Kenny Wale and Sue Emmerson earn Hunmanby Open Doubles win

In addition to this Bridlington Bay held an Over-60s Singles the following Friday and Hunmanby and Open Singles on Sunday, writes David Muir.

Monday dawned with wall to wall sunshine and the turnout of 62 was very respectable.

It also gave the opportunity for first games to be played off scratch ensuring everyone had one full 21-up game.

The slight downside to this was that, as there were several close games, the last pairs did not get onto the green until after midday.

Notable first round games included John Hamer (Halifax) & Peter Van De Gevel (Hunmanby) recording a 21-20 win over Stuart Thompson (Pontefract) & Tony Chambers (Castleford) and Whitby’s Geoff Watson & Paul Morgan seeing off the home pairing of Harry Old & Jack Richardson 21-18.

In the second round Hamer & Van De Gevel had a much bigger win, 21-7, against North Cliff’s Nigel Trotter & Scott Wardman and then went on to beat Callum Malone (North Cliff) & Andy Webb (Alverthorpe) 21-12 in the first quarter-final.

In the other quarters Kenny Wale & Sue Emmerson (both Whitby) beat the home pair, and Sunday losing finalists, Phil Todd & Geoff Oldham 21-18.

In the bottom half of the draw North Cliff pair Alan Landers & Ian Richardson just shaded Watson & Morgan 21-20 while Amanda Hagen (Alverthorpe) & Richard Jackson (Doncaster) cruised to a 21-5 win over Mo Chambers & Linda Armstrong (both Castleford).

Both semi-finals were quite close with Wale & Emmerson beating Hamer & Van De Gevel 21-19 and Landers & Richardson ending Hagen & Jackson’s run with a 21-16 win.

The final, plated with 4 on the card to ensure there was no delay to Evening Singles League matches, saw Landers & Richardson leading 12-8 after 6 ends only for Wale & Emmerson to win the next four ends to lead 16-12. Landers & Richardson did score a 3 in the 11th end but 5 more in the next 3 ends saw Wale & Emmerson home 21-15.

Another fine day on Friday saw 38 bowlers, including a contingent of 6 from Doncaster, gather at Bridlington Bay for the first Over-60s Singles of the season sponsored by Ernest Brigham (Funeral Directors).

The preliminary round saw two tough draws with Robert Child (North Cliff) beating Barrie Watson (Borough) 21-17 and Chris Dobson (Dukes Park) winning by the same margin against Geoff Oldham.

The first game of the second round saw Tony Bland (Borough) pull off a very good win, 21-20, against Ian Richardson (North Cliff while Dobson beat Jack Richardson (Hunmanby) 21-18). Bland then had another good win, 21-17 this time, against Tim Purcell (Whitby) to reach the quarter finals and a game against Ronnie Noble who beat Ed McCormack (North Cliff) 21-18. Ashley Douglas (North Cliff) pulled off another good win, also 21-18, against Geoff Watson (Whitby) while Dobson lost 21-11 to his Dukes Park clubmate Brian Whitehouse.

Bland’s fine run was ended in the quarter-finals by his Borough clubmate Noble and Douglas also lost, 21-14 to Sue Holdsworth (Hunmanby). Sue’s husband Billy (also Hunmanby) demolished North Cliff’s Alan lee 21-3 and their clubmate Harry Old beat Whitehouse 21-14.

In the first semi-final Noble came through 21-19 against Sue Holdsworth while in the second Billy Holdsworth had a 21-17 win over Old.

The final, played off scratch, was another rather one-sided affair with Holdsworth leading 9-1 after 6 ends. Noble did make a comeback but was still down, 12-7, after 14 ends.

Holdsworth then won 7 of the next 8 ends to lead 20-8. Noble did score a 2 but a single on the next end sealed the game for Holdsworth 21-10.

This win earned him a place in the 2024 Mick Jessop Cup and, almost certainly, a chance to defend his Over-60s Champion of Champions crown.

The spell of good weather continued into Sunday for Hunmanby’s Open Singles which attracted 61 entrants.

Notable preliminary round games included Glyn Goodyear beating his Hunmanby clubmate Phil Todd by 21-7 and Kevin Gates (Dukes Park) eliminating Alan Landers 21-17.

In the first round proper Goodyear went on to another good win, 21-20, against Nigel Trotter (North Cliff) while Gates won against his sister Jo Gates (Borough).

The top half of the second round saw Robert Child (North Cliff) beat Tony Bland (Borough) while Goodyear continued his excellent run by beating Whitby’s Kenny Wale. Barrie Watson (Borough) saw off Whitby’s Jo Leeman while his clubmate Gary Thornton went through against North Cliff’s Scott Wardman.

In the bottom half, Gates beat David Walker (North Cliff), Geoff Watson (Whitby) eliminated home player Billy Holdsworth while Stuart Thompson (Pontefract) beat another home player, Lisa Watson. Finally Josh Emmerson (Whitby) ended the hopes of yet another Hunmanby player, Steve Freer.

The first quarter final saw Goodyear’s run ended by Child while Watson prevailed in the all-Borough game against Thornton. Geoff Watson beat Gates while Thompson went through against Emmerson.

The two Watsons were eliminated in the semi-finals, Barrie by Child and Geoff by Thompson.

Again the final was rather one-sided after a start which saw Thompson leading 7-5 after 4 ends. Thompson then won 6 ends to lead 15-5 before Child replied with a 2 to make it 15-7. Child did score two more 2s in the next 5 ends but three 2s to Thompson were enough for a comfortable 21-11 win.