The County Finals were played today at Spalding Bowling Club home club of County President Arthur McFegan.

First game of the day was the Triples between Oliver Clingan, Les Shuttleworth & Keith Shuttleworth from New Abbey and Willie Carruthers, Gordon Cochrane & Tom Rogers from Gatehouse. After 5 ends Gatehouse lead 5 - 4 but after 10 ends New Abbey had edged ahead  at 9 - 7. Over the last 5 ends New Abbey scored 6 to Gatehouse’s 3 to win 15 - 10.

The next two games on the green were the two Singles finals. The Junior Singles was between two young players new to County Finals, Bradley Walker for Kirkcudbright and Jack Cobban from Dalbeattie. The start was even with the score 3 - 3 after five ends, Bradley had the better of the next few ends and lead 9-6 after 10 ends. Jack the had a we rally and got back to 10-13 after 15 ends, but six shots in the next 3 ends put Bradley in control at 19 - 10 and he went on to win 21 - 11.

The County Singles was an all Dalbeattie afair  between Bruce and Steven Richardson. Bruce lead by a shot after 5 ends at 5 - 4 but by 10 ends Steven lead by 9 - 6. Then Steven scored eight shots in 3 ends to lead 17 - 7 and take control of the game and went on to win 21 - 11.

The remaining games all started at 2.30 pm and were watched by a good crowd in the sunshine and the green in good condition we looked forward to some more good bowling.

The mixed pairs on rink 1 was between Christine Tennant & Keith Shuttleworth from New Abbey and Caroline & Steven Richardson from Dalbeattie. Christine & Keith had by far the better start to this game and lead 7 - 1 after 5 ends. Hard as they tried Caroline & Steven could never close this gap and were 14 - 6 down after 10 ends and finished 18 - 9 down at the finish.

The pairs were on rink 2 with Scott and Alan Davies from Castle Douglas hoping to win the title for the third year in a row against Robert McClune & George Brown from Kirkcudbright. Both pairs had some good wins on the way to the final and this looked like being one of the best games of the day. Scott & Alan got a 5 in the 3rd end but lost 4 in the 5th end to trail 8 - 6 after 5 ends. Robert & George had the better of the next 5 ends and lead 15 - 8 with both players on good form. A 3 in the 13th end saw the Kirkcudbright pair 19 - 9 in the lead and we all thought that was the end of the game but Scott & Alan had a real good try at catching up and over the next 4 ends scored 7 shots to end the game only 3 shots down at 19 - 16.

The fours were on rink 3 with the beaten triple of Willie Carruthers, Gordon Cochrane & Tom Rogers from Gatehouse being joined by George Bailey against Tommy Caven, Norman Davies, Hugh Robertson & William Brydson from Castle Douglas. The Gatehouse four had the better start and lead 5 -2 after 5 ends, Castle Douglas had the better of the next 4 ends and lead by 1 at 7 - 6 after 9 ends, then the “wheels fell of” and they lost 13 shots in the next 4 ends to trail 19 - 8 and Gatehouse went on to win 19 - 14.

The last game was the Senior Fours on rink 4 with Dennis McKnight, Ronnie Gibson, Bruce Richardson & Joe McCall from Dalbeattie  against Tam Aitken, Peter Hiddleston, Jim Fleming & William True from Kirkcudbright. On paper the Dalbeattie rink looked the stronger but Kirkcudbright held their own for most of the gam, after 5 ends Kirkcudbright were 1 shot up at 5 - 4 but by 10 ends Dalbeattie had just got in front at 10 - 8 and a strong finish from Dalbeattie saw them wining 19 - 9.

The Trophy’s were presented by Elizabeth wife of County President Arthur McFegan and assisted by Ian Bendall who sponsors the County Championships.