CLYDEBANK AND DISTRICT BOWLING ASSOCIATION The CDBA Short Carpet Finals were held on Wednesday, March 26 at Yarrow Bowling Club. The hall was full of spectators despite the fact that only players from four of the District Clubs were participating.

Yarrow President Ricky McDougall welcomed everybody to Yarrow and passed the club over to this year’s CDBA President Frank Carrigan to make the announcements.

The players and matches were introduced by District Secretary John Anderson and the triples final was the first game on the carpet. Tommy Pollock, Willie McIntyre and George Griffin of Dalmuir were up against the Clydebank triple of Joe Kerrigan, David Keel and Alan McLeod.

After one shot for Dalmuir at the first end, the Clydebank gents scored a maximum six at the second end. This seemed to make the Dalmuir team more determined and they rallied over the next few ends to establish a 10-6 lead. Dalmuir were only to lose one more shot on the way to a 15-7 victory.

After a short break, the Pairs Final players were welcomed on to the carpet. It was an all Yoker affair with Ian Anderson and Les Durkan taking on Stevie Calder and Mitch Hughes. This match was very tight throughout with neither pair able to make a big score at any end to try to distance themselves from their opponents. However, Ian and Les just found that little bit extra fluency and eventually ran out 8-7 winners.

The singles final was between Colin Smith of Victoria Park and Gary Earl from Yoker. It seemed to be a nervy start by both players on the tricky carpet and they traded shots in the first four ends or so. Both players then came on to a game with Colin proving to be just a little more consistent on the night.

The final score was Colin Smith 7 Gary Earl 3. The presentation of the trophies was then carried out by the District President and Secretary to great applause from the spectators, before all the players were invited for refreshments in the Board Room. Well done to all the winners and finalists.

The CDBA Senior Short Carpet Finals were held at Albion Bowling Club on Monday, March 24. CDBA President Frank Carrigan was in attendance to introduce the players and games onto the short carpet.

The Triples Final started off proceedings with Jimmy Curl, Stevie Calder and Mitch Hughes of Yoker BC up against Denis Durning, John Carruth and Bert Ritchie of Dalmuir BC. The Yoker triple ran out comfortable 12-4 winners. Dalmuir were also represented in the Pairs Final with Peter Mason and George Griffin playing Tom Murray and Willie Rioch of Clydebank BC. The final score was Dalmuir 9 Clydebank 2.

The Seniors Singles Final was between Alex Smith of Radnor Park and Gordon Phillips of Clydebank. Both players contributed to a great final but Gordon’s consistency led him to winning the match by 8-3. Congratulations were afforded to all winners and runners-up during the presentation of the trophies.

SCOTTISH INDOOR BOWLING ASSOCIATION The remaining Scottish Indoor National Championship semi-finals and finals were played at Prestwick IBC on Saturday 29 and Sunday, March 30. Saturday’s semi-finals included the Ladies Pairs where Emma McIntyre and Annette Christie of Dumbarton IBC were up against Kathleen Souden and Michelle Cooper of Ardrossan IBC. The Dumbarton ladies competed well but in the end Ardrossan ran out comfortable 26-12 winners.

All the winning semi-finalists returned on Sunday to play the various finals. The results were as follows: ladies pairs — Turriff 25 Ardrossan 9, Ladies Triples — East Lothian 18 Galleon 10, Ladies Fours — Midlothian 19 Arbroath 11, Gents Pairs — Midlothian 23 Turriff 10, Gents Triples — Blantyre 20 Berwickshire 6, Gents Fours — Elgin 16 Auchinleck 15.

The SIBA Ladies Scottish Cup Final will be held on Saturday, April 5. Turriff play against Cumbernauld at East Kilbride IBC. The semi-finals of the Gents Scottish Cup will be held on the same day.

The fixtures are: Bainfield v Blantyre (at Fintry IBC) and Turriff v Cumbernauld (at Arbroath IBC). The Final of the Team Championship between Arbroath and Cumbernauld will be held at West Lothian IBC on Sunday 6th April.

The SIBA Seniors Scottish Cup final was held at Arbroath on Wednesday, March 26 with local club Whiteinch taking on East Lothian.

It proved to be an epic final with two very evenly matched teams and the match was only decided by the last bowl at the last end. Despite achieving two wins, one draw and one defeat the Whiteinch Seniors narrowly lost out 64-65 when bowls legend Willie Wood MBE produced a remarkable conversion shot with his final bowl.

The results of the four matches were as follows (Whiteinch skips only): Tommy Clark 17-17, Gavin Colquhoun 10-22, H. Murray 19-14 and Jake Condy 18-12.

The Glasgow and District Bowling Association knockout competitions are progressing well and the majority of the remaining semi-finals were played on Sunday, March 23. The results were as follows: Under-16 Singles — Blantyre 21 East Kilbride 4 and West of Scotland v Allander (TBA), Under-25 Singles — Cumbernauld beat East Kilbride and Dumbarton beat West of Scotland, Ladies Singles — Dumbarton beat Whiteinch and Coatbridge beat West of Scotland, Ladies Pairs – Blantyre beat Cumbernauld and Whiteinch beat West of Scotland, Ladies Triples – Allander beat Fintry and Blantyre beat Cumbernauld, Ladies Fours — Cumbernauld beat Coatbridge and Blantyre v Fintry (TBA). The finals are due to take place on Sunday, April 13 and full details will be provided in next week’s column.

The Glasgow and District BA Leagues have been played over the last few weeks. In the Ladies Triples League, section one was won by Cumbernauld and section two was won by Allander. In the Seniors Triples League the section winners were Blantyre (section one) and Whiteinch (section two). Some of the Gents Triples League results have yet to be reported and the final section placings can not be finalised at this stage.

Clydebank Indoor Bowling Club held their AGM at the Playdrome on Monday, March 24 and there was an excellent attendance of members.

The following Office Bearers were elected — president Hugh Sharpe, vice president Peter McCaig, secretary Tommy Winter and secretary Christine Sayer.

DISTRICT CLUB NEWS The outdoor bowling season is upon us once again and there are several District Clubs opening their greens for the “summer” season.

It has been a fairly mild winter which has allowed the local greenkeepers to carry out work throughout the winter and get the greens in as good condition as possible for the various openings.

The following clubs will be hosting their Opening Ceremonies this weekend: Friday, April 4 — Radnor Park (6.00 for 6.30pm), Saturday, April 5 — Albion (1.00 for 1.30pm), Clydebank (1.30 for 2.00pm), Dalmuir (1.30 for 2.00pm), Old Kilpatrick (2.00 for 2.30pm), Singer (1.30 for 2.00pm), Victoria Park (1.30 for 2.00pm) and Yoker (1.30 for 2.00pm).