Ladywell end the bowls league season with a win

Ladywell's bowlers completed their John Collyer Bowls League season with a home match against Southwark Park on Saturday August 30th. And for only the second time this year, they ended the day with a win.

On the first rink, the Ladywell triple of Alvin Nelson, Terrie Askew and Skip, Phil Welch, got off to a slow start, as their opponents hit their stride straight away and moved into a 6-0 lead after three ends. The home team registered on the scoreboard with a single shot on the fourth end, but they were having no luck at all, and this, together with the Southwark Park team's good play, resulted in a run of five ends leading up to the break without Ladywell registering another gain. So, at tea after nine ends, the score was 15-1 in Southwark Park's favour. The home team were hoping that the old saying "things always change after tea" would come into play and immediately after the break, they registered another shot, but their opponents hit back with three shots of their own to take an 18-2 lead with six ends to play. Eventually, the home team found their game, winning the next five ends to cut the deficit to 18-9 going into the final end. But a single shot for Southwark Park resulted in a final score of 19-9 to the away team.

The second rink saw a much closer match. Once again, the away team made the better start, gaining a single shot on the first end. But after the second resulted in a dead end, the Ladywell team of Mike Tietz, Norman Lewis and Skip, Robert Dunn hit the ground running, gaining seven shots over the following three ends to earn a six point lead. Their opponents gained a single shot on the sixth end, but Ladywell stretched their lead to 9-2 on the following end. And despite the Southwark Park team rallying in the two ends leading up to the break, Ladywell went into tea with a 9-6 lead. This was cut to 9-7 on the first end after the break, but a run of three winning ends meant Ladywell had a 15-7 lead with five ends to play. Their Southwark opponents hit back, with consecutive scores of three over the 14th and 15th ends, to cut the deficit to two points with three ends to play. But the Ladywell team finished strongly, gaining six shots over the final three ends to pull away for a comfortable 21-13 win.

WIth just two points separating the two clubs in the overall score, it all came down to the third match. And the Ladywell team of Merlin Ramdawar, Sally Bryant and Skip, Ian Bradford, put on a strong show that was too much for their Southwark Park opponents. After gaining a single shot on the first end, the home team pulled away with a score of four shots on the second. And they followed this up with three more winning ends to move into a 10-0 lead before their opponents got on the scoreboard with two shots on the sixth end. The teams gained two shots each over the following three ends, so at the break, Ladywell were leading 12-4. The Southwark Park triple narrowed the gap to 12-5 on the tenth end, but a sequence of four winning ends with a gain of 11 shots saw the Ladywell team pull away into a convincing 23-5 lead. Their opponents hit back with a score of two shots on the 15th end, but Merlin, Sally and Ian stamped their authority on the match, gaining another seven shots over the final three ends to gain an emphatic 30-7 win.

This left the overall score at Ladywell 60, Southwark Park 39, meaning Ladywell gain 8 points and Southwark Park gain 2 for their solitary win.

After a disappointing 2025 league campaign, it was a satisfying way for Ladywell to end the season. The teams will be hoping they can carry that form through to the Ron Hams Cup Final against Southwark Sports on Wednesday 17th September.