published 4/2/25
There was disappointment for the Vipers Over 60’s double fours squad as there run in the national double fours came to an end with a 37-28 loss at the hands of Hartlepool A. At Shield’s Hartlepool skip Steve Slaughter played some big bowls in the first half of the game to repel the Shield’s quartet of Michael Byrne, Fred Knubley, Alan Lawton and Dave Paterson. The latter battled back from 16-11 down to finish 17-17. Down the A19 Joe Sutherland, Mal Peach, Billy Ferry and Dale Oram led John Ainger 6-4 but then saw things slip away ultimately finishing 20-11 down to seal the Vipers fate. In the quarter finals Hartlepool will face Nottingham A.
The latter stages of the Champion of Champions took place at the Poole based Dolphin club. The regions hopes were carried by the Vipers Chris McGready, it looked a tough draw against Norfolk’s Wayne Willgress and so it proved as McGready lost 21-11. The title went to Torquay’s England star Sam Tolchard, the win brings one of the few titles the Torquay star had yet to secure. The women’s title went to St Neot’s Rebecca Moorbey, Great Aycliffe’s Susan Young was beaten in the last eight.
The Under 25 singles title went to St Andrews Sam Stocker while the host clubs Millie Tuck took the women’s title.
It has been another fruit full week in the local section of the national competitions for the South Shields Vipers as the area finals start to take shape. In the four bowl singles Paul Hartley fresh from his exploits at Potters has had a tremendous few days and is still running in five events. In the singles he survived a last bowl scare against Cumbria’s Stu Irwin in the area semi final played at Gateshead. Leading 20-17 Hartley was game down with one bowl left however a pin point draw averted disaster finishing up 21-17. In the area final Hartley will face Stanley youngster Ryan Henson who had a cracking 21-15 win over West Denton’s Clive Knott. The area final takes place at Great Aycliffe on Thursday 6.30pm.
In the triples Hartley teamed up with Gary Farquhar and David Bolt in an all Vipers semi final against Josh Halcrow, John Leeman and James Sneller, in a high quality game the Bolt trio came out on top 16-9. In the area final Cumbria’s Paul Wallace, Alan Glendinning and Stu Irwin will provide the opposition.
The successful trio were then joined by Mal Peach in the area semi final of the fours as they made the trip to Stanley to face Ryan Henson. The Shield’s lads raced into a 15-0 lead and never looked back finishing 21-6 winners. The area final will be an all Vipers affair against Josh Halcrow, Stewart Hubbard, Chris McGready and James Sneller.
Hartley’s fourth success came in the Two Bowl singles, a 21-8 win over club mate Paul Hart sets up an area final against either Gateshead’s Alex Bryden or Cumbria’s Stu Irwin.
Hartley’s run of wins continued this time in the Open Pairs, leading in for David Bolt they had to work hard for a 2-1 tie break win over Eden’s Anthony Booth Young at Darlington. In the area final Durham’s Nigel Sparks will look to end Hartley’s great run.
In the pairs the Vipers David Sykes and Gary Farquhar ended Houghton’s Gary McPheators run 17-13, the Shields duo will now face Cumbria’s John Baird in the area final.
More good news for the Vipers club as Jackie Stewart Tallack and David Bolt qualified for the latter stages of the mixed pairs. In the area final at West Denton they beat Cumbria’s Stu Irwin 17-15. The final stages take place at Bristol in two weeks where they will face Spalding’s Dominic McVittie in the last sixteen.
It has been a busy week for the Houghton Inter club squad as they played back to back games. A straight forward 10-0 win over Gateshead was followed by a narrow 6-4 loss at the hands of Stanley. The Gateshead win saw all four Houghton rinks return winning cards, at home David Wright won 26-11 and Richie Mckie won 24-10, meanwhile at Gateshead Frankie Froud won 21-18 and to complete the clean sweep Jimmy McAdoo got home 19-12 to seal a 90-51 win.
Against Stanley it wasn’t so straight forward, both home squads toiled away and only managed one shot wins, Richie Mckie led 10-1 but had to settle for a 14-13 win and David Wright led 7-1 but also had to settle for a narrow 13-12 win. The only positive was the home points were secured albeit 27-25. At Stanley Jimmy McAdoo narrowly missed out on a point losing 16-15 while Colin Watson went down 15-11 leaving Stanley 31-26 up and securing the overall 56-53. Houghton remain top of the group following Durham’s 6-4 loss to the Parks, Houghton have a bye next and will know what they need to do when they take on the Parks in March.
In the latest round of Senior Inter club fixtures it was a mixed bag for the three Houghton squads. In group two Houghton Gilpin finally broke their duck with a home win over Ferryhill. Paul Bambrough, Phil Saunders, R Stewart and Bob Johnson led the way with a match winning 21-5 win. It could have been even better for Gilpin but David Robson dropped a last end six to lose 15-14 and K Barnes led 9-7 only to drop ten shots over the last four ends to finish 17-10 down. Overall it was a 3-2 (45-37) win for the Gilpin lads who end their campaign away at Hartlepool A.
In group three the Sancroft lads kept their slim play off hopes alive with a comprehensive win over Gateshead. All three rinks won in a 5-0 (73-19) win, David Wright stormed to a 36-2 win, Ian Whorlton 21-6 and Frankie Froud 16-11. In group 4 Kepier had a tough trip to leaders Hartlepool B losing 5-0 (61-24)