LATEST NEWS

On Friday 8 August we held our most recent competition the Atherton Malone Trophy.  A beautiful summer's evening with a few white fluffy clouds hanging above the hills over Dovestone was the backdrop to a great evening of bowling. 20 competitors took part, again a mixture of regular bowlers and those trying the game on an occasional basis including a few new faces which was fantastic to see. The players enjoyed 3 round robin games and some great bowling in the sunshine. This was followed by the usual mayhem of the Bowl to Block (each player having one bowl, bowled at the same time trying to get nearest to one jack placed in the middle of the green). The top 4 players then squared off in the semi-finals with Chris Howell and Mike Mooney falling at the final hurdle to David Deighton and Mel Chamberlain. As the late evening sun fell behind the hills and the moon rose over Pots & Pans the final was held under floodlights. This was a cagey affair with David eventually pulling away to victory. Huge credit to Mel though, one of the non-regular bowlers taking part, on reaching the final. David is pictured being presented with the trophy by Marjorie Malone. 

The Graham Hill Trophy took place in mostly dry conditions on Sunday 6 July. There were 20 entrants taking part with a mixture of regular bowlers and those who only bowl occasionally - for some annually in this competition! 3 round robin rounds saw some magnificent bowling from everyone especially some of the occasional bowlers. The semi-finals were both very tight affairs with Murray Hill and Richard Longley being defeated by Mark Regan and Chris Haslam respectively. In the final a late comeback from defending champion Mark was not quite enough with Chris winning in the end by 4 points. Chris is pictured being presented with the trophy by Isobel Hill and her granddaughter. Thank you to everyone who took part in or otherwise supported the competition and the raffle which together raised almost £500 for the British Heart Foundation in memory of Graham.

The semi-finals and final of our Inter Team competition were held on Sunday 29 June.  The 4 teams which had battled through 2 qualifying days to win the right to contest for the trophy were Oldham Parks A, Dobbers/Tameside Vets B, Chadderton/Failsworth and Oldham Mens Vets/Tameside Vets A. On a very warm (too warm!) and sunny day the teams showed how evenly matched they were, both semi-finals being very close affairs with some superb bowling.  No home advantage for anyone here! Eventually Dobbers/Tameside Vets B and  Chadderton/Failsworth just won through to the final. This was a real nail-biter going right down to the wire with the Chadderton/Failsworth team winning in the end by only 4 points. The team (well 5 of them who were still around at the end) are pictured with the trophy. Congratulations to all the teams who entered with honourable mention to the Bees and Oldham Ladies Vets A/Ladies A teams who only narrowly missed out on reaching the semi-finals.

At the start of the season our first competition of the year The Green Opening Cup was held on Sunday 6 April. Club President Terry Lawless (pictured) officially opened the green by bowling the first bowl. How can we describe Terry's bowling skills? Let's just say he is very consistent. Some day he might practice beforehand and spoil the fun! The competition saw 32 players battling it out in conditions that were sunny, dry and warm (if you stayed out of the Arctic wind). This was a straight knock out competition. After some superb games in the early rounds, closely fought semi-finals saw David Deighton and Alastair Wright fall at that stage to Cameron Mason and Mike Lucas respectively. The final was a tight contest in front of a decent crowd who had stayed on to watch and enjoy the weather with Cameron pulling away at the end with some excellent bowling to seal the win. Cameron is pictured being presented with the trophy by Terry. 

Next competitions

The next competition is the Merit Cup on Sunday 7 September 2025.  See the Upcoming Events page for more details.

Our final competition this year will be the Floodlit Pairs  on Friday 19 September 2025 - details to follow in due course.

ANY NEW BOWLERS OUT THERE?

If anyone is interested in joining the bowling section to play either in one of our league teams or perhaps as a social bowler please contact either Mike Lucas on 077 4687 6947 or Jane Lucas on 075 9334 9964.