South Park Bowls Club

Just a couple of club competitions to update you on today.

The George Hill Pairs final took place on Saturday where after a close game Bill Morland and Barry Hopkins Jnr deservedly beat John Smith & Scott Morland.

It was a close affair and despite Scott’s rink being laid 5 to win the game his Dad found an excellent wood to take all the danger away to become champion for the 7th time.

Well done to Barry Hopkins Jnr as this is his first pairs title for the club and he certainly deserved this one. I hope he keeps this up indoor with his incredibly bright red woods!!

We hosted the Presidents cup yesterday (without the president who is sunning it somewhere!!) to finish the season off with a bit of fun. Unusually Bill Morland beat his son for the 5th time this season!

But there was some good action with Simon Brodie and Andrew Bell at the thick of it.

Simon bowled Andrews wood in error, as new bowlers they didn’t know the rules and we lied to them!! – We said Andrews wood counted and he had to bowls Simons wood up the green as far away as possible.

As you can imagine it was sent flying away over 4 other rinks!! – the cheek of it, but he had to buy Simon an ice-cream for his troubles.

Last night saw our last game of the season end in disaster. We were beaten 5-0 at Woodland which records our worst result of the season.

As we await confirmation of our league title this has added extra anticipation as our calculations make us league champions by half a point.

Good news for the club has seen our bid for Club of the Year reach the last 5 and after speaking to Tony Allcock MBE we are to receive a visit from the EBA Senior Vice President.

This is a very prestigious occasion for our club and I’m sure we will all make him welcome.

Just a quick thanks to everyone this season on what has been a very successful year.

Our final game is tonight away to Woodland in which we look to go out on a high.

We are having a little fun competition on Sunday commencing at 1.30pm if anyone is interested. It will be a small group competition for a chance to get your name on the Turner Trophy.

Unconfirmed as yet but it looks like we are champions. After a 4-1 win away to Central we must have done it!

Barnard Castle were beaten on Wednesday by North Lodge and as we were aware we only needed 4 points – fingers crossed!

We have 1 fixture left which is this Thursday, rearranged away to Woodland.

A special thanks goes to Simon Brodie & Andrew Bell who made their first appearance for us and did the club proud in a 16-14 win.

Competition news – Scott Morland defeated Barry Hopkins Jnr for the 3rd time this season to win the Hopperton Cup.

Last nights fixture at Woodland was rained off at 5.00pm meaning tonight is the night to try and get our ultimate 4 points.

We wish Andrew Bell and Simon Brodie well in their first league match of the season. Although a difficult match with a lot at stake I’m sure they will enjoy themselves and hopefully clinch the vital point to see the league title come our way.

We have no official league table as yet, but it is believed that we only need 4 points to win the second division title after Barnard Castle A were defeated at North Lodge 4-1 last night despite North Lodge missing 2 players.

Despite a tough game away to Woodland tonight we are all confident of claiming the silverware. Fingers crossed that weather permits the game to take place.

Other news is that Scott Morland defeated Barry Hopkins Jnr to win the Hopperton Cup last night which has been kept in the Hopkins family for the last 2 years.

Sorry all for the recent delay in updates, our writer has been on holiday for a fortnight.

League updated – We may have achieved promotion last week with a 4-1 victory over Barnard Castle. We await the new league table to confirm if we have claimed the 2nd spot.

Barnard Castle are still top of the league 2 1/2 points clear with 1 game left as opposed to out 2 games.
We require 8 points to win the league if they were to win 5-0 at North Lodge on Wednesday night.

Just to confirm to all members that out matches this week are both away – Thursday at Woodland and Friday away to Central at North Lodge.

Competition update – Barry Hopkins and Bill Morland were defeated in the final of the Cameron Pairs easily by Clive Black and John Hills of the RA. This game was cause for controversy after the fixture date was changed at the last minute in favour of the RA players.

In our club competitions Barry Hopkins Jnr and Scott Morland are to meet in both the Hopperton Cup and Henderson Shield finals. Barry beat his Dad to progress in the Hopperton and Scott beat John Smith and Barry Hopkins to progress in both competitions.
Progress was made in our pairs competition also where Scott Morland and John Smith defeated Martin Snelling and Richard Woodward.

Also a well done to Richard Woodward winning his first competition, beating his Dad in the final of the George Shaw Cup.