Singled Out

Well the 2024 bowling season may have got off to a soggy start, that’s for sure, but the weather gods shone their light on our green for the first club championships of the year. Wall to wall sunshine meant that free squash was available to everybody as the temperature sizzled.

Sunday May 19th saw nearly 20 bowlers, new and old, battle it out for the titles of Ladies Singles Champion and Mens Singles Champion.

The mens semi-finals proved predominantly to be a battle of the Tonies with one exception. Tony Partridge faced Tony Howells and Tony Swales faced newcomer Jeremy Good. Jeremy won the New Bowler of the Year last year so to get to the semi-finals of this major competition was quite a step forward.

In fact Jeremy went one step further and prevailed in a tightly contested final against Tony Partridge and in doing so became the Mens Champion at his first attempt. Well done Jeremy!

Jeremy’s wife, Janet, got to the semi-finals in the ladies competition and faced last years champion Marilyn Fletcher. Marilyn’s experience prevailed and she faced Terry Yates in the final after Terry had edged out vice-president, Vera Hodgetts, by just one shot in the semi-final.

The ladies final turned out to be a thrilling encounter with Marilyn surging to a 20 to 5 lead after 16 ends. In a game of two halves, however, Terry dug in and eventually won 21 to 20. Let that be a lesson to all of us to keep battling to the very end. So Terry became Ladies Singles Club Champion and added that to her Shrewsbury Ladies Indoor Singles Bowls title won last year. Well done Terry!

Our photos show the finalists with President, Don Davies, as he awarded the trophies.