The Garden County youths were taking part in the East of Scotland pairs and triples at Stirling last Saturday and it was title glory for the pair of Megan Kivlin and Lewis Betts yet again when they added the East of Scotland Under 17 Pairs title to the Scottish pairs title they won last season.
Megan and Lewis performed well all day winning all of their group games convincingly against Bainfield, East Fife and Midlothian. They then went on to defeat Stirling 9-3 in the semi-final before facing up to Midlothian again in the final. This was a close game throughout with some excellent bowling and it was Megan and Lewis who came out on top 10-7.
In the triples were Kieran Dodds, Dean Riva & Craig Mackintosh and Robbie Shields, Robbie Buchanan & David Young, however, they unfortunately missed out on making it out of the round robin stage.
Megan, Lewis, Craig and Dean then went on to take part in the SYIBA Scottish Under 17 trial at Abbeyview on Sunday where they all performed well and await news of the team selected this Saturday.
The ladies four of Dee Hoggan, Margaret Thomson, Yvonne Veitch & Janet Fairnie won their way through to the National semi-final when they travelled to Dunfermline last week and returned with three victories to ensure East Lothian involvement in the showpiece finals. They started their weekend in the first round proper with a 24-18 victory over Headwell at Abbeyview on Saturday before making the journey to Headwell on Sunday. They kicked off their day with a hard fought 24-18 victory over Julie Forrest and her experienced Teviotdale rink in a game much closer than the score suggests. In the quarter final they faced up to Whiteinch and developed a good lead in the opening ends which they never relinquished and went on to win comfortably 24-11. The ladies will now face a four from Turiff in the semi-final at Falkirk on Saturday 2nd April. The other semi-final is between East Kilbride and Auchinleck.
The four of Andy Jeffrey, Willie Wood, Scott Kennedy and Billy Mellors were also in national fours action at the weekend although unfortunately could not join the ladies in the semi-finals as they lost out to Midlothian in the quarter finals. After two hard fought wins over Coatbridge (15-14) and Perth (17-12) they were behind early on in their tussle with Midlothian and could never quite get near enough to catch their opponents, eventually losing out by a 15-20 scoreline.
The gents are due to host Premier League new boys Ayr this Saturday. Ayr continue to impress this season and are currently level on points with East Lothian meaning this game will be no pushover, however, a win would keep the pressure on leaders Falkirk before they clash the following week. The following team has been named: J Mower, A Jeffrey, W W Wood MBE, B Mellors E Fallen, A Burt, G Robertson, D Oliver M Johnston, G Blair, S Thomson, S KennedyM Higgenbotham, J Gordon, G Darling, J HigginsRes: C Darling, L Middler, M Wyllie, J Robertson, M Osborne, A Marshall MBE
The ladies team travel to face Teviotdale on Saturday 28th. With Nancy McNeil and Rosemary Mackintosh unavailable they are replaced by Irene Gray and Irene Combe and the following team has been named: D Rowan, P Turner, I Gray, Y Veitch (skip) M Murray, J Russell, A Irvine, E Logan (skip) M Kivlin, M Hamilton, M Thomson, J Fairnie (skip) M Devine, I Combe, G Mackintosh, L Baillie (skip) Res: J McFarlane, J Rutherford, A Barclay, N McNeill, C Jones
The senior side hosted Balbardie last week and recorded a 73-50 victory to again move 3 points clear at the top of their section. Willie Wood won by 13 shots, Peter Laidlaw by 7, Tommy Young by 4 and Alastair Russell lost out by 1 for a resounding success. The “Auld Yins” were looking to almost clinch their place in the play-offs when making the trip to closest challengers Bainfield on Wednesday (25th). For the third week running they were able to maintain the winning team of: P Fallen, J Robertson, B Higgins, WW Wood MBE (skip) L Middler, G Gray, B Bisset, P Laidlaw (skip) K Morgan, J McLeod, R Douglas, A Russell (skip) B J Smith, J Brodie, D Pryde, T Young (skip) Reserves: J P Hamilton & R Maguire
This Saturday the youths are up against Stirling at Meadowmill in the Eastern District League with 7.50 a.m. start time.
On the domestic front in the Esprit Sports sponsored Evening Leagues Jock Henderson leads the way in Division One while Davie Sands is currently top of Division Two. Jock Brodie leads the Tuesday Morning League Division One while Carol Martin is top of Division Two. Billy Higgins is out in front in the Thursday Morning League while Jim McLeod is atop the Friday Morning League. Rosemary Mackintosh was crowned Ladies Monday Fours champions last week and Nancy Mumford lifted the Thursday Triples crown. Alicia Irvine led from start to finish to win the Wednesday Afternoon Open Triples.
Members are reminded that they have until the end of next week to enter the post-Christmas leagues and knockouts, please either add your name to the entry sheets on the notice boards or contact the Match Secretary. The ever popular Hat Games continue at the normal times of Saturday 12-2, Monday 10-12 and Tuesday 2-4 when both members and non-members are welcome.
During the month of December memberships are available at a cost of £45 for the remainder of the season for anyone interested in joining.