North Cliff star Ian Richardson snaps up Eddie Burton Over-60s Singles Merit victory

Thirty-two bowlers entered the competition which was sponsored by Edna Burton in memory of her late husband Eddie Burton who was the bowls correspondent for The Scarborough Evening News, writes David Muir.

In the first round two home bowlers had good performances with Ashley Brunton-Douglas losing 21-17 to Brian Whitehouse (Dukes Park) and Dave Moment beating Alan Horton (Hunmanby) 21-19

The first game of the second round saw another home bowler, Ian Richardson, record an emphatic 21-8 win over Tim Purcell (Whitby) while Geoff Oldham (Hunmanby) had an almost equally decisive 21-11 win over Borough’s Barrie Watson.

In the bottom half of the draw Harry Old (Hunmanby) had a very close win, 21-20 against Moment while Robert Child, having beaten one North Cliff clubmate, Nigel Trotter, 21-13 went one better in beating another, Ed McCormack, 21-12.

In the first semi-final Richardson had a slightly tougher win, but still 21-13, against Oldham while Old and another close game beating Child 21-18.

The final, played with three on the card, started evenly with the score at 6-6 after four ends before Richardson opened up a 10-6 lead after seven ends.

Old then pulled some back to trail 12-10 after 11 ends but only scored one more in the next six ends with Richardson running out the winner by 21-11.

Sunday’s format saw the pairs are made up of one bowler aged 65 or over and one who is 64 or under.

Inevitably this results in many of the pairings being less familiar with playing with each other than is the case in Open Doubles competitions but without the total randomness of a Drawn Pairs

It does not, however, eliminate clashes between clubmates.

Sixty-four bowlers, including a fair contingent from South and West Yorkshire, turned up at a sunny North Cliff to compete for the Derrick Swift Cup, named in honour of a stalwart of North Cliff who sadly died a few years ago.

The competition was sponsored by his widow Marlene and his family and by the North Riding Brew Pub.

The first round, played off three as was the whole competition, saw a mixture of comprehensive wins and tight games.

In the latter category there were Paul Morgan (Whitby) and Geoff Oldham (Hunmanby) who beat the home pair of Dave Moment & Alan Lee 21-18 and another home pair, Alan Landers & Ian Richardson, who had a 21-17 win against Borough’s Tony Bland & Andy Adamson.

In the second round visitors Richard Jackson & Ian Ross (both Thongsbridge) beat the home pair of Adam Chilvers & Ed McCormack 21-18 while another home pair, Robert Child & Nigel Trotter, had a 21-17 win against Sue Holdsworth (Hunmanby) & Jo Leeman (Whitby).

There were also 21-18 wins for Morgan & Oldham against Landers & Richardson and Danny Cooper (North Cliff) and Jack Richardson (Hunmanby) over Hunmanby’s mother and daughter pairing Pam & Lisa Watson.

In the top half of the quarter-finals Child & Trotter went through 21-17 against Jackson & Ross while Kevin Gates & Geoff Watson cruised through 21-7 playing Cooper & Ricardson.

In the bottom half Morgan & Oldham had a fairly comfortable 21-14 win over Tony Chambers & Linda Armstrong (both Castleford) while Peter Harvey & Ian Hadden won an all Whitby game against Tim Purcell & Josh Emmerson by the same margin.

In the first semi-final Gates & Watson had an easy 21-8 win over Child & Trotter while Morgan & Oldham had to work harder for a 21-15 win against Harvey & Hadden.

The semi-finals were slightly interrupted by a sudden, but brief, downpour which caused play to be suspended for about 10 minutes after which the sunshine returned.

The final swung one way and the other with Gates & Watson trailing 6-7 after three ends.

Morgan & Oldham then made the deficit 6-13 after six ends only for Gates & Watson to come back 14-13 after 10 ends.

Morgan & Oldham then scored five in the next three ends only for Gates & Watson to score an unanswered seven in four ends to win 21-18.

The presentation was made by Stuart Neilson from the North Riding Brew Pub.

On Friday, June 21, there is an Over-60 Doubles Merit at Eastfield and on Sunday, June 23, there is a Doubles Merit at Bridlington Bay.

The start times are 9.30am and anyone wanting to play must register beforehand as the draws will be made in advance.

At county level three teams representing the area will be playing in competitions.

Our Ladies’ Inter-District team travel to Harrogate on Sunday to take on Castleford and Huddersfield at Black Swan.

The Men’s Inter-District team travel to West Riding District to play Airedale & Wharfedale and Castleford at Cleckheaton Sports.

This year there is a new venture with an Over-60s team being entered in the Hickson Trophy played over two Fridays, 5 & 12 July in Bradford District.

Our team play Airedale & Wharfedale, Leeds and Wakefield at Heckmondwike on 5 July to try to qualify for the final stages on 12 July at Wibsey Park.

At the local level the Association Knock Out Cup will be played on various greens, qualifying rounds on 27 July and the semi-finals and final on 10 August.

In addition to all this there are our regular Cup competitions, The William Boyes Cup, The Hospital Cup and the Rosebowl Doubles, the Sumer and Over-60s Champion of Champions

Trophies to be played for with the summer season finishing with the Mick Jessop Cup restricted to winners of merits.