West Lothian bowling pair produce superb Christmas cheer

Dec 24 2008 by Our Correspondent, West Lothian Courier

WEST Lothian Indoor Bowling Club champions Angie Uttley and Wendy Purdie are 'top of the pop's for Christmas and aim to be number one in the New Year when they step up their bid to become the Scottish 4-Bowl Pairs Champions.

The domestic champions launched their challenge for the national title at Stirling last weekend.

And the county pair produced a powerful opening display to crush Allander 33-7 in the preliminary round action.

Lanarkshire provided stiff opposition to the West Lothian champs in the first round proper but the support from the Inveralmond stadium cheered another fine display in the shape of a commanding 22-12 victory.

A good night's sleep on Saturday night saw the Uttley/Purdie partnership return to the Stirling carpet on Sunday and a continuation of their previous day form saw the pride of West Lothian IBC storm into the section final with a 28-10 win over West of Scotland.

The section final promised to be a real humdinger with the vastly experienced Midlothian champions Sandra McLeish and Agnes Melrose in opposition but yet another tremendous display saw Purdie Skip Uttley to a superb 21-10 triumph.

"This was a weekend of exciting display's from our club champions and to see the West Lothian banner carried forward into the final stages of the national finals is a great Christmas bonus for us", said a spokesperson for WLIBC.

The going is set to get even tougher though as the semi final opposition at Dundee on Saturday March 28 looms up in the shape of Blantyre stars Caroline Brown and Margaret Letham.

And the opposite semi final will feature Francis McLean and Sheena Collie of Dundee against Joyce Dickey and Julie Forrest of Teviotdale

Last weekend’s playdown action brought early round disappointment for Balbardie IBC champions Doreen Reeder and Margo Duff who put up a bold show but made a 15-11 exit to Falkirk at East Lothian.

West Lothian IBC champions Ewan Wilson and Bryan Cooper made a promising debut in the playdown action of the Gents 4-Bowl Scottish Pairs when they beat Auchinleck 28-18 in the first round proper.

The young WL champions made an encouraging start against Junior Coles and Craig England the following day however an unlucky break that cost them a single when holding a super 6 set them on the4 slide to a 25-13 exit.

Prestwick went on to beat Lanarkshire 21-7 in the section final.

Balbardie opened with a promising 23-17 win over Teviotdale in the prelim round but Lason Trotter and Ian Drysdale made a 23-13 exit to Ralph Nicholson and Kenny Johnstone of Tweedbank in the first round proper.