The Annual General Meeting took place in February and Alex Sinclair took over as President. Unfortunately there was more than usual reluctance among members to fill the various posts. Greig Harrison volunteered to take over as Vice President, and Bill Gilfillan returned as Secretary. There were no volunteers for Men's Match secretary so matters will be run by a Match Committee with ample scope for confusion. No one was prepared to take over the important Bar Convenor post. Ronnie Bex and John Huntley have agreed to share the Treasurer duties.
The
good news is that we had a lovely spring day for the opening and seven rinks
took part in the usual President versus Vice President match. This was won by
the VP's team, , but at least the President has the highest up rink!
The President's wife Gail shows good style in throwing the first bowl of the season.
May to June:
We had our usual success in the friendly matches in the early part of the
season, but our efforts in the Kelvin Allander League were not too successful,
and by August we had slipped to second bottom. Our seniors put up more of a show
in their league and ended up mid table. The club hosted
the
League Champion of Champions and Pairs Competition this year, with Hyndland
emerging as winners in both competitions. The picture shows League Secretary
Douglas Smith presenting the Champion of Champions trophy to Paul Ward.
Our teams in the Glasgow and Scottish Championships did not do too well although Ronnie Bex and his seniors team won two rounds in the GBA championship and Gordon Smith's triples did similarly in the Bowls Scotland district event. One major success was Alistair Gunn in winning the Bowls Scotland District Senior Singles Championship and qualifying for the Scottish Finals at Northfield in Ayr in July.
July and August:
The Glasgow Bowling League competition soon proved that we were one of the
strongest teams- we had to be as we were holding up the league for most of the
later weeks! In spite of one or two good wins we were relegated.
At the end of July, Alistair Gunn represented the club and
district at the National Finals in the Senior Singles competition. The first two
days of competition were warm and dry and Alistair played well to win three
rounds and reach the semi-finals. Unfortunately, the weather changed and the
semifinal was suspended for about an hour due to the green flooding. When play
resumed his opponent adjusted to the conditions better, and Alistair's run came
to an end. His bronze medal represents the best singles performance by the club
for many years, although Frank and Christina Kennedy won a bronze medal in
the Mixed Pairs in 2011.
The
ladies Jubilee Triples was held on 16th August and resulted in a win for Mima
Hylands, Anne Blain and Betty Higginson.
Club Finals:
New blood emerged in the Gents Championship this year as none of the four
semi-finalists had won the championship before. The final was played between
Club President Alex Sinclair and Secretary Bill Gifillan, who were also due to
meet in the final of the Vice President's competition. The final appeared to be
a one sided affair as Alex reached 20 while Bill was stuck on 3. A fight back
saw Bill increase his score to 14 before Alex managed to get the winning shot.
The Ladies Championship was not so surprising as Christina
Kennedy won it and the President's trophy. She also defeated May Gordon in the
Knockout competition to complete a good season.
Corina
Robertson (left) defeated Joyce Cruickshank in a close contest for the Ladies
Vice presidents trophy. Corina with partner Ginny Thorburn won the Balloted
Pairs, defeating Irene Harrison and Sylvia Ferguson.
Alistair
Craig defeated Ian Bowie in the Final of the Talbot Crosbie Cup, played in sets.
In
the Ladies Nominated Pairs Betty Higginson and Isobel Gilmour beat Joyce
Cruickshank and Grace Rippard in the final.
In
the rematch for the Vice Presidents trophy, Alec again built up a good lead over
Bill Gilfillan and was leading 20-10 before Bill started his comeback. He had
reached 18 and was lying shot when he unfortunately knocked his own bowl out
when trying to draw a second and tie the match. Also in the picture is VP Greig
Harrison.
Alistair Gunn retained the over 70 trophy by beating David
Macdonald in a repeat of last year's final.
Shown here with marker Jim Macphie before the match
September:
Several finals were held over into September due to double
booking, holidays etc
Eddie Humphries won the 2 bowl singles by defeating Ian Bowie. The Mixed pairs
final saw Netta and
Jim
Moffatt triumph over Ronnie Bex and Anne Blain.
Finally, on 25th September, the final Finals Day arrived. (What
a Mouthful!)
A warm afternoon on which Eddie Humphries played well and had a surprisingly
comfortable win over
David Macdonald in the President's Trophy. Shown here with President Alex
Sinclair who had recorded his third singles title of the year with a win over
Eddie in the 'boys' competition (i.e. the Under 70's) on the previous Friday.