Gary Thornton and Chris Dobson earn Westgate Over-60s Merit victory

The weather looked favourably on proceedings with a fair amount of sunshine and only a couple of brief showers, writes David Muir.

With 34 entrants two unlucky pairs had to play a single preliminary round game but it was a close game with the home pairing of David Dexter and David Richardson eventually coming through 21-20 against Ashley Douglas (North Cliff) and David Muir (Eastfield).

The first round saw mainly convincing wins although there were some surprising results such as Brian Whitehouse (Dukes Park) and Geoff Oldham (Hunmanby) beating Whitby’s Geoff Watson and Steve Dover 21-7 and Bridlington Bay’s Bill Burnside and Ian Butterfield beating North Cliff’s Robert Child and Ian Richardson 21-12.

The only really close game was between Dexter and Richardson and Gary Thornton (Borough) and Chris Dobson (Dukes Park) with Thornton and Dobson scraping through 21-18.

In the top half of the quarter-finals brothers Barrie and Keith Watson (both Borough) beat clubmate Tony Bland and Larry Dixon (Westgate) 21-12 while Whitehouse and Oldham won 21-15 against Hunmanby’s Billy and Sue Holdsworth.

In the bottom half of the draw another Hunmanby pairing, Phil Todd and Harry Old lost 21-17 to clubmate Jack Richardson and Tim Purcell (Whitby) while Thornton and Dobson ended Burnside and Butterfield’ run 21-14.

In the first semi-final Whitehouse and Oldham had a comfortable 21-9 over the Watsons but Thornton and Dobson had to work a lot harder for a 21-19 win over Richardson and Purcell.

The final, played off scratch after earlier games having three on the card, was largely one-sided.

After eight ends Thornton and Dobson led 11-1 before Whitehouse and Oldham added a single. Six in the next three ends made it 17-2 before Whitehouse and Oldham staged a belated comeback.

The mountain they had to climb was too large though and, despite scoring a further 11 two singles and a two were enough to see Thornton and Dobson home 21-13.

Sunday was also a mainly sunny day for Borough’s Mick Gates Doubles named in honour of the late Mick Gates who played at Borough for many years.

His family also provided sponsorship for the competition, the entry was the best for some time with 37 pairs turning up to play.

This meant 10 pairs had to play a preliminary round to reduce the number of pairs to 32 and this resulted in two strong pairs, Alan Landers & Ian Richardson (both North Cliff) and Andy Adamson (Borough) & Danny Cooper taking no further part in the competition losing 21-17 to Gary Thornton & Kevin Gates (Dukes Park) and 21-14 to twin sisters Jo & Lynn Gates (both Borough) respectively.

There were some hard fought games such as Steve Lonnia & Dave Pryce (both Borough) winning 21-18 against Mo & Tony Chambers (both Castleford), husband and wife Barrie & Caroline Watson (both Borough) who won 21-19 against Amanda Hagen (Alverthorpe) & Richard Jackson (Doncaster) and Stuart Thompson (Pontefract) & Andy Webb (Alverthorpe) who went through 21-20 against the home pairing of Shaughan Temple & Dave Waite.

Lonnia & Pryce had a much easier win, 21-8, against Jenny & Tony Allen (both Hunmanby) while Callum Malone (North Cliff) & Jack Bird (Borough) had a 21-16 win against Borough pair Pete Charters & John Lloyd.

This was also the score when Robert Child (North Cliff) & Billy Holdsworth (Hunmanby) beat Jo Leeman (Whitby) & Sue Holdsworth (Hunmanby).

Kenny Wale and Sue Emmerson (both Whitby) just edged past the Watson duo 21-20, Thompson & Webb beat Dave Moment (North Cliff) & Ronnie Noble (Borough) 21-17 while the Gates twins thrashed their brother Kevin & Thornton 21-7.

The second round produced quite few close games with Marion Dudman & John Collinson (both Robin Hoods Bay) beating home bowler Tony Bland & Larry Dixon (Westgate) 21-18 which was also the score when Hunmanby’s Geoff Oldham & Phil Todd put Whitby’s Paul Morgan & Geoff Wason out.

In the top half of the quarter-finals Oldham & Todd had a comfortable 21-10 win against Dudman & Collinson and, once again, this score was repeated when Malone & Bird beat Lonnia & Pryce.

In the bottom half of the draw Child & Holdsworth had a reasonably comfortable 2114 win against Wale & Emmerson while Thompson & Webb fought out a tight 21-20 win over the Gates twins.

The semi-finals saw the old hands Oldham & Todd defeat the young bloods, Malone & Bird 21-16 while Thompson & Webb went through 21-12 against Child & Holdsworth.

The final was a rather one sided affair with the visitors, Thompson & Webb, winning 21-8.

The trophy was presented by Mick’s daughters, Jo and Lynn, and club President Andy Adamson.

Next Friday, May 10, sees the first Over-60s Singles Merit at Bridlington Bay and Sunday, May 12,is also a singles, but an Open one, at Hunmanby.

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