East Lothian 8/3

There was National Glory for the Garden County last weekend when Janet Fairnie travelled to West of Scotland for the Ladies Senior Singles and returned home as the National Champion following two excellent wins. Having already won four games to make the semi-final (Tweedbank 21-13, Abbeyview 21-18, Perth 21-6 and Midlothian 21-5) Janet had the tough task of facing internationalist and multiple Scottish Champion Margaret Letham from Blantyre in the semi-final. Janet took this task in her stride however and while the game was tight to start with, from 10-10 Janet took control and pulled away to lead 17-10 and then went on to be on the brink of victory at 20-15. Margaret then put Janet under pressure with a couple of twos to close to 20-19, however, Janet held her nerve and scored the all-important single to get over the line. Janet’s opponent in the final was Janet MacKintosh from Elgin and again this game was tight during the first half and Janet led 9-7 before losing four of the next five ends to fall 10-14 down. Janet then dug deep and showed her desire for the title by outscoring her opponent 6-2 over the next four ends to draw level 16-16. With the winning line now in sight Janet stepped up a gear and scored a run of 1, 2, 1, 1 to claim victory and with it the Scottish Ladies National Senior Singles title and a first ladies senior title for East Lothian.

Next week sees the cream of the Garden County talent head to Falcon IBC in Essex to represent Scotland in the International Championships and Series. First up is the Ladies International Series from the 8th to the 10th March in which both Emma Logan and Dee Hoggan form part of the team. That is followed by the Championships from the 11th to the 13th in which our Gents Four of Jamie Higgins, Joe Mower, Scott Kennedy and Derek Oliver take part. Hot on the heels of that is the Gents International Series in which Alex Marshall MBE, Scott Kennedy, Billy Mellors and Derek Oliver take part whilst Billy is also the captain of the team and Mark Johnston is the Scotland Team Manager.

The Garden County youths successfully defended their East of Scotland Junior League title last weekend with a comfortable 7-0 victory at home to Midlothian at the Alex Marshall Arena. East Lothian knew that two points out of the seven available would mean they could not be caught at the top of the table with only one round of fixtures remaining. The youths now look forward to the National Top Ten final stages on the 24th March at Abbeyview and before that the pair of Melissa Penman and Lewis Betts and the triple of Kieran Dodds, Aaron Betts and Danny Stevenson take part in the national finals at Ardrossan on Sunday 17th March.

The gents had a bad day at the office on Saturday and exited the Scottish Cup at the last sixteen stage to Premier League newcomers West of Scotland 2-8. The rink of Joe Mower were the only winners for East Lothian as they won comprehensively by 25-13. The other three rinks could not back this performance up, however, and a strong last three end performance from West of Scotland seen them progress. Scott Kennedy and Billy Mellor’s rinks both lost out by three shots while Derek Oliver’s rink lost by fourteen.

The Under 35s were in action last weekend when they travelled to East Fife in the Under 35 Cup. They faced West Lothian in their opening game and recorded a 6-4 victory which meant they went into their other game against Aberdeen knowing that any win would see them progress to the final. It was not to be, however, as the team from the North proved too strong and recorded an emphatic 9-1 win over the Garden County team.

Members of Cockenzie and Port Seton Bowling Club are reminded that their AGM is on Tuesday 19th March at 7pm.