South Park Bowls Club

Report to follow………

This was a very good night for South Park after the bleak early evening withdrawals of Simon Brodie and Paul Dobson from the team.

Young 10 year old Jordan Harston came in and did a sterling job with Barry hopkins Jnr on the short rink to hold their own, only losing on the countback. The other 2 rinks skipped by Barry and Sandra Hopkins were excellent winners to move us upto mid table after 2 games in the division.

This was a closer game in the Sherwood League Knock-Out than the score suggests, with the early dissappointment of Keith Burton pulling out last minute we were blessed with the replacement of ex Darlington footballer Paul Dobson.

Early doors 2 rinks took an early lead and 1 slumped 5 shots down, as the game progressed the rink of Sandra Hopkins, Simon Brodie and Scott Morland started to take a battering with the other 2 rinks only marginally leading. It looked like an early exit as often the case for us this season. As this competition is based on shots only, the fact 2 rinks were winning was irrelevant.

Things got better as the rink of Barry Hopkins, Sue Harston and Ken Wood started to dominate the rink skipped by Peter Duguid which put us in with a chance. As this happened the losing rink managed to stabilise and lose no further shots. This must have gained extra inspiration for the rink of Barry Hopkins Jnr, Stan Jenkins and Paul Dobson as they too started to take over with only a few ends to play.

This was the big lift that the club needed to kick start the season. This was a reasonable Cummins outfit with the usual strong players such as Eric Theakston and Ray Wood so it was a welcome victory.

This Friday sees us battle against Cummins A in the Sherwood League Knock-Out.

As normal every year we face a strong Cummins side in this the 1st round of this competition and this year is typically no different.

Despite rumours of Cummins A dropping out from the league it seems they have decided to stay put and if fielding a full strength team will be as large a threat as ever.

Our performance against Whessoe shows Cummins have very little to worry about at the moment and form must improve if we stand any chance of progressing. All games are winnable and if our club is to win anything this competition is probably our best hope, so lets get stuck into them and battle out a win!

A disasterous 1st home game scoreline in the Darlington Sherwoods (Works) League and it could have been worse!

After only 5 ends all 3 rinks looked ready for a thrashing and the final result of only 3-1 flattered us somewhat. Although it was a very experienced Whessoe team we expected much more from our players and was definately a night to forget.

The rinks consisting of Scott Morland, Sandra Hopkins & Stan Jenkins, also Barry Hopkins Jnr, Andy Bell & Simon Brodie took a lesson at the hands of Vic Tunstalls rink and Peter Robsons rink of Whessoe.

The only success was Barry Hopkins Snr’s rink which had our new starter Colin bowling for them and also the experienced Ken Wood. Their victory was extremely narrow and they were behind for most of the game but showed courage to fight back for a precious point against a strong rink that had John Dinsley and Keith Raper amongst it.

We hope for dramatic improvement next week in the 1st round of the knock-out against Cummins A which is never an easy fixture at the best of times.

Our 1st Works League Match is upon us this Friday at home to Whessoe. This sees us playing against a tricky opposition with our Saturday League player Vic Tunstall leading the way.

Although a few memebers short of last year we should be able to field a fairly strong side. Young 10 year old Jordan Harston will not be available until mid-May, however it won’t be long before the yound starlet is back in action.

At home we would expect to see us pushing for a good start to the season, so fingers crossed!

To all members, we hope to have fixture lists etc from the Works leageu soon as the AGM is Wed 11th March.

Our own AGM has been significantly delayed cos the secretary can’t be arsed, but never fear we will have it early April to get the season started!

Another 5-0 drubbing this time at the hands of Shildon Town has surely doomed South Park to the District Leagues Division 2 even at this early stage of the season. Again one man down but one highlight was the debut from Paul Kelly.

Competitions this week have seen Keith Burton beat Barry Hopkins Jnr in the 4 wood EBA Singles and both of them losing in the pairs to the Northams. Andy Bell, Scott and Bill Morland were unlucky in the triples losing to Andy Kirtland by 3 shots at Stockton despite being the better team on the night. Scott and Bill were then beaten in the pairs as they couldn’t make a good start pay against Liam Macey and Craig Northam.
Despite these results we wish all our district members luck in the county stages of these competitions.

In the Durham League competitions Scott, Bill and Sandra Hopkins won their first game in the Hospital Cup against Peter Wilkinson rink.

We now look forward to our home matches tonight against Whessoe and tomorrow afternoon against Peterlee. Then Monday night see our debut in the Millenium Cup away at Belmont where a win would see us with a 25 shot advantage againt EverREady Craghead in Round 2. Lets get stuck in!!

Its been a mixed start to the season, after a 4-0 win in the Works League over the Rolling Mills we couldn’t have got off to a better start, then 2 wins and a loss in the Durham and District League has seen us start fairly well. Then disaster has struck on a Thursday night with issues fielding a full team resulting in 3 defetas 5-0, 5-0 and 4-1 with another tough game at Spennymoor this week.

The competitions are progessing well and will keep you updated with successes over the next few weeks.