The sunny weather saw a large turnout for Lawn Bowls (Flat Green) Club’s annual Ruby Cup competition recently.

The Ruby Cup, which is a named pairs competition, was introduced in 2017 to celebrate the ruby (40th) anniversary of the opening of the club in Onchan Park.

Members were also joined by two visiting bowlers from a lawn bowls club in the Algarve, who were made most welcome. The teams were split between two groups, each playing four games of four ends before the winners of group A and group B faced each other in a four-end final.

The standard of bowls was extremely high throughout the afternoon, despite the rising temperature and fast greens as well as adjusting every four ends to play different opposition on different rinks.

As the teams gathered for a welcome refreshment break after the third round, the scores for all teams meant there were two sides in each section with a chance of being in the final.

With it all dependent on scores in the final round, there was everything to play for.

In the end, the eventual two teams bagging a place in the final were Marcia Pearson and Mike Moyer from group A and Clive McGreal with Eric Maddocks from group B.

Club members and visitors were appreciative of the excellent bowls being played by all four players, but the team of McGreal and Maddocks - previous winners of the Ruby Cup - were determined to reclaim the trophy and overcome any challenge from Pearson and Moyer.

Ultimately, McGreal and Maddocks successfully claimed victory and for the fourth time will have their names added to the trophy.

The committee wishes to thank all members participating for an enjoyable afternoon of excellent bowling. Thanks also to members for an excellent buffet and to the visitors for adding to the afternoon.

For those interested in learning more about lawn bowls, please contact [email protected]

Any juniors interested in learning a new sport, there is coaching on Saturday mornings from 11am-12pm.

Win Kewley