. One of the Hourston Usworth brothers Melvin sadly passed away, the brothers were enthusiastic supporters of game after they stopped playing and were popular visitors to many clubs. Houghton Dairy Lane lost Joe Bradley (81), a good social supporter of the Dairy Lane club and a respected player. The third loss saw Roker Parks Jean Huntingdon (75) leave us, former SWBA President and long time Roker Park member Jean will be fondly remembered by this reporter and many others for the kind welcome you were given plus who can forget those winter soup nights during the eighties when the floodlight triples use to take place. Jean’s funeral will take place on 20th November 11am at Sunderland Crematorium, all three will be missed.
This weekend will see the Vipers face there old foes in Cumbria while Stanley will be need to bring there “A” game to compete against Hartlepool, the winners of both ties will go head to head early December. At the same time Houghton ladies are in Yetton Trophy action as they tackle Cumbria, the winner will face York or Scunthorpe in the next round.