The 2010 Bowling Season Update
HAPPY NEW YEAR
Well, Christmas and New Year have been and gone and whilst some would have had a very enjoyable time, I think the cold weather took its toll on a few others, myself incuded. It was also sad to hear of the passing away of an old friend and past member of the club, Harry Walker, whose happy smiling face has been for some time down at the Northern.
On a more cheery note, it was back to the winter Darts, Doms and carpet bowls on Monday and whilst 2011 started in the same fashion as 2010 ended, Roy Campbell continuing his winning ways with the 'arrows', there was some movement in the other competitions as Jimmy Martin leapfrogged Kenny Dixon to go top of the Dominos table. This is only by the merest of margins as the lads at tied on points but Jim has a better Aggregate of TWO over Kenny, whilst President Garry is only Two points behind them both. The big mover though was Bobby Lee (I bet Bobby has never been called a big mover before) as he started 2011 in style, winning his three games to drag himself right in to contention for the title.
In the carpet Bowls, again it's Roy Campbell leading the way in section One and whilst it looks a comfortable lead, if Ian Miller returns and wins his games in hand, it will certainly tighten things up. Section Two is a lot closer, with Allan Mitchell taking over the lead there following his 10-3 hammering of Harry Hastie. Harry himself is still in contention though, as is Jimmy Bathgate, Bobby Bain and even Gordon Wilson is in touch down in Fifth spot. I hope all the lads are enjoying the first ever winter league competitions, it has added a wee bit of spice to the fun.
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OUR TWO CHRISTMAS CRACKERS
Despite the freezing cold, snowy weather conditions, there was a very healthy turnout at the club for this years' Christmas Domino challenge, with Several of our 'social' members in attendance but it was the old stalwart Allan Mitchell who saw off all challangers to come through as our first Christmas cracker. In the Carpet mini bowls competition, Kenny Dixon may well be looking like a bit of a Turkey in the carpet bowls winter league, he was good enough to wrap up a brilliant victory as he stuffed Roy Campbell in the final, Kenny certainly getting the last laugh at this festive time of the year, HO, HO, HO.
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IT's SNOW FAIR
The adverse weather conditions took it's toll on our winter leagues at the club on Monday as only FIVE hardy souls turned out in the freezing conditions. Sensibly, it was decided to give the winter leagues a miss this week so as we approach the half way stage, this leaves Roy Campbell & Jimmy Bathgate sitting top of their sections in the carpet bowls, Kenny Dixon and Jimmy Martin tied at the top of the Dominos and the ROC sitting in a commanding position in the Darts league. Hopefully the weather will improve a bit for next Monday and the lads can return to battle before everything pauses for the Christmas and New Year break.
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WINTER WONDER LAND
It's been a while since I have had the chance to add anything to this page, partially because all my spare time has been taken up setting up the winter leagues and links to them on our site. However, thanks to the organisational skills and incredible patience of Roy Campbell, for the first time ever, we have a winter mini bowls, darts and doms league up and running on a Monday night at the club. It is entirely for a bit of fun and to try and give the members something to turn up for and it has been very well supported, as you will see by going in to the relevant links. The league set ups have added a wee tad of an edge to the fun and the banter between the lads goes down very well.
In the mini carpet bowls, Section One is being headed by Roy Campbell who has made an unbeaten start. Ian Miller made his debut on Monday, winning 2 of his three games and Stevie Raeburn holds up the league from the bottom as he has been posted missing after week One (where are you Stevie? :-)). Allan Mitchell is in front in Section Two but has played more games than the closely chasing pack of Jimmy Bathgate and Bob Bain whilst Harry Hastie and Gordon Wilson are not that far behind either with games in hand.
The Darts league has a fimiliar leader in the shape of the ROC, Roy has a tremendous record at the club in the Darts and is certainly the man to beat. However, Jimmy Martin and Allan Mitchell are hot on his heals and again, both have games in hand over the ROC.
The Doms started off as Three Sections but having had a look at how quickly games are taking place, a wee early re-jig of this means the lads will have more games to look forward to throughout the winter.
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TREASURER IS A MAN FOR END OF SEASON
The end of the season came around on a gloriously sunny October Saturday, which encouraged a very good turnout for the annual Treasurer v Secretary fixture. With three full rinks taking part, it was the Treasurer, Jimmy Bathgate, side who came out on top as he manged a whitewash against Secretary Alex Young. Garry Harrison said farewell on the bowling green at least, to his term in office and he graciously provided the stovies for all who took part, and the curtain was eventually drawn on another highly successful season for the Northern Bowling Club.
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SINGLE HANDEDLY, STAN'S THE MAN IN 2010
The last remaining club competition, the Charlie Kinnear 2 bowl singles, was completed on Monday night as Club Champion Stan Christie faced past club champion Allan Mitchell in the final. It was Allan who took command of this final in the early stages as he moved into 17-12 lead over Stan. However, in a complete reversal of Allan's semi-final against Ian Miller, where he managed to come back from 12-17 deficit, it was Stan who made the comeback and the champion edged out Allan in the end by 21-19. Stan has certainly proved to be the man to beat in the singles this season as he has now won the Premier trophy of the season in the Championship, arguably the next best singles competition in the Presidents handicap and now the Charlie Kinnear two bowl, so all in all, a fantastic year for Stan, who was helped along the way by his good lady Jacquie in winning the Mixed Pairs too.
As the season draws to a close with the annual Treasurer v Secretary's match on closing day this coming Saturday, I think all the bowlers at the Northern can be proud of what they have achieved both individually and as representatives of the Northern Bowling Club, well done everybody.
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PRESIDENT HAS TROPHY UNDER LOCH AND KEY
Maybe it was the poor weather, or maybe it was on the back of a friendly fixture or even a combination of both or more, but there was a disappointing turn out for the Bobby Loch 3 bowl singles competition on Sunday past. However those taking part had a good day and what was a straight knock-out this year, the final was contested between President Garry Harrison, and Ian Miller, who was going for his 2nd singles title of the season. Garry had taken the scalps of Tam Whitecross, Jim Bathgate and Stevie Raeburn on the way whilst Ian had seen off Bob Lee, Ian Macdonald and Bob Bain. It was Ian who made the better start with a single then full house 3 but this was immediately countered by Garry who replied with the same scores, then went on to lead 7 - 4. As the game progressed into the final end, both players had again scored similarly, leaving Garry 9-6 up and Ian needing a maximum count. The President is made of stern stuff these days and drew on his experience of making it to the Championship final as he came through the last end untroubled, meaning he wins his first, and much deserved, singles title. Congratulations to Garry, commiserations to Ian and a big thank you to everyone who turned up and took part.
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RITA HANDS OUT AN EDUCATION TO THE LADIES
It has been a year of history making at the Northern Bowling Club, particularly when it involves the Ladies. As we try hard to move out of the dark ages, we have had our first ever ladies Championship and now we were proud to host our very first LADIES INVITATION PAIRS. Along with our very own lady members, Marie Smith, Jacquie Christie and Lesley Burns, there were several other well kent faces amongst all the ladies who turned out for this inaugural ladies day, Rita Reid, Jean Robb, who was playing with the young Ladies Scottish internationalist Alison McDougal, Zandra Kinnear, Cathy Young and Mary Christie and it was great to see them there. The warm sunny day helped enormously too and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves in the sun as the four section winners and runners up progressed to the quarter final stage. Unfortunately for the Northern girls, none of them managed to win through, such was the strength of the opposition, but with the two semi-finals pairing the Summerside ladies against each other and the Goldenacre ladies doing the same, we were Guaranteed a local derby final. It was Zandra Kinnear and her partner Jean Summers who made it through to the final to face Rita Reid and Margaret Keening and it was the latter who made the better start. However, two singles at the first two ends was wiped out as Zandra and Jean scored a four to hit the front at 4-2 but Rita and Margaret hit back straight away with a four of thier own at the next and 2nd last end. It was the Summerside ladies who were to triumph in our very first Ladies Invitation Pairs when they scored a single at the last to win 7-4, and with every respect to Zandra & Jean, this was maybe a fitting way to finish, given that Rita's husband Jimmy, our long standing member and friend of everyone at the Northern, had passed away only weeks earlier. A HUGE thanks to all the ladies who took part, and especially for bringing along some excellent prizes for the raffle, it put our male members to shame. Big thanks are also due to Allan Mitchell for giving up his day to run this tournament and to Gary Largue and Stan Christie for doing the catering for the ladies, a highly successful and enjoyable day for everyone. We also would like to thank SLATER'S LADIES WEAR of George Street, who kindly donated gift vouchers for this event for prize money, the Northern Bowling Club are extremely grateful for their generosity and I'm sure our ladies will have a lovely time spending their vouchers in their shop.
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YOU JUST CAN'T LARGUE WITH THIS TOP PAIRING
The 2010 Invitation pairs was once again met with glorious sunshine and once Stan had got his 'swisher' into action to clear early morning moisture from the green, the sun did the rest to give us a fast running Northern green which was generally a treat to play on (ok, except for the usual moans about rink 2). Disappointingly one pair failed to show, which always makes things awkward for the section affected, but everybody else just got on with it. The holders, Mike & brother Hughie Burns were back to defend their title but it was not to be a good defence as they failed to qualify from their section. It was a different story for last year's runners-up though as they stormed through their section, and there was no stopping them as they made it through to the final for the 2nd year running. Their opponents were George Prentice and past member Andy Reid, who had pipped last year's winners to the 2nd qualifying spot in their section to go through on shots difference, now they found themselves in the final. The final turned into a bit of a one sided affair though as Gary Largue, playing on his favourite rink 1, produced some excellent lead bowls and was more than ably backed up by his partner Jackie Clunes, meaning it was 2nd time lucky for the lads and a thoroughly deserved victory. I don't think I will ever tire of saying it though when I again have to mention that the real winners of the day was the Northern Bowling Club and it must have been a most enjoyable day for everyone who took part as the vast mjority of the players stayed back long afterwards to enjoy a refreshment or seven after the presentation.
As a wee side issue but very important, Gordon Wilson & Willie Porterfield turned up later with the two trophies won by the first and second XVI's when we won our respective leagues and this was a fine way to finish off a great day at the Northern.
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TRIPLE TREAT AGAIN FOR A SUCCESSFUL DEFENCE
Holders of the Triples title, John Young & Mike Burns were joined this year by Mike J. Burns and were facing up to old friendly foes in the shape of Ronnie and Ian Macdonald and Ian Miller in this year's final. It was the holders who got off to a great start, leading Seven - Nil after just two ends, thanks to a very lucky bowl by Burns senior. A high, wide and not so handsome running bowl made contact with a bowl in a pack wide of the head. The resulting contact gave Burns the exact result he had been trying to play, movement on the Jack, which saw the holders pick up Five shots, better being lucky than good some say and this was certainly the case here. The ideal scenario in bowls is, if you lose an end lose one, and when you win an end score heavily, and this was exactly what was happening in this final. Ronnie and the two Ian's were winning enough ends but after the start they had got off to, scoring single shots was only running the ends away. When John and the two Mike's were scoring, they were scoring multiples and this was negating all the good work done by their opposition. However, at the 10th end, with the score sitting at 12 - 5, Ian Miller was lying a count of Six with one bowl left to play. Two previously failed attempts by Burns senior had merely allowed Ian to add to the count, but luckily for the holders, Mike's final bowl drew into the head to cut the count in half. Although this did tighten the scorecard up, it was a temporary situation as over the next three ends, a score of 4,2,1 saw the score move on to 19 - 8 with two ends to play and with Ian only scoring a double at the 14th end, it meant a successful defence for John, who made it Four Triples titles in a row, and Mike, who made it Five in a row and TEN in total, and also a 2nd club SBA title of the season for Mike J. Burns.
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HOLDERS SNATCH DEFEAT FROM JAWS OF VICTORY
The holders of our SBA pairs competition for the past two years, John Young and Mike Burns, were going for a hat-trick of victories but were always in for a right tough game as they faced brothers Jim and George Prentice. As expected, the early exchanges meant a close encounter but it was the middle part of the game that saw the firework ignite. After 7 ends, Jim & George had edged in front 6 - 4 however John & Mike picked up a 5 and three ends later a 4 to see them in what looked like a comfortable position at 14 - 7 after 11 ends. Looks can be deceiving though and this game totally changed around and the BIG turning point was when Burns lifted his own bowl out of the head as he tried a 'hit' of his back hand. Thinking this was the safer of the two shots nominated, he looked bang on target to lift George's two 'shot' bowls out of the head only to get the merest of contact on his own bowl, leaving Jim & George counting 5 shots. If this was a bit unfortunate, there was nothing unlucky about the next end. John Young had been lying two on a 3/4 length but the Prentice brother had all the back bowls. After three missed attempts at a trail, and with Burns playing nothing bowls, George hit the jackpot with his final bowl to count four, meaning a two shot game advantage. 17-15 for the brothers after 15 ends and again John Young was lying shot but once again, George had an answer to that and trailed the jack right through towards the ditch and lay two himself, once again Burns failed to alter things. Needing four shots for a peel at the last, another running bowl from Burns made contact with the head but the hoped for result never came and the Prentice boys were worthy winners. Congratulations to Jim & George on a fine victory.
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SENIORS CLEAN SWEEP TAKES TOP TEN TITLE
It has been some season, both our First and 2nd XVI's winning their respective divisions and now the news has come through that our Seniors have won their TOP TEN with a whitewash over near neighbours Pilrig. On a gloriously sunny afternoon at neutral Wardie, our seniors faced up to the senior league runners-up Pilrig and it looked like a difficult afternoon was ahead. However, there must be something in the water, or beer, or Gin or Rum or whatever, because our lads took charge right from the start when Phil Rae romped home in the Singles with a 21-12 win over George Tregonnin to get the club off to a tremendous start. Jimmy Martin and Ronnie Macdonald were our Pair and although this game was a bit tighter, the lads still went on to win 13-9 to put us well in to the driving seat. Bob Bain, Harry Hastie and Alex Young were teamed up in the Triple and despite being 2 shots down going into the last end, they scored a match and title winning 4 shots, leaving Jimmy Porter Mike Morrison, Kenny Dixon and Ian Macdonald to make it a whitewash and the trophy was heading along the road to Warriston Crescent and the Northern Bowling Club. In accepting the trophy afterwards, Seniors captain Kenny Dixon dedicated the trophy to our recently departed friend and member Andrew Irving, a very nice touch by Kenny and I'm sure Andrew would have been looking down on the lads and shouting them on.
Well done gents and many congratulations to all concerned
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MEAN MACHINE, MEAN MACHINE, MEAN MACHINE
THE SECOND SIXTEEN CAME THROUGH IN STYLE WITH A SUPERB
7/2 VICTORY TO MAKE ANOTHER BIT OF CLUB HISTORY.
What a great season to follow up with the two teams winning the leagues.
After what we achieved last year and got nothing, well done to the Northern.
To the game itself, it was heads up and look out Postal we mean business.
After three ends all four rinks up and pulling away, but Ronnie McDonald told
me Postal played a short jack and none of his rink could find it, but not
to get them down they battled on. In a strange quirk of fate, it was
Ronnie and his rink that got the only two points last week to keep us in
contention, well done Ronnie and your lads, a narrow defeat for the
lads but a fighting one and this just reiterates that it is a TEAM game with
EVERYONE playing their part over the WHOLE SEASON.
Jim Bathgate had a great start but was tagged back a little, but once
again they showed that fighting spirit we have found this season and Jim
and the lads just cruised away to a very good victory, which made it
peels at a win apiece.
The news from our nearest rivals came filtering through that the Corrie BC seemed
to be in a 7/2 winning mood against Leith BC. although this was kept from
the mean machine.
The ROC charged off to a 10/1 lead at one stage. After a little shaky middle
part they found their touch again and it was full steam ahead. A change to
ROY’S back end for medical reasons due Robert Bell having a sore back,
meant the legend, alias RONNIE SCOTT, stepped in as third and was praised
for having a very good game, is it the same Ronnie Scott we all know? In
the end Roy and his lads rode off in to the distance with a very convincing
win.
On rink one the President & the Silverback had a hot line on the other
game through hot foot Mr WILLIAM ‘THE SCOOP’ ROBB who kept us
informed regarding the Corrie game.
Kenny Black brought his marauders down to spoil the party, after his spying
mission last week to Mayfield. Well
Jimmy Martin/ Harry hostile Hastie had other ideas after four ends they were
8 up and it was plain sailing. Halfway
through the game though they went on strike for some reason,
Bloody ship builders strike for anything. So it was left to the President & the
Silverback to steady the ship. THE MARAUDERS made a push for glory and this
seemed to awaken the two who were on strike. They joined in after they
had a meeting with their shop steward to see off the postal with a 22/10
victory.
Then SCOOP ROBB informed us that the worm turned and Leith had beat the Corrie
7/2 meaning good news for POSTAL as they go up as runners up.
All I can add to this is a BIG thanks lads, it’s been a pleasure
playing and reporting to Editor Mike with you all. To all
who made it possible,
WELL DONE WORTHY CHAMPIONS Just remember always we were THE MEAN MACHINE
signing off the junior reporter
Our 2nd XVI championship winning team from the final night against Postal.
Steve Nicoll, Bob Lee, Jim Bathgate, Jimmy Martin, Alex Young, Harry Hastie, Tam Whitecross, Ronnie Scott, Keith Smith, Bob Bain Ronnie MacDonald, In Front - Roy Campbell, President Garry Harrison, Kenny Dixon, Jimmy Porter and Ian Macdonald. There are some noteable names missing from this photo who played a BIG part in this Championship winning squad but who could not make the game this wonderful night, namely Bob and Grahame Bell and Mike Morrison, who was busy on first XVI duty, with apologies to anybody I may have missed.
To cap another excellent night, our Championship Winning First XVI also finished the season in some style as they hammered Dudley 7-2 away. Wins for Gordon Wilson, Davy Scott and Ian Miller gave us a fantastic finish to the season, with only Hugh Hilson's re-jigged rink going down narrowly.
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CHAMPIONS PARTY CELEBRATIONS A 'BERRY LOW AFFAIR
Having already won the league on Monday night, following Queensberry's 9-0 win over Corstorphine, there were some suggestions that our lads might not be mentally tuned in to face the 'Berry at home. However, I would certainly dispute this theory and suggest that the Queensberry lads had just gained a great deal of impetus and enthusiasm because of their win. Right across the board it looked like we were in for a hammering, as all four rinks were struggling. Davy Scott suffered a heavy defeat, going down 11-23, but credit to Gordon Wilson and Hugh Hilson's lads who fought their way back in to their games, both rinks just falling short at the end though. It was left to 'Midnight' Burns, who was actually last off the green this week for a change (it was all down to Frank 'snail O'Reilly, I've seen Colin Nish move quicker than Frank) to avoid a complete whitewash. This didn't look likely early on either as Mike saved a seven against with his last bowl to cut the lie down to three. 4-9 down, Jim McKenna, Walter Murray, George Prentice and Mike started to find their length and after winning NINE straight ends, the 'Berry only scored one more single shot, leaving the Northern lads with a fine 25-10 win.
However, the real story of the night has to be the 2nd XVI as they found themselves in a position to win their division, IF they could do the business away at Mayfield.
Most of the Division 2 Championship winning squad, with the noteable exception of Graeme Prentice who was still on holiday when the photo was taken. Graeme played a a major part in the season, whilst there were others who helped by stepping in when required.
Stan Chrsitie, John Young, George Prentice, Walter Murray, Allan Mitchell, Gordon Wilson, Jim Prentice, Ian Miller, Stevie Raeburn, Front Row - Mike Burns, Darren Prentice, Davy Scott, Jim McKenna, Gary Largue, Hugh Hilson, Mike J. Burns
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The 2nd xvi had what FRANKIE VALLI & THE FOUR SEASON sang about OH WHAT A NIGHT. It was like the first night of the first night of the proms you could feel the tension from the players. It all started off not too bad 2 rinks up two trailing by one. Then it all started to crumble when BOB LEE lost a four, ROY CAMPBELL the same. Then MAYFIELD started to too edge away, we all started to chase the game. ALEX YOUNG /RONNIIE MACDONALD combo along with JIMMY PORTER & KEITH SMITH started a charge Which end up with a solid victory for the boys. BOB LEE fought back to lose by one shot. In the SILVER BACKS case it was the short bowls of MAYFIELD that caused the damage. Every time HARRY HOSTILE / JIMMY MARTIN / OR GARRY HARRISON played a shot these two brown bowls seemed to appear and get knocked up. It ended 18/17 win for MAYFIELD. THE ROC/JIM BATHGATE had the FRANKIE VALLI night, it was not the lack of effort it was just one of those nights. Of course the postal spy was up to check on the game. But what he does not know we got rid of our bad game last night. Now that this out of our system it’s onwards and upwards next Wednesday.
It’s in our own hands so it’s the final push for THE MEAN MACHINE on Wednesday. Let’s go for it lads all the best.
The JUNIOR Reporter
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IT'S TOUGH AT THE TOP TEN
It was back to Top Ten business on a cool Tuesday evening and our opponents this time around don't come any tougher. 2008 winners Carrick Knowe were the biggest hurdle we have faced so far this season and this proved to be a bigger hurdle than Beachers Brook as the lads struggled against top class opposition. Davy Scott was given the arduous task of facing up to Colin Mitchell but despite playing a reasonable game, Davy's lack of match practice left him toiling in a 21-6 defeat, despite taking a very good FOUR of the many times Carrick Knowe champion. The Fours were faring a bit better and were given a good account of themselves but in the end they too went down by four shots. Up at Carrick Knowe our dynamic duo pairing had to be changed as Stan Christie had other commitments. However, George Prentice proved a more than capable replacement as he moved from his singles duties to lead the pairs and this was to be our only bright spot on a night when we were well and truly taught a lesson, as Gordwon Wilson & George won by five shots. Unfortunately the Triples were never in the hunt and were murdered, again by a very strong threesome which included Alan Poole as skip. Whilst it was tight heads for the most part, a combination of very good bowling by the home boys and ill luck by our lads, meant the game ran quickly away from them and as news came through from the Northern of two defeats, the Triples conceded with an end to play as the deficit was too large to make any difference.
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A 'BERRY GOOD WIN LEAVES NORTHERN FEELING JUST CHAMPION
Although it was a highly unlikely scenario that was left after our First XVI beat Dean 7-2 last Wednesday, two 9-0 defeats for us, coupled with 3rd placed Corstorphine winning their game in hand and remaining two scheduled league fixtures all 9-0, they would have pipped us for the 2nd Division title by half a point. However, home advantage meant nothing to Corstorphine as they faced close rivals Queensberry as it was the visitors who finished streets ahead of 'Corrie' with a 9-0 whitewash of their hosts. This meant that the 'Berry' not only leapfrogged their opponents in the league, more importantly as far as we are concerned, we are now OFICIALLY CROWNED AS DIVISION TWO CHAMPIONS. Congratulations to EVERYONE who played a part in helping the First XVI win this title and we hope as many as possible can turn up prior to the game on Wednesday night for a 6.10pm team photo.
News also came through early today that Corstorphine 2nd XVI had lost 2-7 at home to Mayfield, leaving Northern 3 points clear in 2nd place with the same amount of games played, and only three behind leaders Postal, who have played a game more than us and who we face at Northern on the last game of the season. The title is most certainly in the hands of our 2nd XVI to win.
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CHAMPION TAKES TITLE WITH A VICE LIKE GRIP
In what is believed to be a FIRST in the history of the Northern, certainly within living memory anyway, the Premier trophy of the 2010 season, the Championship Final, was contested between President Garry Harrison and his Vice President Stan Christie. It was Stan who took an early lead with a 3,1,2,1 start to give him a 0-7 advantage, a scoreline that did not particularly please either of the two Jambo finalists, as was pointed during play by President Garry. Garry did manage to get off the mark with a single at this point but he was having difficulty finding the form that took him to this Final and Stan replied with another 3,1,3, to go 14-1 in front. As Stan was set to increase this lead even further, Garry played a fantastic 'chap & lie' on the shot bowl to turn it through the head and lie three shots himself, but Stan was not for wilting as he edged ever closer to another Championship title at 20-6. Garry had found the bowls running a bit unkindly for him on the evening, as so ofter happens when you are struggling to find a bit of form, but as Stan was looking for a single to take the title he played his final bowl of the next end tight to give Garry a very well played full house of FOUR and into double figures. This really only delayed the inevetable though and as Stan lay in Championship winning position, Garry tried a running bowl to disturb the head but was tight and the Trophy and title of NORTHERN BOWLING CLUB CHAMPION 2010 went to STAN CHRISTIE.
Congratulations to Stan on another Championship win and commiseration to Garry, who can take great pride in reaching his first ever Championship final, and he assures us all, HE WILL BE BACK.
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CHAMPIONEES, CHAMPIONEES (well almost)
It was the First XVI's turn to face the Dean following our 2nd's meeting from the previous night. It was two home league games in two days for our hosts and after their shock 2-7 defeat at the hands of Niddrie the night before, the Northern First's went there believing a similar score-line in our favour would be enough to win the title. It started off well enough as Mike Burns rink picked up FIVE shots at the first end and never looked back from their good start. Although at one point their opponents got to within 5, the lads were seeing ends out whilst keeping an eye on the aggregate and they eventually got home 20-12 and secured the two points. In the other rinks it was a completely different story as the boys were struggling to cope with the heavy tricky conditions and Hughie Hilson's rink found themselves 0-7 down after 5 ends. Gradually though they clawed their way back in to the game and from 7-11 down, scored 9 shots in four ends to leave them sitting at 16-11 with an end to play. The loss of a double at the last meant the lads had secured another vital two points after a shaky start. Gordon Wilson welcomed the returning Ian 'Moonlight' Miller as his third, but they found themselves 3-12 behind and looked to struggle all night. Once again though, the guys rallied and as they went in to their last end, they found themselves only two shots adrift. However, all the drama was happening over on the rink Skipped by Davy Scott. This game had gone one way then another as the lead continually changed hands. The loss of a 2 then 3 meant our lads went into the last end four behind and with Gordon Wilson also struggling, our sought after seven points seemed to have eluded us. But Davy Scott is never finished and having played a 'miracle' bowl the previous week to pick up a SEVEN, Davy produced another of his wonder bowls to do a repeat performance. Dean Skip Roddy still had a bowl to play but came up short and the lads walked off SEVEN shots to the good, another two points in the bag and the aggregate secured to give the Northern a 7-2 victory as Gordon and 'Moonlight' walked off in the failing light having dropped another 3 shots to end 12-18 down. Announcements by the Dean President afterwards that the Northern had now WON THE LEAGUE with two games left to play were slightly premature as technically Corstorphine could still catch us. Without knowing their scores, we presently sit 26.5 points clear of them and they have a possible 27 points still to gain, a highly unlikely scenario of us losing 0-9 in our last two games and Corrie winning their remaining three 9-0 will be the only way the NORTHERN FIRST XVI will not be crowned CHAMPIONS.
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SECOND XVI EDGE AHEAD, FIRST'S GET NEARER
The 2nd XVI had Wednesday night all to themselves as they took advantage of the free week in the league fixtures to play their postponed game at home against bottom of the table Dean. It was an opportunity partially missed by the lads as they edged home 5-4, however this was still enough for them to move to the top of the table as we await other results coming in from last weeks wash out. Things had looked good early on for our lads, with only Alex Young's rink struggling, and they never really got to grips with the game, despite a late rally, as they went on to lose 10 - 19. Silverback Lee and his rink were in a better position and they were always in command of a game they went on to win entirely convincingly by 26 - 9, helped by a five at the last end which gave the aggregate a big boost. Roy Campbell was involved in a right ding dong battle though as the lead was exchanged several times. The loss of a five was enough for the Dean to leap into the lead but Roy and his boys fought back in to it and hit the front again. However, another lost five saw the lead once more change hands and this time the boys struggled to overcome the deficit and went on to lose 12 - 17. So it was left to Jim Bathgate to rescue the points, which he reportedly did. Having already had one burnt end, Jim was trailing behind in ends played. The boys had led throughout their game though and despite a slight slip in the middle part, were never really in danger of losing, As the darkness had decended and J.B. burnt another end, and as the night buses were about to finish for the morning, it is believed Jim finally got off the green with a fine 20-10 victory to help the 2nd XVI gain the extra point which took them to the top of the league. It is believed the now traditional pies had been incinerated but the lads were all very grateful for their breakfast of cornflakes and milk.
News had also came through from the Dean that in their re-started game at home against Niddrie, that they had lost this one 2 - 7, so without rolling a bowl, our First XVI moved closer to the 2nd Division title.
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FAMOUS FIVE PUT ON TOP WEST END PERFORMANCE
The games come thick and fast at this time of the season and it was the turn of the Top Ten to take centre stage against the West End. Drawn at home again, it meant George Prentice had home advantage in the singles but the Big Yin had his work cut out to hold the visitors top man. A 21-14 defeat was not a good start for our home lads and with the rink being involved in a tight struggle, it was left to our dynamic duo of Stan Christie & Gordon Wilson to ease the pressure. Our star performers didn't let us down and a 5 at the 13th end helped them to a fine 19-5 lead, which they managed to see out to another impressive 23-7 victory. The triples too had got off to a good start and at the half way point were leading 13-1. However, as so often happens with this 'unlucky' number, the lads got stuck and the loss of a five in a run of five losing ends brought the scoreline to a nervous 13-11. Better news had reached the away team though that our rink at the Northern had stretched away to an 8 shot advantage with only 3 ends to go, relieving the pressure on the triple. As the triple lost yet another shot, they were in nippy botty time at 13-12 in front, however a single and double at the last two ends took the lads to an important 16-12 win. It turned out to be very important as the news came through that the rink had peeled again for the second succesive week, but whilst this may not have been an oscar winning performance, it was more than enough to see our Top Ten guns go through to the next round.
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GARRY AND STAN SET A PRESIDENTS
It was that time of the year again, the Semi-Final of the biggest tournament of the year at the club, the Championship. Out on the green were the current holder Mike Burns, the winner from the two years previous George Prentice, the previous champion before that Stan Christie and the unfancied by many, Garry Harrison. It was the tie between George & Stan that looked like the big match up but Stan, playing with a set of borrowed bowls that he has taken a shining too, soon took control. Stan hurried away to a commanding lead and never looked back eventually winning 21-7 in convincing fashion. With holder Burns in the other semi, it was expected by nearly all and sundry that this would be somewhat of a walk-over and so it proved. Unfortunately for Burns, it was President Garry who rose to the ocassion, big style, and in a game matching almost score for score with the other semi-final, Garry deservedly sped away to a convincing lead. Playing some fantastic bowls on all various lengths, Garry was in total control throughout and ended up an equally impressive winner as he put Burns fire out. For the first time that anyone can remember, this means that our premier event of the season, the Championship final, will be contested between the President, Garry Harrison and his Vice President Stan Christie, so not for the first time this season, a piece of history is about to made at the Northern Bowling Club.
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CHRISTIE's RIGHT IN THE MIX
On a lovely warm Sunday afternoon, it was the turn of the annual Mixed Pairs competition and an encouragable entry was helped by three pairs from the Dean, which I believe was a first for this particular tournament as previously it was limited to club member and guest only. It was also good to see Ian & Tracy Prentice make the journey back up from down south and a few other ladies making their yearly venture on to a bowling green, everybody is welcome and everybody helps make it a good day of fun bowls. As time wore on, it was decided that only the section winners would qualify for the semi-finals and in four very tight sections where no pair managed to win all their games, the qualifiers were Grant & Caroline Young, who took on Stan & Jacquie Christie, whilst Roy and Alison Campbell faced holders Mike & Lesley Burns. It was the holders who edged through against Roy & Alison whilst our Ladies Champion helped hubby Stan overcome Grant & Caroline and it was the Christie's who were to triumph in the final in a one sided final that saw the Burnses never troubling the score board. So big congratulations to Jacquie and Stan on a fine win, but the real winners were once again ALL the players who took part, with a special THANKS to the ladies who support this event with their efforts on the green, without you there be no tournament so we look forward to seeing you all again next year.
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IT'S A WASH - OUT
No it's not a T.V. game from the 70's but another wet Wednesday in our so called summer that has seen the fixtures being washed out for the second week in a row. Both first & second XVI's were due to play against Dean, with the first XVI on their travels, but before even getting out the car, the green ranger was waving that the green was unplayable. Both matches have now been rearranged with the second XVI taking advantage of the free Wednesday next week. However, as the Dean have somehow managed to bend the EBL rule book, they have their postponed match from last Wednesday on this night, meaning they will be playing us the following night, a BIG Two days for the Dean as they chase us for top spot in the division.
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NINE OUT OF TEN AS SECONDS GO TOP
Centre stage was shared on a surprisingly sunny Tuesday night as the Top Ten competition started with Northern being drawn at home against Stenhouse, and our 2nd XVI finishing off their abondoned league game from last Wednesday up at 2nd placed Corstorphine. Our Dynamic Duo from last year, Stan Christie and Gordon Wilson took to the road and soon proved their worth as they hurried along to a 13-0 lead after 6 ends. The loss of a 5 to make the score 16-6 maybe woke the lads up a bit and what seemed to be double quick time, their game was finished at a convincing 29-7 win. Still up at Stenhouse, the Northern Tom Tom's had broken down again as news came through that George Prentice had lost narrowly in the singles and that our rink was losing also, putting added pressure on the Triples who had dug out a wee lead. On a green that was heavy but nowhere near as bad as stories had predicted, the Burns boys and Jim Prentice went from 6-7 down to 14-7 in front within the space of three ends and with another seven shots scored in the last four ends, the lads had eventually also won convincingly. Having discarded the Tom Tom drums, the smoke signals appeared from the Northern to suggest George had actually won 21-20 and it was not until much later we found out that even this was wrong as his scoreline was a slightly more comfortable 21-15 and the Northern had secured our place in the next round. Having been behind for most of the game, Hugh Hilson, Allan Mitchell, John Young and Gary Largue managed to score FIVE at the last end to peel their game at 17, leaving the lads unbeaten overall.
The second half of Corstorphine V THE MEAN MACHINE It
was a tight affair NBC MEAN MACHINE winning by a single shot to earn a 5/4
victory. If you had said last Wednesday that you will get a 5/4 victory
I would have snapped your hand off for it
All the credit goes to ROY CAMPBELL & JIM BATHGATE for the superb wins
to keep the charge on for the title. Both rinks well up the ROC WINNING
27 -8 & JB 19-10. ALEC YOUNG & BOB LEE did not favour
too well in the second half.as they found themselves
too far behind from the monsoon Wednesday, but there was no excuses from
both skips. As your teacher used to put in your report card when at
school. MUST TRY HARDER, but knowing them as we do they will be back . This
is the sharp end of the season so we all need to dig in and find that little
bit EXTRA.
Let's make it a double winning season for the NORTHERN we have worked hard
for it. As BILL SHANKLY ONCE QUOTED `it's more than a game
it's life and death'
BUT NEVER THE LESS A WELL EARNED VICTORY KEEP IT GOING BOTH SIXTEENS.
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FIRST XVI PRODUCE THEIR SUNDAY BEST
The rained off first XVI league fixture against 3rd place Corstorphine was re-started where it all ended on Wednesday. With only 5 ends played (or four if you were in 'Midnight Burns' rink) everything was still at an early stage but we held the slight advantage as Both Gordon Wilson and Hugh Hilson had established a lead from midweek, whilst Burns was peels and Davy Scott was unfortunately well down. It was our two rinks who were in front who made the best start and after ten ends, Gordon Wilson had raced away to a 15-2 lead, one which he never looked surrendering despite a late rally from his opponents, leaving his rink to win comfortably 17-10. Hughie Hilson had made an equally impressive re-start and after eleven ends was 14-3 in front. The loss of seven shots in the last two ends made no impact on the result as Hughie and his boys picked up another crucial two points with an 18-11 victory. Davy Scott had re-started with a mountain to climb and whilst the early ends saw shots evenly exchanged, Davy played an absolutely amazing shot. He somehow managed to thread his bowl through the eye of a needle to take out Corstorphine only bowl. In the process he managed to move the 'white' a foot sideways and picked up a brilliant SEVEN. This gave the guys a fighting a chance as they clawed their way back to 12-14 down. Two down going into the last end gave the guys a chance but it was not to be and the loss of a 3 mattered little as Davy tried in vain to produce a bowl to win the game. And so it was left to Mike Burns and his lads to try and come up with a win in a game that there was never anything in it. Starting again at 2-2, early shots were exchanged and at the midway point, the lads led by the narrowest of margin at 7-6. At 10-8 up, Burns got lucky with a 'hit' shot when lying three against. Slightly too high for the shot, he turned one of his own bowls on to the Jack and through to pick up a vital Two shots to turn the head around. From there, Burns and his boys managed to see the game out to an eventual 16-8 win, leaving the Northern with a Sunday Best result of 7-2 against one of our main rivals for promotion.
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S CUP PERED BY THE BIG BOYS
Better late than never (it must have been an Urquhart that came up with that statement) the Edinburgh Cup reached the quarter final stage on Friday and the Northern faced Div one champions Craigentinny. It was back to our original set -up as we kept our first XVI big boys at home, sending our undefeated lads away in the hope that we could do the biz at the Northern and hope one of our away lads could conjure up a result. We all realised this was going to be a tough ask and it was proving to be that, even at the Northern. Early doors all our rinks struggled but as the game wore on, the boys started coming more in to things. The bad start made by Hughie Hilson had been overturned and Hughie went on to win by 4 shots. Davy Scott had found himself in a similar position and he too turned things around for another Northern victory and George Prentice clawing back to peel his game, it meant the Northern did indeed only need one victory at Craigentinny to secure a semi-final spot. The news constantly coming through away from home was that the Northern were all behind. In fact, nobody got through to the lads away that we had turned things around and whether this was coincidence or by desperate design, there were enough phone calls being made by the 'big boys' is open to question. Ultimately though, it made little difference and none of our lads up at the 'Tinny' came close to threatening an upset and unfortunatelty, this left the efforts of lads at home scuppered and our cup run came to an end.
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CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE NINTH KIND
After the disappointment of the Top Five on Sunday, it was back to league business with a home game against Niddrie, whose wheels have come of their wagon somewhat in recent weeks. With Ian Miller absent, there were a couple of changes as Gordon Wilson moved over to take charge of that rink, meaning Jim McKenna made a welcome return to lead for Mike Burns. It was Jim McKenna who did indeed lead from the front as some very good bowling helped the rink get away to a good start and a SIX at the seventh end made the scoreline read 13-3 Northern. This result was never in doubt from this stage as George Prentice at third was having a great game, and despite Mike Burns efforts to keep Niddrie in touch, the lads went on to win comfortably 20-8. Unbelievably, 'Early Bird' Burns was FIRST OFF THE GREEN and the lads disvovered what it is like to have a HOT UNBURNT PIE. Gordon Wilson was racing Burns to be first off (I'm claiming it though) and in a remarkable game, the lads edged home 18-17. Trailing 15-11 at 13 ends, Gordon's boys picked up a FIVE to sneak in front but the game still went into the last end peels at 17. It took a fantastic trail shot from Graeme Prentice to help win this game, although the lads admitted afterwards they had been fortunate. In another epic struggle, Davy Scott's rink also went right down to the wire. Three shots behind at end 13, three singles took them into the last end also at peels. Once again it was the Northern boys who came good to take three at the last to win 16-13 and this just left 'Half Ten Hilson' (ok Hughie, it maybe was not quite that late) to complete the evening. And as what seemed to be the theme for the night, this was yet another tight affair with the lead changing hands several times throughout the match. The loss of six shots in three ends meant Hughie and the boys were behind with two to play, however a three themselves at the 16th end gave them a 16-15 lead going into the last. Bob Bain had trailed the Jack with his opening bowl on a full length white and had a toucher in the ditch. The Niddrie lads failed to get near it and John Young drew another shot which was added to to by Hughie for another three and a 19-15 win. So it was a fantastic night for the Northern as we managed to win 9-0 but that scoreline does not tell how close the game was, a 6-3 defeat was just as likely going into the lads ends across three rinks. However, all credit to our lads for holding their nerves and coming through and this result helped increase our lead at the top to give us some breathing space for the last 4 games ahead.
Although our 2nd XVI had a free week, news from Corstorphine meant they had lost their lead at the top of the table as Corstorphine won 7-2 to go one point ahead.
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INFAMOUS FIVE BLOWN AWAY
It was the turn of the Top Five singles to centre stage on Sunday as the Northern hosted Whitehouse & Grange. The weather conditions beforehand had this game in doubt and a torrential downpour about 45 minutes before start of play had flooded some parts of the green. With some hard graft from President Garry and Sarah Christie, they had managed to move most of the surface water away and allowed the game to go ahead. Whilst the rain may well have stopped, the wind had picked up and the players went out to play in a howling gale, which made life extremely tricky for everyone, including our volunteer markers who fought a running battle with the scoreboards. First to be blown away was Gordon Wilson, who despite keeping it tight for 9 ends where he was only 9-8 behind, never scored another shot. Stan Christie was over on rink six and whilst that may have provided some shelter from the wind, it would have been the heaviest playing surface as this is where most of the waters was brushed off to. Stan was in a tight game right to the end with the lead changing hands several times. However, from being 14-11 up, Stan only managed two more scoring ends to eventually go down 21-17. 2-0 down at this point but things looked better elsewhere. Mike Burns had got off to a great start leading 9-0 and everything looked good there. Looks can be deceiving though and gradually his opponent got back into the game. In the opposite of Stan's conditions, Mike on rink one was playing on a faster rink but one that was taking the brunt of the gale. As his early lead was diminishing fast, he eventually crawled on to 20 with a trail of the Jack in to the ditch, to leave him 20-18 up. The next end was crucial though as some loose bowling from Burns left his opponent with a 'take-out' attempt to win the game and this he did with just enough contact to clip the bowl sideways and out of the count and the Northern were defeated. George Prentice and Ian Miller were still out playing and both had neared the end of their respective games. Ian Miller restored some pride with a gutsy (or should that be gusty) 21- 20 win and George also got home with a 21-18 victory but the damaged had already been done.
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NO BLACK MARKS AS IT ENDS HALL RIGHT ON THE NIGHT
The Edinburgh Cup was back in action again as the Northern faced familiar opposition in the shape of Blackhall, a club we seem to play most years in this cup. It was 'swaparoo' time for the Northern lads as all the home rinks from last week played away, leaving last weeks away rinks to play home. The returning Prentice boys, George & Jim, found spots in the away team in place of the unlucky Ronnie Scott and the unavailable Davy Scott. It was the home lads who did the business this week though as Both Roy Campbell & Jim Bathgate's rinks getting away to a flier, with Mike Burns lads keeping in touch in their game. Strangely enough, for once, there was no information coming through on how the away teams were doing, a scenario more in keeping with original spirit of the competition, so everyone had to simply concentrate on winning their own battles. And win them they did, in impressive style too with Jim's rink running away to a 23-9 victory. Mike Burns was amazingly NOT LAST OFF and his boys were equally as impressive as they went on to win 21-10. It was not until the 2nd last end that word came through from Blackhall that, whilst still in play, we had two rinks Up and one down, but it was still important for Roy Campbell to see his game out. There was never any danger there though as the lads matched the performance of the other two rinks by winning 22-9, the three home results enough surely to see us through on Shots difference at least. Finally news came through that although two rinks had went down at Blackhall, with Hughie Hilson and Ian Miller both losing, the win for George Prentice was enough to put the calculators away as shots mattered not in a 4-2 win. Our next opponents in this competition will be Div one champions Craigentinny and we look forward to putting our wits and abilities to the test against opposition who will go in to the match as short price favourites. C'MON THE UNDERDOGS!
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WILLOW BLOWN TO THE WIND & SUN GOES DOWN ON LEITH
The first XVI were on their travels again as they continued their persuit of promotion by visiting 3rd place Willowbrae. There are no easy games in this division and this was going to be as difficult as all the others, and so it proved as the lads struggled in the early part of the games. For once, Davy Scott and his boys were not running away with things and indeed Jim, Darren, Allan & Davy found the going really tough on a tricky rink Having lost 9 out of 10 ends it was damage limitation time and as they picked up five shots over the next four ends, this was undone by the loss of a 5 with the guys going down eventually 9-20. However it was better news on the other rinks and the equally reliable Hughie Hilson and his lads had got to grips on another tricky rink. Gary, John, Stan and Hughie had pulled away to lead 14-6 after 13 ends and in a wee reversal of Davy's game, the loss of three shots was cancelled out in one end allowing the lads to win comfortably 18-9. Ian Miller was involved in a tight game early on and at 10-9 after 8 ends, it looked as though this one could go any way. Stevie, Mike.J, Graeme and Ian pulled away though as they scored 9 shots in 5 ends, losing only a single shot in the second half of their game to win convincingly 23-10. And so it was to left to 'Midnight' Burns and his rink to hopefully finish things off. Despite a dodgy start, where Gordon, Walter George & Mike found themselves 8-2 down, they had dragged themselves back in to the game to go peels at 10 after 12 ends. The loss of a double saw them drop behind once more but a great 'take-out' bowl by Mike left the lads counting 5 shots and they never surrendered the lead after this. Walter had found his length at 2nd and was playing some telling bowls when it mattered, forcing the Willowbrae skip to resort to hit shots. He did this quite successfully and burnt a couple of ends to keep everyone out on the green. Little did he realise though that he was playing 'Midnight Burns' and as the clock ticked away towards July, 'Midnight' was in his element. With a cushion of 5 shots going in to the last end, the guys were comfortable in the knowledge it would take something special to wrestle the points from the Northern and an eventual single gave the lads an 18-12 victory and a 7-2 result from a very tricky venue.
A very much change line up for Leith BC. took to the northern green they came looking for revenge for 9-0 defeat. Jim Bathgate rink came up against it trailing at the midway by plenty but the boys rallied but the fight back was not enough. Alex Young was the other team to make a fight back to be pipped on the last end a great effort from the guys. The ROC had a tight game But the team knuckled down to the task a came away with a big shot margin. Bob Lee had a tight game until they got a well earned six to open the game up. But they made one silly mistake and took the foot of the pedal for the last few ends. They still won by eight shots but it should have been more and there's lesson learned by this. So a well fought for 5-4 victory by the MEAN MACHINE, NO GAME NEXT WEEK , KEEP IT GOING N.B.C
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A FIRST FOR JACQUIE & THE NORTHERN
A special mention has to go to Jacquie Christie who has become the Northern Bowling Club's FIRST EVER LADIES CHAMPION. Jacquie has played all her games and went unbeaten as she overcame Marie Smith 21-12, Lesley Burns 21-19 in an excellent game of bowls, and then daughter Sarah, 21-13. Congratulations Jacqiue on a marvellous achievement.
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CUP IS DEAN AND DUSTED
The Edinburgh cup took centre stage on Friday as we faced up to fellow Div 2 opponents Dean. Northern had put out a strong 3 rinks at home for this one and we couldn't have got off to a better start as Hughie Hilson took a SEVEN at the first end and followed this up with a FIVE at the 2nd end. Quite incredibly, the lads scored ANOTHER SEVEN at end 12 to lead 24-8 and despite losing 9 shots at the last four ends, this match was finished, and with a big scoring advantage to the Northern, 25-17. Even better was to follow from the ever reliable Davy Scott and his lads. Davy, Allan Mitchell, Darren Prentice and Ian Macdonald only lost four ends and ran up another victory to the tune of 22-9 leaving Ian Miller's rink to try and finish things off. Involved in a tight game to the end, Ian, Gordon Wilson, Mike J. Burns and Stevie Raeburn went down 14-17 having lost two shots at the last end. So it was up to the lads away from home to get us over the line and they did this in some style, eventually winning all three games. Mike Burns rink was never headed in the game, although it was close for the most part. Thanks mainly to John Young at third, Mike, John Walter Murray and Jim Porter edged home 16-8. This was probably going to be enough to see the Northern in to the next round but Roy Campbell's lads had also turned round a deficit to win their game and in a great fighting finish, Jim Bathgate scored seven shots at the last two ends to to win by one, meaning all three away rink ended in victory.
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FIRST XVI STILL IN SEVENTH HEAVEN
It was Top v Bottom as the second half of the season saw the first XVI host Maitland but the early scoreboards didn't show who was leading the table as Maitland hit the front in three of the four rinks. It took Davy Scott's ever reliable rink to show us the way as they won ten ends in a row to race away to a 22-3 lead and although they lost a five (yer all drapped) this was a mere hiccup on their way to an extremely impressive 31-9 victory. Speedy GonHilson always seems to be on a mission to get back in to the clubhouse asap and last night was no different. It felt like we had just finished playing the trial end when Hughie and his lads were shaking hands on a fine 21-9 win and the margin of victory of these two rinks had certainly ensured there was to be no equal sharing of the points as had happened between the sides on the opening day of the season. And so it was left to Mike Burns & Ian Miller to try and add to these two excellent wins and in a quite unbelievable scenario, Mike Burns was NOT LAST OFF the green. In what has become something of a norm lately, Mike's lads were involved in another close battle as the lead chopped and changed. This was certainly helped by a horrendous fluke shot by Burns, who, when trying to play a runner into the head to disturb almost two Maitland touchers sitting on the Jack, pulled his bowl tight, only to come off a nothing bowling, end up in amongst the head and somehow lay the shot, embarrassing but we will take them. George Prentice played an incredible bowl from a big swinging hand to nudge off another Maitland toucher and roll into the ditch himself to lie shot, giving the lads a wee bit breathing space they needed to win 17-9. So it was now down to 'Midnight' Miller (trying to steal my title Mr Miller?) who was involved in his own battle on rink one. Ian's rink had built a good 10-3 lead but the loss of 7 shots in 3 ends had turned this around. However, Ian's lads have been playing well all season and a 5 at the next end brought them back in front. There was a few anguished cries coming from Ian as the game reached its conclusion as luck seemed to desert them when needed most as the lads eventually went down 19-16. It was another 7-2 victory for the Northern though and once again the scores elsewhere seemed to go in our favour.
Up the road at Goldenacre, our 2nd XVI were battling away to keep in touch at the top of their division. They managed to return home with four points after wins for Roy Campbell and Alex Young. Roy had won convincingly by 23-6 but Alex was involved in a nail biter and it took 2 shots at the last end to edge home 15-14.
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IF YOU KNOW YOUR HISTORY
A bit of history was made at the Northern bowling club on Tuesday afternoon when, after 131 years, we had our very first Ladies members Championship tie when Jacquie Christie faced Marie Smith. The game started as a close encounter, especially when Marie picked up three shots to peel the game at 9-9. However, Jacquie quickly took control thereafter and a count of 4, 3, 1 over the next four ends gave Jacquie a comfortable lead. It was not long after that Jacquie could lay claim to being the First Lady to win a championship tie at the Northern as she went on to win 21-12. As the Ladies Championship will be decided on a round robin basis as all our Lady members will face each other to decide who is The Northern Ladies Champion, Jacquie has got herself off to a good start, but there is possibly still time for Marie to come back into contention with more games to follow.
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SUNSHINE ON NORTHERN IN 2 BOWL SUCCESS
There was a large turnout from the members for the 2 bowl singles and pairs on a gloriously sunny afternoon, proving that the sun does not shine only on Leith. It was great to see a couple of our ladies and a few of our new young members taking part, helping to make the day a most enjoyable occasion. Playing over 10 ends, the singles were quite quickly down to the semi-final stage and wins for Ian Miller & Allan Mitchell saw them face each other in the final. It was Ian who made the better start and was 5-1 up at the half way stage. Despite losing a shot at the next, Ian picked up 2 at the 7th end, only to lose them back staright away. With the score at 7-2 in Ian's favour, Allan needed a full house count on the remaining three ends but it was Ian who counted a single at the 9th and that was good enough for him to take the title in the 2 bowl Singles.
With everyone in the hat for the pairs draw, there were some strong, and some not so strong pairs coming out. It was unfortunate that it threw together a couple of newer players to the game, maybe this is something we can look at for future years, but that was really just the luck, or bad luck of the draw. It was no surprise though to see the pairing of Allan Mitchell and Stan Christie reach the final to face Jimmy Martin & Jim Bathgate and it was a good final to watch. There was little in it all the way and lads were peeled at 4 as they went in to the last end. Stan played a cracker with his first bowl, right in front of the white and despite a great effort from Jim Bathgate with the last bowl of the game, victory went to Stan & Allan. So a very good day came to an end and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves on a sunbaked Northern green. Big thanks to Allan Mitchell who ran both tournaments without a hitch, and also to Jimmy Porter for making the members some much appreciated sandwiches and rolls, which certainly helped soak up the beer that more than a few of our thirsty members had sampled.
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THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN RIDES AGAIN
Following on from their confidence boosting 7-2 win at the Queensberry last week, the First XVI were involved in a table topping clash at home to Dudley, who started the game only 1 1/2 points behind our lads. With a few of the lads returning from holiday, changes meant a familiar look to one rink at least as John Young returned to play 2nd to Hughie Hilson, Stan Christie with Gary Largue leading, a rink that by and large went undefeated last season. And it wasn't long before they were back in their usual winning mode when after sharing the first four ends to peel at 2-2, a SEVEN at the fifth end was followed up by a 3 then 2 to give them a commanding 14-2. Two further threes was joined with a four at the last to give Hughie's lads a runaway 27-8 victory and the first two points of the evening for the Northern. Davy Scott's rink has only lost once all season and they were to keep that record going on the night. Involved in a tight battle for most of the game where the lead constantly changed hands, a run of 4,2,4 from the 14th end saw them edge away to an 19-10 lead and the loss of a single at the last meant another two points and the aggregate coming to the Northern. Ian Miller's rink has had a very good record this season too and despite narrowly losing by a shot last week, they held up to come through again. Ian's Lads faced up to a back end of Colin Barr snr, who had just qualified for Ayr through Dudley's senior Fours, and Tait Trophy winner Peter Miller. Peter was showing the form, and rubs, needed to win such a prestigous event as Dudley got off to a 5-1 start, but it didn't take long for Ian to get back in to this. Five shots at end 7 gave the Northern lads the lead and although they fell behind again at end ten, a 3 then 4 allowed them to build up a lead themselves and despite the loss of two at the last, they still came through to win 18-13. And so it was left to 'midnight' Burns, who had played swaperoo once again at the back with George Prentice. There was also a place at lead for the returning Gordon Wilson, who was backed up by Walter Murray. This turned in to another fight to the finish with virtually nothing in it the whole game. It was Colin Barr jnr (although he is far from being a junior these days ) who was doing most of the damage for Dudley from 3rd. Never more than two shots scored in the game, Mike's boys nosed in front 10-9 with three to play but the loss of 1 single the pair meant they were 2 down going in to the last. Shot against as he went to the mat, Mike turned up a Northern bowl to lie shot but this was still not good enough. A final attempt at a split between bowl and jack to win the game failed narrowly as Burns trailed the white rather than split it and gave the shot away. This meant over the Northern had won convincingly 7-2 against our closest rivals and with the other scores going our way, it increased our lead at the top of a very tight table.
The 2nd XVI were involved in their very own Top of the Table battle when they visited Postal. Once again it was Jim Bathgate and his lads who came up trumps with a great 22-8 win. A three at the last end helped Willie Rae secure a peel at 21 for a point and another MAGNIFICENT SEVEN at the last from Alex Young and his rink was enough to earn the Northern the extra point, despite still going down 26-22 as Roy Campbell fell 20-15 for a total score of 4-5 to Postal.
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BURNING UP THE ISLAND
A few of our lads and lassies went through to Burntisland on Sunday for their invitation mixed triples. And the good news is that our very own Allan Mitchell, Darren Prentice and and their lady partner, managed to come home with the silverware AND the cash. In a five end final, Allan's three got off to a terrible start by losing three shots at the very first end. However, their reply was good enough to do the business as four singles saw them through to win 4 - 3, congratulation to the three of them.
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THE MAGNIFICENT SEVENS FOR XVI's
As we edged towards the half way mark of the league season, the First XVI found themselves on the road again, this time down at another very difficult venue, the Queensberry. Missing another couple of players in the shape of John Young and Jim McKenna, this was helped by the return of Grahame Bell, with faither Robert being drafted in again as another replacement. And it was Robert's rink who found themselves involved in a quite incredible game, mainly thanks to the 'Berry skip John Kidd, who had a tremendous game and turned heads in his favour with relentless monotony. After 15 ends played, the score lay at 9-6 to the 'Berry, a single shot being the maximum score at each end. It took until the 16th end for this incredible run to be broken when at long last, Kidd found things not such a childs play and ran through the head twice to leave George Prentice lying a MASSIVE THREE shots and peels. Two great opening bowls from Robert Bell was followed up by a slight nick on the Jack from Walter Murray, Leaving the Northern looking good. Mike Burns was left to play covering bowls and despite another hit by Kidd, the Jack rolled over to a Northern bowl and with only George left to play, he declined to leave his rink with an almost unbelievable 10-9 victory. Hughie Hilson was playing against Gordon Wilson jnr and got off to a fine start. Despie losing the first end, the lads then won eight out of the next 9 ends to lead 15-4 and although they only won one more of the remaining 7 ends, they had built up a comfortable enough lead to coast through to a 16 -11 win. And it was this 5 shot winning margin which was to be by far the biggest margin of victory on the green Davy Scott's lads always seemed to have the edge in another very tight game but once again, this went right down to the wire. Two up going into the last end, Davy faced a lie of game against with the last bowl of the game. You don't become a Tait Trophy winner though without having bottle as well as ability and Davy held solid to draw 2nd shot and another one shot victory was chalked up to the Northern. In the final match, Ian Miller's lads were involved in a titanic struggle, with the score going one way then another. It looked as though Ian, Graeme, Mike. J and Stevie had gave themselves a wee lead at 13-9 but the loss of a 5 turned it all round again. Ian is made of sterner stuff these days though and quickly replied with a four for themselves but even this did not prove to be enough as they faced a deficit of 2 shots going into the last end. The lads only managed to secure a single shot, leaving them with 18-19 defeat, meaning three of the four rinks finsihed with a one shot winning margin but more importantly, a 7-2 victory for the Northern.
And it was more good news on the home front as our 2nd XVI went top of their division with a 7-2 win against bottom of the table Mayfield. Wins for Bob Lee 22-11, Willie Rae 21-14 and Jim Bathgate 21-16 overcame another single loss by Roy Campbell 13-12.
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THIRD TIME LUCKY FOR THE BURNS BOYS
The final of the SBA fours took place on Monday night under what can be best described as DAMP conditions. Jimmy Porter, Ronnie Mcdonald, Ian Macdonald and Ian Miller took on Jimmy McKenna, sub Willie Robb, Mike. J. Burns and Mike Burns, the latter two appearing in their third consecutive club SBA fours final. It was Ian Miller's rink who got off to the better start, leading 6-2 but a four to peel things up was sign of the things to come. Peels were also called at 7, 8 and 10 and there was never any more than two shots in it either way throughout the game. As Mike Burns rink managed to keep themselves a couple in front going in to the 2nd last end at 13-11, it took a great running bowl from young Mike to turn the white right through the head and was unlucky to see the Jack rebound sideways off one of his own back bowls when the trail in to the ditch would surely have been a match winning lie of four. With the White now almost out of the rink, neither Ian Miller or Burns the older got close to it with their first efforts. However, Ian Miller had been having a great game all night and true to form, Ian played a beauty, drawing from outside the rink to drift back and lie shot, a fantastic bowl under the severest of pressure as he faced a count of 4 shots against. There was only one shot for Mike Burns to play, take the bowl out, and as his bowl left his hand, it was debateable whether it was going to hold its line enough to do the damage. Fortunately for Jim, Willie and the Burns boys, it held enough to get the merest of contacts and knock Ian's bowl into the ditch. The subsequent count of four left Burns rink 6 shots in front going in to the last end. a lead they held comfortably despite a great effort from Ian Macdonald to BURN the end. Having suffered defeats in their previous two Fours finals, it was a very satisfying moment for the Burns lads, especially Mike J. who has now won his FIRST SBA title at bowls and at the Northern.
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FIRST DEFEAT FOR FIRSTS WHILST SECONDS MARCH ON
The First XVI suffered their first defeat of the season against Dean as they went down 5-4 at home. With quite a few absent this week due to holidays, there were a few enfourced changes to both XVI's which Stan Christie move up play 3rd for Hughie Hilson and Jim McKenna went back to Lead for George Prentice. Hughie Hilson got away to a steady start and went 13-1 in front after just 7 ends and whilst the remaining 10 ends were shared 6 apiece, it meant Hughie, Stan, Walter & Gary Largue won with a convincing margin of 19-7. Ian Miller's rink went up against a couple of well kent faces in the shape of ex Northern President Charlie Skellit and skip Bob Linton. The loss of a 5 at the 2nd end didn't help Ian's cause and his lads struggled to keep in touch throughout the rest of the game. However, 8 shots in the last 5 ends helped bring them a lot closer to their opponents and gave the Northern a chance of the aggregate, as they eventually finished 14-18 down. Davy Scott had gone down to his first defeat of the season last week and things didn't look very good early doors here either, as his rink found themselves 7-0 down after only 4 ends. Fortunately though, his lads found their length and over the next 9 ends raced away to a 17-10 advantage, helped by a 5 and a 4 in the process. Jim and Darren Prentice and Allan Mitchell helped Davy return to winning ways as they came home with the points in a 21-14 victory. And so it was left to George Prentice rink, who had scored a convincing win the previous week and must surely have been full of confidence. Well, so you might have thought but the reality turned out be entirely different. Right from the 2nd end when Mike Burns turned a lie of 2 in favour to a one shot deficit, things just went from bad to worse. The loss of three 3's, four doubles and a four gives you an idea of how badly they struggled and the guys were just never at the races. However, they still had a very important part to play in the overall aggregate as things were tight across the board and when they accepted a single at the 2nd last end, it meant Northern were 3 shots up over the card. Frustratingly though, even this was not good enough as the Dean piled in the shots at the last end as they looked to steal the extra point. Despite John Young going close twice and skip George himself looking as though he had done enough with both his efforts, lady luck had well and truly deserted the boys as the merest of contact on a Northern bowl was enough for George to slide past the head and finish fractions outside the count, leaving Dean with Four shots and the aggregate.
Better news though came from the Dean itself as our 2nd XVI's returned home with a convincing 7-2 victory. THE MEAN MACHINE has kept on doing well with a 7-2 victory over The DEAN BC. Two good wins for WILLIE RAE & BOBBY LEE with a ten point margin in each game. A good 4pts in the bag but Ian Macdonald had a difficult game on his hands with a very experienced Dean rink. But credit to our boys they fought hard and went down fighting. The high point of the evening was the Jim Bathgate game, 2nd last end one down, peeled it. Peels going into the last end then out went the call to Jim SIMON COWELL Bathgate your boys have the X factor, and they did with a great four. WELL DONE THE MEAN
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NO DRESS REHEARSAL AS SBA FOURS FINALISTS DECIDED
As the first major semi-final of the season took place on Monday evening, it was more than a little disappointing to see many of the players turn up inappropriately dressed for the occasion. Despite this though, the four semi-finalists took to the green to do battle as Jim Porter, Ronnie Mcdonald, Ian Macdonald and Ian Miller faced up to Phil Rae, Laurie Pae, Jim Bathgate and Graeme Prentice. It was Ian Miller's lads who got of to a flier though as they found themselves with a 7-0 lead after 5 ends. Graeme Prentice rink did get on the scorecard at the next end with a single but this was cold comfort for their rink as Ian then scored a 3 then 1 to lead 11-1. From this position, Jim, Ronnie, and the two Ian's never looked like losing and despite losing two scores of three, went on to win 18-8 with an end to spare. The other semi-final was a much closer affair with last year's runners up Jim McKenna, Mike J. Burns, John Young and Mike Burns facing, Jimmy Martin, Ronnie Scott, Harry Hastie and Allan Mitchell. It was Mike's rink who got off to the better start, leading 7-1 after 7 ends, but the loss of a 4 and two singles had the game peeled at 7's after 9 ends. Two singles to Burns and his boys put them back in front but they were soon facing a lie of 4 or 5 against with the last bowl to come. Fortunately for Mike, he managed to draw the shot for a huge turnaround and with a score of 4 themselves at the next end, took a comfortable 14-7 lead with 4 ends left to play. Two doubles for Allan's rink sandwiched a pair for Mike's lads, meaning they went into the last end 5 up. A loose end by the leads was enough to see Allan lying two shots with back position and although John Young played a good bowl for another 2nd, Harry Hastie trailed the white into the ditch to lie three shots. John had yet again played a telling bowl to get third shot back, which meant Allan had to play a chap and lie, but unfortunately for him, he missed and his bowl was dead in the ditch. A nothing bowl from Mike gave Allan a 2nd chance but again he missed and the game was over, leaving Mike and his lads to face Ian's rink in the final on Monday coming, with hopefully everyone properly dressed for the Final.
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FIRST XVI REMAIN UNBEATEN WHILST 2ND's CHALK UP ANOTHER WIN
It was back to the old North West League set up this week as both First and Second XVI faced Corstorphine, with the First XVI travelling up the road. There were only positional changes to the team from last week in the main, with Mike Burns and George Prentice swapping over at the back end and Gordon Wilson taking over from Hughie Hilson in their rink. We did see the return of Stan Christie and Mike J Burns to fill in vacant spots and both these returnees ended up on the winning rinks. George Prentice and his lads got off to a bad start, losing a 3 at the first end and although they edged in front at 5-3, they quickly found themselves 10-6 down, thanks to some very good converstion shots by the Corstorphine skip. However, this was the last time the hosts were to trouble the scorecard until the last end as Stan pulled the mat up the green and both he and John Young found their length. Back to back 5 then 6 shots saw George race away to an eventual tally of 28-11 and this score alone was enough to secure the extra point. Still undefeated Davy Scott and his lads were finding things tougher this week and although they were still in touch at 5-6 after 8 ends, the loss of three 3's and a 4 in the second part of the game was enough for lads to end up on the wrong side of 17-10 loss. Our other undefeated rink, which saw Mike. J Burns stepping in for the missing Walter Murray, kept their record intact as they won a hard fought contest 17-8. Ian Miller and the boys were always in front in this one and they picked up a couple of 4's to edge away to their eventual victory. This just left Gordon Wilson to fight out a hard battle in their game. Gordon, swapping over with Hughie, had managed to get in front 12-9 after 11 ends but the loss of 9 shots in the last 6 ends was enough to see them going down 13-18, leaving the Northern with another away win of 5-4.
The second XVI news through of a fine 6-3 victory for the
boys at home. Jim Bathgate had a hard tussle in his game, eventually
going down by nine shots. Roy Campbell fought to the bitter end to
seal the first two points of the evening. Alex Young’s rink were
down 3 shots going in to the second last end but managed to pull the deficit
back to earn a well deserved peel. Ronnie Macdonald & Mike Morrison
had a blinder at the front end with Gary Harrison and skip Bob Lee enjoying
putting in the final touches to a convincing 30 shots to 9 victory.
Well done the 2nd sixteen on a hard fought 6 3 victory
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NO THREE IN A ROW FOR FOURS CHAMPS
There is no to be no Hat-Trick of wins for our club SBA Fours holders Hugh Hilson and his lads as they fell this year at the first hurdle, beaten by the rink skipped Allan Mitchell. Hughie and his boys had won this title for the past two years but found Allan Mitchell, Harry Hastie, Ronnie Scott and Jimmy Martin just too good on the night. The runners up for the past two years did however manage to edge through. Mike Burns, John Young, Mike J. Burns and Jim McKenna took an early lead and held this throughout the the game and on the other rinks, Jim Bathgate's makeshift side was also too good for their opponents and Ian Miller and his lads proved too strong in their game also.
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A GLORY GLORIOUS DAY FOR THE HIBEES
The annual Hibs v Hearts fun challenge day was greeted with glorious sunshine and a healthy turnout from the Hibees in particular. Unfortunately both the President and Vice President had not made it it back in time from their scouting mission to Lithuania and their noteable absence forced that Jambo's to start with a not fully fit Andrew Irving. Andrew did mange to pass a late fitness test and said he would 'give it his all' for the first half, before being subbed by Gary Largue. The 'Derby' got under way with both teams playing a 4-4-3-3 (two rinks and two triples) formation and it was the Hibees who made the better start. The triple skipped by Mike Burns got away to a very good start as John Young was leading well from the front and was ably backed up by Mike J. Burns. It took a last bowl trail by Hearts Skip Grant Young to keep his side of Peter Farrell and Bob Bain in touch, although ultimately this made little difference as the Hibees roared away to a convincing win. The two Captains, George Prentice and Bob Lee were involved in a Ding Dong battle but again it was the Hibees who came good in a very close game. Allan Mitchell claimed afterwards that he was BRILLIANT in his role as skip for the Jambos, however his brilliance was still not good enough as he went down and another victory was chalked up to the 'Green Machine'. It was left to Roy Campbell to make it wins all round for the Hibees but Roy's boys just fell short of this as they 'peeled' their game, giving the Jambos little consololation that they avoided a GREEN WASH. As always though, the real winners on the day was the Northern Bowling Club, meaning everybody was on the winning side on Saturday. This game, whilst always played with a wee edge, is ALWAYS played in great spirit and is a thoroughly enjoyable day out as the Sun shone not just on Leith. Hibs Captain George Prentice was beaming with pride as he was presented with the winning trophy by Bob Lee, George even breaking into song momentarily. George also took a bit of pleasure in presenting Bob with the losers Loo seat, meaning the overall score in this game is 07 - 07.
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FIRST XVI WIN AGAINST EARLY PACE SETTERS
With the 2nd XVI having their FREE week this week, the First XVI were on their own as they visited the early League Leaders Niddrie. Taking advantage of the situation, ROC was 'stolen' from the 2nd's to cover for the abscence of others and it was that rink, skipped by Hughie Hilson, that was involved in the big battle of the evening. Nip and tuck for most of the match, unfortunately the lads just lost in the final two ends to go down 16-12. On the other side of the green though, last weeks runaway winners skipped by Ian Miller, were at it again. Stevie Raeburn has been turning on the style from Lead and is being well backed up by Walter Murray, whilst Graeme Prentice has formed a good bond with Ian. Once again the lads raced away and were 14-2 in front before an eye was blinked, eventually running away with it with a 27-5 hammering of their opponents. It wasn't quite so good on the rink skipped by Mike Burns, who had George Prentice returning from his break to play 3rd with the ever reliable John Young and Jim McKenna at the front end. Mike had left his bowls in the changing room before the game started and this was as close to the Jack as his bowls got all night, he should have just stayed in there with them. Being completely out bowled by the opposition skip, it was mostly one way traffic, although they did somehow manage to claw their back in to the game, only to eventually lose it 20-13. There had been another titanic battle on the last game with Davy Scott (not the Niddrie man giving Burns a lesson but our very own Davy Scott) and his boys fighting all the way to the end. Jim Prentice, Darren Prentice and Allan Mitchell had been playing well to keep themselves in this Close Encounter and in the last few ends managed to pull away to an excellent 22-12 win, meaning the Northern came away with the aggregate and a 5-4 victory against the League Leaders.
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LAST BOWL DENIES NORTHERN CLEAN SWEEP
The First XVI played host to Centenary club Willowbrae and many congratulations to them for reaching this milestone. However, our lads were in no mood to present them with any gifts and Ian Miller, playing skip in the abscence of George Prentice, was quickly out of the traps to take an 11-2 lead. With Stevie Raeburn making his First XVI debut as Lead, the lads joined by Walter Murray and Graeme Prentice, stormed away for a very comfortable 22-9 victory. Hughie Hilson and his lads were involved in a tighter game but again managed to take control at the half way point and after going 14-6 up after 8 ends, went on to win equally as comfortably 24-11. Davy Scott made his return to the Northern Green by skipping Allan Mitchell, Darren Prentice and Stan Christie and this proved to be a much tighter affair. Apart from a 4 for the lads at the 6th end, which allowed them to establish a lead that was never headed, although the game did peel at 9 after 13 ends, the game was tight with two shots being the next highest score at any one end. Davy made it two wins out of two for himself on his return to the club and with the aggregate now won, at least 7 points were in the bag. It had not looked good early on for Mike Burns and his lads as Willowbrae raced away to a 4-14 lead and a hammering looked certain there. However, Jim McKenna, Bob Bell and John Young finally got their act together and somehow managed to claw their way back in to the game to lead 15-14 going in to the final end. Deciding to keep the jack to try and control the length, the longer Jacks proving vital in the comeback, this decision proved to be the downfall. Lying game set and match with the just the last bowl of the game to come, Willowbrae skip and President, Ian Paterson trailed the white through the head, a shot that had not looked possible all night on the hand, and victory went to Willowbrae. Whilst this was a disapppointing finish to the game, a 7-2 win for Northern is one always to put a smile on the faces and congratulations must go to the players, who incidentally looked tremendous wearing the new club Polo Shirts.
If a 7-2 win was pleasing for the first XVI, this was even BETTERED by the news from Leith that our 2nd XVI had came up trumps with a maximum 9-0 win at an extremely difficult venue. All four games were very tight and in the case of Roy Campbell's rink, it took a run of 3, 3, 4, 1, to claw back his deficit and take a lead that allowed them to see out the game out 20-17. Bob Lee, back skipping again, had a similar run which saw his rink take 9 shots in four ends to a winning margin of 19-14 and Alex Young, being peels at 13 with only 3 ends to play won these ends and his 17-13 win gave the Northern another 2 points. Jim Bathgate had lost a 3 then 4 to see his lead cut to 12-11 but Jim is made of strong stuff these days and a single then four pulled his lads in front to see them win 17-13 and the Full Monty of 9 points was heading back to the Northern.
A very big well done to ALL the lads playing last night and all but for a final bowl of the game, it might easily have been a clean sweep for the lads, but a 7-2 & 9-0 win is more than acceptable
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A WEE BIT HEAVY AND A HALF POINT
The start of the new league campaign got under way as the first XVI hit the road with a visit to Maitland whilst the 2nd XVI hosted Goldenacre. The club had been boosted earlier in the week with the return of ex club Champion & Tait Trophy winner Davy Scott and he was thrown right in to the deep end as he played 2nd to skip Mike Burns. And it turned out to be a winning return for Davy as Jim McKenna and John Young helped the rink to a convincing 20-10 win and one that could have been a bit more convincing than the final score. Never in any doubt from an early stage, this score put the 2 points on the board whilst the other three rinks battled away in tight games across the green where each result hung in the balance until the last end. Unfortunately both Hughie Hilson and Gordon Wilson both finished on the wrong side of their close games and it was left to George Prentice to come good. Going into the last end one shot in front, George was lying game against with his last bowl of the game. However this proved no problem for our Back to Back Champion and George drew the shot to win his match. On a slightly heavy green, which is understandable at this time of the year, George's last bowl draw not only secured two points for his rink but also peeled the game overall for an extra half point and a share of the spoils at 4 1/2 points each, and who knows how crucial this might prove to be at the end of the season.
Back at the Northern, the news was not so good as the lads went down 2-7 to a strong Goldenacre side, with only Alex Young's side ending up with a victory, Jim Bathgate, Roy Campbell and Ian McDonald all going down in their respective games.
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TRIALISTS ACQUIT THEMSELVES VERY WELL
Despite objections from some quarters of the 'Trial' game being a cut up, with all the evidence pointing towards a RED team victory, the BLUES had a very strong case and defended themselves very well, and with two wins apiece, the verdict had to simply be NOT PROVEN. A big thank you has to go to everyone who turned up to take part in this game, and it was a very worthwhile exercise as far as the selectors were concerned. It goes hopefully without saying that all those who took part will be called upon at some stage during the season to represent the club in the league and other matches. To those who might not have made the team for the first league match, I can say, it is a long season and your time will hopefully come.
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OLDIES TAKE GOLD
It turned into fools Gold for the Golden Oldies in the annual whipper snappers v Auld Yins challenge match, although it has been a very long time since most of the 'Oldies' have been called whipper snappers. A victory across the board for the Oldies with a 50-29 overall win was good enough to retain the trophy in a keen but friendly competative match. The lads and lassies who took part were well looked after with a welcome plate of stovies following the game and everyone seemed to enjoy their evening.
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FRIENDLY FIRE JUST OUTWITH OUR GRANGE
Our first friendly of the season was played against Prestongrange on Saturday which turned out be very enjoyable. Garry Harrison got of to great start skipping Bobby Lee, Mike Morrison and G Largue they were 8 up after 4 ends then went on to lose 16-11. Allan Mitchell skipped K Dixon, G Anderson and B Bain and we lost 21-12 a ray of sunshine is that R Campbell won 22-9 and collected the cash for highest up. We lost the game over all by 1 shot. Following our after match meal, provided by our new caterers, we went back out on to the green and played a quick game of target bowls, which was later followed indoors by a wee competition whereby everybody threw coins at a whiskey bottle, both events were won by a lad from our visitors from Prestongrange.
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OPEN FOR BUSINESS
Opening day was seemingly a huge success, according to early reports, with almost half the membership turning up for the annual Presidents v Vice Presidents game. The first 'Jack' of the season was rolled by the Presidents' partner Moira and this was followed by the first bowl from the President himself, who apparently claimed Moira never threw the Jack close enough to where his bowl would finish. Reports suggest that the President's team took the honours on the day and it was pointed out also that one of new selectors suffered his first defeat of the season, a dangerous game to play by his opponent who is now looking like he could be a spectator this season if he continues to defeat any more selectors.
TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS TO START THE 2010 SEASON
At the request of our new Management committee, there will be something of what can only be best described as a 'Trial' match at the club in preperation for the start of the new league season. Due to a clash of dates already, this game will now be played on Sunday May 2nd at 2.00pm when we will be hoping to gather 10 rinks of players who we hope will play a major part in the coming seasons' league and cup campaigns. Now that the date has finally been fixed, the team sheets are up on the board NOW and we ask everyone selected to make their best effort to come along and play in this game. It would be great if you could all manage along to the club to see if your name is there, and maybe even get some practice in :-)
THE 2010 BOWLS LEAGUE SEASON
The fixtures for the 2010 Edinburgh Bowling League season have been drawn and the first XVI start off on the road with an away fixture at Maitland. They will also finish up on their travels as the final game of the season will see us visit Dudley, in what, on paper anyway, looks to be a very interseting league as acquaintances are re-newed with old North West League opponents, Maitland, Dean, Queensberry and Corstorphine.
The 2nd XVI obviously start off with a home fixture, with the opponents being Goldenacre and their season is rounded up with a visit from Postal. Because of League reconstuction, our 2nd XVI failed to gain the promotion their efforts of last season deserved, however, little could be done on this matter and it was for the benifit of the EBL clubs as a whole and not individual clubs. It also means that our 2nd XVI will have two free weeks during the season as the league consists of only SEVEN clubs.
All the 2010 season games are on our FIXTURES link now.
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ALL FALLS DOWN
The Northern welcomed the Falls BC from Belfast to the Club on Saturday the 12th and it was indeed the "glorious 12th" as far as the weather was concerned. President Garry welcomed our visitors who were treated to the extraordinary sight of Gary Largue having his back waxed by Sarah & Gemma. His pain was well rewarded however with in excess of £200 being raised towards the cost of our proposed indoor short carpet. Gary was a fantastic sport for putting himself through this and this must surely be commitement over and above the cause for the Northern Bowling Club, well done Gary and a HUGE thanks from everyone.
Gary all smiles before the pain begins Not quite so happy as Sarah tears a strip of him
Next up was a spider and this was won by Davy Scott. On
to the game and four full rinks and two triples participated in an excellent
days play which resulted in a rare, this year at any rate, friendly victory
for the Northern. Both sides then enjoyed an excellent meal in the clubhouse
before returning to the green for some efforts at the target bowls.
The evening saw more visitors to the club to join the players and they were
hugely entertained by a great cabaret duo. Following the cabaret our guests
and some of the NBC stalwarts took their turn at the cabaret with mixed success!!
Highlight had to be the rendition of Fiddler on The Roof in all it's full
glory by one of our visitors. All round an excellent day was had by all,
new friendships made and our visitors are looking forward to welcoming our
own tour party to Belfast and the Fall club in May of next year.
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BURNS ON FIRE AS HE AT LAST COMES TO THE FOUR
The premier competition of the season, the club singles Championship, took centre stage on a wet and dreary Friday night but this did not deter either the players or the spectators, who in particular, came out to support the club on this miserable night. Twice champion and several times runner up, Stan Christie took on Mike Burns, himself achieving a hat-trick of final defeats and facing a 2nd time two year running 'bridesmaid' prize. However, it was Mike who got off to the better start by taking two doubles at the first two ends, before Stan replied with a single of his own to get on the scorecard. A single followed a full house four and another double by Mike, had Stan in all sorts of trouble at 11-1 but a sloppy end by Burns let Stan back right back into the game as he quickly replied with his own count of four to make it 'game on' at 11-5. Stan however, was not finding things easy in the wet conditions and Mike soon raced away to 17-5 and within touching distance of his first ever singles title. Stan's determination though found a bit of form that we all know he is more than well capable of playing, and it took some good and fortunate bowls by Mike to take the score to 20-6. Now it was a case of, can Mike hold his nerve? as the 'Holy Grail' was in his sights and doubts maybe crept into the minds of the spectators as Stan scored at the next two ends to take his tally to nine. Then Mike played a good opener, only for Stan to better it. Mike trailed the jack to lie game again and after missing with his first attempt, Stan played a great 'take out' with his final bowl to lie shot and save the game again. With the option to play a running bowl of his own to take Stan's only bowl out of play, Mike opted for the draw instead and fortunately for him, it made the distance by an inch and the Championship was won at his fourth final of asking.
Before presenting Mike with the marvellous piece of silverware that is the Northern Championship trophy, President Garry Harrison gave summary of the season so far and congratulated everyone on playing their part in what has been, so far, a magnificent achievement for the Northern, something that was reiterated by Mike in his own speach.
President Garry presents the Trophy to Mike Mike proudly holds the Championship trophy
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