West Kirby Victoria Bowling Club

Despite the ear-bashing given to the Vics and Wallasey C.G.B.A. Secretary, Peter Dodd, by Skipper Mally Johnson and others, the Vics Wallasey side had all twelve winners against Gladstone Squirrels last night to complete a 252-201 victory and with the plucky Gladstone side also receiving 72 from the “rogues” on the Handicap committee, the Vics actually outscored their opponents by 123 shots. The Vics had 5 single figure winners in Matt Gilmore (21-02), Jamie Fitzpatrick (21-05), Steve Nugent (21-07), John Lloyd ( 21-08) and Neil Sherbrooke (21-09). Robby Franklin bounced back after a lean spell to win 21-10 and Robby Fitzpatrick posted a 21-12 winning card. Billy Atkinson completed a comfortable 21-13 win and Brian Leonard won 21-14. Skipper Mally Johnson must have been tearing his hair out when Ian Sherbrooke (21-15), Robby Hall (21-16), and John Devlin (21-18) allowed their opponents a rare sight of a possible victory. Goodness knows what kind of stick I might take when the handicaps are announced for the semi finals but then again I live in hope that Malcolm might one day realise that the Wallasey Committee are not out to stop the Vics winning at all cost but are trying to at least make some kind of a fair match out of some obvious mismatches.

The Vics afternoon “C” had ten winners out of ten on Friday in their home fixture with Hoylake Marine to complete a fine 83 shot win and hopefully give them the confidence to go to Hoylake and actually win the return fixture this week. Ray Farrell was the best for the Vics with an excellent 21-06 win followed by a couple of equally impressive 21-09 wins for Ted Lawrence and Calvert Jones. Arthur Fagan and Don Ibbotson both posted fine 21-10 winning cards with Eddie Dodd coming in with a 21-14 victory. Stan Ridgway and Harold Rutter both had 21-16 wins and with Reg Armitage winning 21-17 it was left to Skipper Brian Buck to show his team how to win and get plenty of practice at the same time. Brian managed to do this with his marathon but vital 21-20 victory to leave the Vics in a strong position regarding the extra point but hopefully not too over confident in the return. Every match is different and full concentration will be required on the tricky little round green at Hoylake this week.

The Vics Birkenhead League side travelled to Gladstone on Friday and with 5 winners on the night, have given themselves a slight chance of gaining the extra point in the return fixture at West Kirby this coming Friday. Mal Andrews, returning to his former club for the first time with the Vics, showed his ex team mates just how to play the excellent Church Road green with a fine 21-10 win. Neil Sherbrooke continued his all conquering Birkenhead League form, to join Mal on four wins in four games, with a 21-14 victory. Both Ian Sherbrooke and John Devlin compiled fine 21-16 wins and Colin Saville came through a tough game to complete the five Vics winners, when he posted a good 21-18 winning card. Brian Leonard, 19-21, was the best of the Vics losers but the team as a whole have given themselves a chance, provided they play well, to overcome Gladstone on Friday.

The Vics Wallasey League side travelled the short distance to Hoylake Central on Thursday and returned with a 62 shot win against their newly promoted opponents. Steve Nugent was the star of the show with an excellent 21-06 win and unusually for the Vics in this league he proved to be the only single figure winner on the night. Anthony Thompson was the next best with a fine 21-11 win followed by Nel Sherbrooke’s 21-12 victory. Both Bill Atkinson and Jamie Fitzpatrick posted 21-13 winning cards and Robby Franklin and Brian Leonard both won 21-14. Dave Gilmore and John Lloyd both had tough games before finally winning 21-17 to complete 9 Vics winners on the night but credit must go to Hoylake Central for their display and they will surely win plenty of home games this season. This win takes the Vics into an early lead at the top of Division One which is where Skipper Mally Johnson wants to be at this time of year.

Keith Etches left it late to snatch the sweep from Ken Bidwell when playing at number 10, he produced an excellent 21-03 win to pip Ken’s equally excellent 21-04 victory. Keith had earlier won the £5 scratch card to complete a fine double for him if not his team mates. Bill Purcell finally produced the kind of winning display I know he is capable of, with a fine 21-05 win and more of the same will be expected from him in future or he will probably suffer from the writer’s barbed comments. John Brandon continues to leave his mark, this time a 21-08 win proved sufficient for him. Skipper Derek Thomas produced a fine 21-11 winning card and Ernie Peers also won well, with a 21 12 victory. “Bulldozer” Bernard Davies may have been dozing rather than bullying but still produced a vital 21-18 win in a tougher game than he has been used to so far and there were difficult games also for Ian Cameron and Ian Hamilton before both finally posted 21-20 winning cards. An 83 shot win does not guarantee winning the away fixture as the Vics found out twice last season so Derek Thomas must keep his team focussed on the task on the day at Wallasey next week.

The Vics afternoon “A” team are still finding it difficult to win away fixtures and once again on Wednesday, on a difficult and damp Albany green, they went down by 17 shots despite sharing 5 winners each with their opponents. The signs were ominous on arrival at the green, with the fixture supposedly having been called off at 1215 pm because of the wet conditions but the home team decided that the surface had dried out sufficiently to start the match. Bernie Owen was the only Vics winner in the front four, posting a 21-10 winning card but Elwyn Williams, 21-14 and Andrew Stratton, 21-20 gave the Vics 2 winners in the middle four. Dick Peake 21-18 and Bill Atkinson 21-20 both won at the back but just could not do enough to cover for the Vics five losers and at the end of the day Albany ran out 17 shot winners. The Vics will be confident of pulling the deficit back at home next week but the away form is still a worrying issue for Skipper Bill Atkinson and his team.

On one of the coldest nights for bowls in the last few years, Skipper Ian Sherbrooke led by example with an excellent 21-06 victory in the Vics 52 shot Sansom Cup win over Heswall RBL on Wednesday. Frank O’Neill powered to a fine 21-07 win before powering down the A41 on his motor bike and John Devlin showed fine form in a good 21-10 winning display. John Lloyd posted a 21-11 winning card followed by Brian Leonard’s good 21-12 win. Karl Sherbrooke shook off the blues from Tuesday’s display to bounce back with a 21-14 win and there were a couple of decent 21-15 winning cards from Neil Sherbrooke and Colin Saville to complete 8 winners for the Vics and a comgortable passage into the next round and a tough tie against Gladstone.