East Lothian 29/3

First up on Saturday was the East of Scotland Youth singles at Dalkeith in which Aaron Betts (holder), Danny Stevenson, Lewis Betts and Kieran Dodds were taking part. And it was “The Smiling Assassin” Kieran Dodds who emerged victorious and became the East of Scotland Singles Champion after defeating club-mate Danny Stevenson in an excellent final. Kieran won his group and then went on to defeat Kara Lees (Abbeyview) in the quarter final before beating the holder and colleague Aaron Betts after an extra end in the semi-final. Danny had reached the quarter finals as second best runner-up and then went on to defeat team-mate Lewis Betts after recovering from being 7-0 down, while in the semi-final Danny again found himself down (2-7) against Abbey Cairns (Bainfield) before again recovering and winning the game.

On Sunday the defending champions completed the same feat as they had already carried out in the league and retained their national title in the Top Ten to secure the double yet again. Having won the league, their previous two Top Ten games 8-0 and with the successes of the previous day still fresh in the memory the Garden County youngsters entered their semi-final against West of Scotland in a confident mood and this mood carried on through the game as they recorded a 6-2 win. Aaron Betts won by six in the Singles, Melissa Penman and Lewis Betts recorded a fourteen shot win in the pairs and the rink of Luke Cowan, Lennon Rafferty, Beth Riva & Kieran Dodds also won by six. The only loss was suffered by the triple of Callum Henderson, Cameron Pryde & Danny Stevenson who just lost out by one shot. The final was to be against Prestwick and the young guns shot out the blocks in three of the disciplines and the overall result never looked in doubt in a very one sided final. Aaron Betts recorded a twenty shot win while the triples and the fours both won by twenty two shots while the pairs lost by eight shots. An excellent end to the season for what is a really talented bunch of youngsters who are assuring that the future of indoor bowls in East Lothian is in a very good place. The winning team was:
Singles: Aaron Betts
Pairs: Melissa Penman & Lewis Betts
Triples: Callum Henderson, Cameron Pryde & Danny Stevenson
Fours: Luke Cowan, Lennon Rafferty, Beth Riva & Kieran Dodds

The East Lothian Ladies made amends for their near miss in the league campaign when they made it through to the Final of the Scottish Cup with a resounding victory over Stonehaven at East Fife last weekend. Although the final result was 8-0 for the Garden County Ladies it could have gone either way with two of the games very tight. Yvonne Veitch and her rink of Megan Kivlin, Kim and Dee Hoggan were always in control of their game and her rink ran out 20-11 winners over Kim Watt. Janet Fairnie and her rink of Melissa Penman, Mags Thomson and Emma Logan led her game throughout, however, it was a close finish and the ladies held on to win 21-19. Finally the rink of Margaret Murray, Beth Riva, Gillian Mackintosh & Lauren Baillie-Whyte found themselves behind for a lot of their game but bounced back over the last few ends to win 18-17 and seal the 8-0 overall win. The ladies now face Glasgow in the final on Saturday 6th April at Abbeyview.

There were two games played at the Alex Marshall Arena last Wednesday in the Jock Brodie Seniors Challenge Trophy, sponsored by N T Craig, Tom Young Plumbing & Electrical Services and Colin Glen Roofing. Midlothian defeated Teviotdale 6-2 and Abbeyview beat Berwickshire 8-0. On Wednesday the final games in Section A were due to take place with West Lothian (12 pts) playing Abbeyview (13 pts) while Bainfield (19 pts) face Headwell (13 pts) meaning all is still to play for in this section. All winners and runners-up qualify for the semi-finals which are scheduled for the 10th April.

In the Top Club quarter finals last Friday Pathhead defeated Haddington 40-34 and EL Co-op defeated Craigentinny 41-38 to join Aberlady and Tranent in the semi-finals on 29th March where Aberlady play Tranent and Pathhead play EL Co-op.

All members of East Lothian Indoor Bowling Club are reminded that the Annual AGM takes place next Thursday 4th April at 7pm.

The ELBA AGM, was due to be held on Wednesday the 27th March in Haddington Bowling Club and it may be of interest to the bowlers of East Lothian to know that the following issues were due to be discussed and voted on by the club representative present:
Participation for all bowlers in the Friday Night leagues;
A new knockout trophy for each Friday league, also open to all bowlers;
Rationalisation of other knockouts with no more Brown Trophy, East Lothian News trophy or County Cup while the Courier Cup is retained in its current format.