East Lothian IBC’s rising star Megan Kivlin was in international action for Scotland last weekend as she played lead in the triples and second in the fours in the British Isles Under 18 Mixed Championships played at Ballybrakes IBC in Ballymoney.
In the triples she teamed up with Auchinleck’s Carrie McLean and Jack McNab of Midlothian and they opened their qualifying campaign with a very accomplished display to beat hosts Ireland but in their next match they lost out agonisingly to England on a tie break. That meant the young Scots would face the Channel Islands in the third and fourth play-off match to determine who would win the bronze medal. In very much a one sided encounter it was Kivlin & Co who emerged triumphant defeating their opponents in straight sets. And it got a whole lot better for Kivlin in the fours action as along with McLean, McNabb and Kimberley Dodds of Falkirk they defeated England 2, Wales 1 and England 1 to claim the gold medal. “I had a brilliant weekend and it was an incredible experience to represent my country and to end up with a gold medal just topped it off”, reflected Kivlin. East Lothian star Scott Kennedy was Team Manager of the young Scots and he was delighted with the performance of his side that finished second behind England in the overall table standings.
East Lothian IBC men’s team opening challenge in the B section of the Scottish Premier League ended up being a tough one but the elite stars of the garden county got off to a winning start with a hard fought 92-85 away win at newly promoted Ayr. Wins on the rinks skipped by Alex Marshall MBE and Billy Mellors just covered the disappointment of defeats suffered by Derek Oliver and Jamie Higgins. “We delivered a form book win but we were made to fight all the way by Ayr but when the chips were down our big players delivered and that got us over the line”, reflected team vice-captain Billy Mellors.
The chief architects of East Lothian’s triumph was the rink of Malcolm Higgenbotham, Jamie Gordon, Gary Darling and influential figure Marshall who celebrated two mighty counts of 5 as they romped to an inspired 32-13 win over Stuart England. Mellors and his front three of Joe Mower, Andy Burt and Andrew Jeffrey raced into a 9-3 lead after five ends but then suffered a mid-game blip before settling for a high scoring 28-27 win over Jim Cutherbertson. Oliver and his rink of Mark Johnston, Calum Darling and Willie Wood MBE were always in the slipstream of opposing skip Alister Reid from the opening ends but they dug deep in the final phase and were delighted to settle for a 21-19 defeat. Lessel Middler, Glenn Blair, Stuart Thomson and Higgins trailed 14-6 after ten ends before losing 24-13 to Colin Smith. The side is back in action tomorrow (Saturday) when they have home environment advantage against Falkirk and the garden county will line up as follows:- M.Higgenbotham, J.Gordon, G.Darling, A.Marshall MBE skip J.Mower, W.W.Wood MBE, A.Jeffrey, B.Mellors skip M.Johnston, A.Burt, S.W.Thomson, D.Oliver skipL.Middler, G.Blair, J.Higgins, S.Kennedy skip/capt
Before the commencement of tomorrow’s fixture the club is staging an unveiling ceremony to officially rename the bowling area at the Meadowmill stadium the ‘Alex Marshall Arena’. The ceremony is expected to commence at around 1.45pm.
The ladies side bounced back to winning ways and done it some style as they produced a strong performance on their home carpet that swept them to an emphatic 124-53 win over Teviotdale last Saturday in Division 1C of the Scottish Ladies League. Wins on all four rinks skipped by Janet Fairnie (+27), Lauren Baillie (+19), Yvonne Veitch (+17) and Emma Logan (+8) was the measure of tremendous overall team performance that left team manager Sheena Currie purring with delight. It’s a free weekend for the ladies as the National Singles playdown action takes centre stage and club champion Dee Hoggan is in action at Arbroath IBC. She faces a tough looking preliminary round encounter tomorrow (Saturday) morning at 10am against well-known Bainfield champion Mandy O’Donnell.
The senior side also got back on the winning trail in the East B section of the Scottish Senior League last Wednesday with the garden county ‘auld yins’ always dictating the flow of the scoring to celebrate a handsome 70-50 home victory over Bainfield. The visitors travelled with optimism having performed well at home to defeat West Lothian in their opening match however they faced a top notch opposition stung by a surprise first fixture defeat at Balbardie. Bainfield did manage to edge a marginal win on the rink skipped by Bill Little against Alistair Russell but the supremacy on the other three rinks was firmly in the hands of home skips Willie Wood MBE, Tommy Young and Peter Laidlaw. Wood produced an inspirational performance to skip Ross Maguire, BJ Smith and Billy Higgins to a 21-9 triumph having opened with a mighty count of five then blazing into a 13-1 lead after five ends against Stuart Wilson. Young added a five at end 12 to lead 18-4 and skipped Peter Fallen, Davie Pryde and Jock Brodie to an 18-13 win over Mike Marshall while Laidlaw had the 17-13 measure of Adam Brock. The side was back in action on Wednesday when they made the short journey to Dalkeith to tackle Midlothian IBC.
On Sunday the playdown action in the national senior singles, pair and triples take place at various venues around the country. Representing East Lothian in the singles will be newly crowned senior club champion Alastair Russell and he faces an opening round clash at West Lothian IBC against East Fife at 10am. Jim Robertson and Willie Wood MBE are the representatives in the Pairs and they are also in action at West Lothian and tackle either Alloa or Tweedbank at 2pm while Lessel Middler, Peter Laidlaw and Tommy Young clash with Midlothian at Midlothian IBC in the first round proper of the Triples action at 2pm.
Also on Sunday the East Lothian duo of Billy Mellors and Derek Oliver are in action at the SIBA Champion of Champions event at Arbroath IBC. Both are in action on the 9.30am session of play with Mellors tackling Blantyre’s Brian Irvine while Oliver faces Bryan Cooper of West Lothian.
Meanwhile the gent’s national 2-Bowl Pair’s playdown action took place last Sunday with East Lothian champions Andrew Jeffrey and Billy Mellors in action at Midlothian IBC. The duo were in impressive form in their opening match as they recorded a straight sets victory over the strong East Fife pairing of Christopher Stein and ex-East Lothian star Wayne Hogg but in their second match they failed to find the same form and lost out 2-0 to the talented West Lothian international duo of Calum Logan and Neil Speirs. In the ladies playdown action at West of Scotland IBC the talented pairing of Emma Brown and Dee Hoggan enjoyed a magnificent run to the last 16 before losing out in straight sets to Coatbridge.
Craig Mackintosh will carry the local hopes into Sunday’s SYIBA Young Master playdown action at Abbeyview IBC in Dunfermline with the eventual two finalists heading to the Dewar’s Centre in Perth next month to contest the televised final.
Cockenzie & Port Seton BC stage their annual Presentation of Prizes evening on Saturday November 7th from 6.30pm. Tickets for the event are now on sale to members and guests priced at £8.50 (includes 2 course meal & top class live entertainment) and can be purchased by contacting President Steven Morgan on 07861 672123.
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