Bowls Cancelled by Summer and Winter in the Same Week

Thursday Carliol League

With no Ladies League game due to the rather unusual hot weather, attention turned to Thursday night. The B Team had a vacant date, so it was left to the A Team to make the trip to West End.

With an influx of new members from the Magpie and a new-ish green to deal with, Courtfield were not taking anything for granted against the underdogs.

Lawrence, Tayler — lovebites attached — and Kev found themselves behind early on. At 3-3 after five ends, it looked like it could be a tight one. However, winning nine of the remaining ends soon made the scoreline look a lot more comfortable, with Courtfield running out 20-5 winners.

John, Paul C and Carsy had no such issues. They flew out of the blocks and were already 15 shots up after just five ends. From there, they never looked back and finished with an excellent 29-7 win.

Mr Chris, Jaffa and Hong Kong had a rather less ideal start, dropping a five on the first end. Hong Kong calmly pointed out that if you are going to lose a five, you might as well lose it on the first end. Thankfully, the rink took his advice in the right spirit and battled back well. A four on the 12th end put them 14-10 up, completing a great turnaround in what remained a tight game, eventually finishing 17-15 to Courtfield.

Ste G, celebrating his birthday, was joined by Dai and Lee, and the birthday boy marked the occasion with a marvellous performance. They were in control throughout and sealed another strong win, finishing 23-10.

Overall, it was an excellent night for the A Team, who handled the conditions, the green and the opposition well to come away with a very convincing result.

Elsewhere in the Thursday Carliol League, Brampton beat Subscription B 10-0, winning 72-39 on shots, while Subscription A also had a full 10-0 win over Wetheral, finishing 76-35.

At Dalston, the home side edged Stanwix 7-3, with only four shots between them at 57-53, although the bowls almost became the second-biggest contest of the night.

In one of the stranger moments seen on a green, a Stanwix player briefly went missing before returning with a Pot Noodle. Most clubs have a no-smoking rule on the green, but Dalston may now have to consider adding hot snacks to the list as well.

What started as a quick noodle break apparently came close to turning into handbags, which is not a sentence you expect to write in a bowls report. Nobody is quite sure whether it was tactical refuelling, a protest, or just a man badly mistiming his supper, but it certainly gave everyone more to talk about than the score.

A close game, a 7-3 home win, and quite possibly the first Carliol League match where the biggest danger was not the draw shot — it was the beef and tomato.

Current League Table

Friday Afternoon — Carliol League Over 55s

Courtfield continued their good start to the season with an excellent performance away at Wetheral, coming away with a brilliant 10-0 victory and an 89-40 shots win.

Tony Raffles, George Pape and John McLaren were once again the top scorers, losing only two ends on their way to a commanding 31-5 win.

George Gray made his first appearance of the season alongside Chris Slack and David Davidson, and it proved to be a winning one. Their rink came away with a strong 24-11 victory, which included an impressive eight along the way.

Steve Boyd, Mr Chris and Alan Dawes also enjoyed a comfortable afternoon, recording a steady 16-9 win.

The closest rink of the day came from Ian Blenkinsop, Alan Dobson and Mike Dewhurst. After leading 15-4, they somehow found themselves pegged back to 15-15 with two ends to play. Thankfully, they steadied themselves when it mattered, scoring three over the final two ends to sneak an 18-15 win.

Elsewhere in the Friday Afternoon Carliol League Over 55s, Brampton had a good 6-4 win away at Subscription A, while Subscription B edged a tight 5-5 draw on points with West End, winning 59-49 on shots. Dalston and Stanwix also shared the points 5-5, with Dalston ahead 62-35 on shots.

A final note for the players: despite having five reserves listed, none attended. Thankfully, Jean Boyd made herself available, which was much appreciated.

Courtfield Go Top

County Games

Thursday evening saw Jean, Aileen W and Evelyn host Susan Devlin, Dorothy Boyle and Cath Robson in the County Triples.

The Courtfield ladies got off to a flying start against a much more experienced triple, racing into a 6-0 lead after just three ends. At 7-4 after eight ends, it was as close as the West End trio would get, as Jean, Aileen and Evelyn pushed on well to run out excellent 15-8 winners.

On Friday afternoon in the mixed pairs, Paul and Julie Campbell beat Alan Banks 19-12 to set up a tie with Peter Metcalfe.

Saturday saw Kev and Tayler take on Jeff and Harry Creighton in the gents pairs. After finding themselves 9-3 down after only three ends, the Courtfield pair forced their way back into the game in style, eventually running out 25-11 winners. An immediate walkover against S Byers then put them into round three, where they will face David Forster.

In the Senior Fours, last year’s winners — the Fab Four of Carsy, John B and Captain Chaos, minus Annan top Mr Chris, who was replaced by George G — were up against C Mason’s Keswick four. Unfortunately, they were no match on the day and went down 20-9.

On Sunday, Gill and Aileen W played at West End in the Ladies Pairs and made extremely light work of Dorothy Boyle’s pair. A superb performance saw them win 25-2 after only ten ends. Amazing stuff.

Also on Sunday, the Men’s Fours were at Wigton Park, where Andy, Tayler, Lee and Kev faced the strong Workington quartet of Steven Cook, Matthew Hodgson, James Park and David Forster.

David “Hong Kong” McManus once said, “If you’re going to lose a five, make sure it’s on the first end,” and that is exactly what the Courtfield lads did. After a nightmare start, they quickly battled back and took the lead, before the game was tied at 10-10 after ten ends. Sadly, from there it was all downhill, as the lads failed to score again and went down 20-10.

Over at Wigton Main Road, the Fab Four welcomed the return of Mr Chris as they faced Jackie Walker’s Whitehaven quartet. The Courtfield four were always in control and led 16-11 playing the last end.

Unfortunately, Hong Kong’s advice was ignored. If you are going to lose a five, do it on the first end — never the bloomin’ last. But that is exactly what happened, forcing an extra end.

Thankfully, the Courtfield lads recovered their composure and took the single shot they needed to progress. They now face clubmate Ian Blenkinsop, who is representing Whitehaven.

The Two Fours then headed to Silloth, with a quick swap of Andy for Lawrence, to face a waiting Silloth side in the National Two Fours. Sadly, it was not much of a contest, as the Silloth team blew the lads out of the sea.

On Monday, Jean, Angela P, Aileen W and Evelyn were involved in a very tight Fours match against C Forsyth’s four from Fitz Park, just missing out 17-16.

Finally, Captain Chaos booked his place in the second round of the Singles, beating P Pridmore 21-12. He will now face Henry Stewart in the next round.

Ladies League

Stan Bragg / Jack Fisher Cup R1

From heat postponements to rain postponements — typical Cumbrian weather at its finest.

The Ladies League was called off earlier in the week due to the unusually warm weather, while the Jack Fisher match against Brampton then had to be postponed because of the rain. Only in Cumbria can you lose one game to the heat and the next to the wet.

The first round results were as follows: