Local firm Purdie Worldwide of Blackburn is the new headline sponsor of The Scottish Inter County Top Ten Championship that swings into its 37th year of competition this weekend with Kirkliston representing the West Lothian Banner.
Read MoreKirkliston are Top Ten legends having reigned as West Lothian champions on a record 12 occasions and The Cheesetown Boys have gone on to reach six finals and capture the national crown a record four times. Their bid to bring the 2018 title back to West Lothian is launched on Sunday with a tough prelim round visit to their Stirling County counterparts- namely Adrian of Falkirk. The KBC line up features four times WL Master Grant Logan as the spearhead figure in the Singles while 2014 Commonwealth Games gold medal winner Neil Speirs skips Steven Forrest in the Pairs. Ray Logan – the 1998 Scottish Singles Champion – skips the Triple with his son Scott at lead and Mark Allison at second while his other son Calum skips Jordan Pearce, Andi Gray, and John Aitken – the 1988 Scottish Singles champion – in the Fours.
The Purdie Worldwide connection with Bowls goes back a long way with Matt Purdie of The Deans – Great Grandfather of current owner Neil – capped by Scotland in 1936 and 1949 while Grandfather Matt served Linlithgowshire as its President in 1983. “With the champion top ten club of 25 city and county associations nationwide competing for the Scottish title the cream of the sports bowlers will be parading their skills and our team at Purdie Worldwide wish them all the best of luck and good fortune”, said Neil.
Play in the Scottish Cities & Counties Championship for The Hamilton Trophy commences this Saturday and a West Lothian team hungry for its first success since 2009 faces a challenging away match against Border at Gordon BC. Six faces have been changed from the team that lost last years semi final against eventual champions Lanarkshire South with team manager Gordon Logan bringing in Jamie Edwards of Broxburn, Bryan Cooper of Bathgate, Andi Gray of Kirkliston, Barry Sword of Buchan Park, Calum Black of East Calder, and Gary Orr of Linlithgow.
They replace Scott Mushet of Linlithgow, David Lamb of Uphall Station, Drew Paterson of Newbridge, Andrew Semple of Newbridge, Andy Walker of Winchburgh, and the legendary John Aitken of Kirkliston. Logan and his co-selectors stay faithful to their six skips but have given five of them new thirds and with expectations high the hope is that under the captainship of former England/Scotland internationalist Gary Smith the reshaped line up will hit the ground running. Rink 1. Jamie Edwards, Blair Mackie, James Speirs, and Grant Logan. Rink 2. Steven Forrest, Mark Allison, Bryan Cooper, and Neil Speirs. Rink 3. Frazer Muirhead, Andi Gray, Greg Logan, and Steven Fleming. Rink 4. Ewan Shearer, Scott Logan, Calum Logan, and Andy Dunnett. Rink 5. Darren Pearce, Barry Sword, Sandy McDougall, and Ray Logan. Rink 6. Calum Black, Gary Orr, Gary Smith, and Thomas Mann. Reserves – Gary Grant (Queensferry), Jordan Pearce (Kirkliston), Paul Sweeney (Newbridge).
Alloa East End BC is the destination this Sunday for the Under 25 Brigade of West Lothian Bowling Association going head to head with Stirling County in the opening match of their League Cup section. The six skips are, Roy Walker (Newbridge), Jamie Edwards (Broxburn), Darren Pearce (Kirkliston), Cameron Nicol (Pumpherston), Robbie Cuthill (Kirkliston), Jack Murphy (Bellsburn).
The top notch partnership of Bryan Cooper and Neil Speirs battled their way through a strong field to capture The Belhaven Best sponsored 2Bowl Ratho Open Pairs and pocketed £200 at the expense of fellow hot pots Cameron Greer and Thomas Mann. The losing semi finalists were Jamie Aitken & Partner, and Ann and Frazer Muirhead.
Grant Logan of Kirkliston put up a strong defence of his Sighthill Open Singles title but having reached the final lost 12-6 to Martin Todd of Blacklandmills (Paisley).