After a long wait since their last match in late November, the Spalding Lightning national under 30 open inter-club double rink team travelled to the neutral venue of Scunthorpe IBC at the quarter final stage to take on York IBC last Saturday and came home with the spoils by 32 shots to 27.
With both rinks being played together, the rink of Dan Mills, Owen Aspinall and Stephen Harris took hold of their match in the second half of proceedings, winning in the end by four shots (15-11) whilst the other rink of Danielle Wild, Ruby Philpott and Jordan Philpott battled hard throughout, the lead changing hands and going in both directions several times; however they won by a shot (17-16) securing the victory.
The next round is the semi final against Solihull IBC at the national finals at Nottingham IBC (the final is played later on the same day) on Saturday, April 18, with the team looking for their third national title in four years in this competition.
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The Spalding Lightning mixed county league team were still challenging in their division at the top of the table, and played Boston at home last Sunday to maintain this position. They managed this very well after a 91 shots to 50 success and gaining 13 of the maximum 14 points available to them.
The team won on three rinks and drew on one with the top winning rink skipped by David Nunney, with Gill Haydon, Paula Lawson and George Deaton who won 29-7. After results elsewhere, the mixed side are currently seven points clear in the table with two games to play. Their nearest challengers Louth and Lincoln ‘A’ have 3 games left. Their next scheduled match should be a big test away against Lincoln IBC ‘A’ on Saturday, March 7.
Rink Scores: Gill Haydon, Paula Lawson, George Deaton and David Nunney won 29-7; Shelia Chamberlain, Sue Slayven, Tony Westland and Graham Wright won 24-12; Jenny Wakefield, Ben Sharp, Carole Nunney and James Teesdale won 23-16; Christine Williamson, June Taylor, Rob West and Anthony Cronin drew 15-15.
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The Spalding Lightning friendly team were back on home turf against Lincoln IBC last Sunday for a comfortable victory by 83 shots to 38. Spalding took an early command of this game, never letting the visitors threaten and managing to see the result out strongly.
The team won on all four rinks played with the top winning rink skipped by Doris Rawding, ably assisted by Jackie Jackson, Richard Stallwood and Sue Slayven who won 31-10. The next scheduled friendly should be away versus Boston IBC on this coming Sunday (1).
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The Spalding Lightning Ladies Trudy Bates team travelled to Sleaford IBC on Friday for their penultimate league match of the season and despite valiant efforts, they succumbed to a heavy loss by 69 shots to 95 losing 14-0.
Towards the end of the fixture, two rinks were actually in front and big scores were obtained from the other two; however, this was not enough to stay within sight of Lincoln at the top of the table with the Sleaford ladies showing the Spalding ladies how to play on their blue freshly stretched carpet.
Special congratulations goes to Jessica Butters who made her debut for the Trudy Bates team in this game, and also thanks to Jackie Jackson who offered to be a travelling reserve. Their final scheduled match of the season for them should be at home against Lincoln on March 19.
Rink Scores: Ann Newbury, Jenny Wakefield, Carole Nunney and Betty Deaton lost 20-; Christine Williamson, Jessica Butters, Mandy Parkins and Julie Hicks lost 20-23; Shelia Chamberlain, Gill Haydon, June Taylor and Maisie Belding lost 15-23; Judy Jackson, Sue Slayven, Maggie Wheatley and Karen Martin lost 14-28.
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In a busy week of national area qualifying finals predominantly played at Sleaford IBC, the club were represented in three matches. Firstly, the ladies singles area qualifier was between our member and ladies England international Ruby Philpott and the upcoming 2026 English Commonwealth Games indoor representative and Lincolnshire bowls legend Amy Pharaoh (Louth).
This match just saw Ruby missing out in a close match 18-21 and Amy has qualified for the national finals at Nottingham IBC in April.
Secondly, the men’s over 50s triples area qualifier last Friday night saw our men Brian Martin, Simon Lilley and Graham Smith play against Nigel Fosdyke, Steve Bowden and Mick Thompson (Lincoln). Subsequently this saw a successful 20-12 win for our men and this sees them through to the national finals at Nottingham IBC (from the last 16 stage onwards) to be played on Monday and Tuesday April 20 and 21.
Thirdly, the ladies fours area qualifier featured our players Danielle Wild, Ruby Philpott, Annie Dunham and Chelsea Spencer against Shelia Plaskitt, Debbie McBride, Lin Mountain and Penny Strong (Lincoln). Our ladies won by 19 shots to 3 and are through to the national finals at Nottingham IBC o be played on March 30 and 31.
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The under 18 inter-county match between the Lincolnshire Tigers team and Yorkshire CIBA which was due to be played last Sunday at Sleaford IBC was cancelled and conceded by Yorkshire; therefore the Lincolnshire Tigers (featuring junior squad club members Aidan Brickles and Max Butters) take the points and have won their area which means they have qualified for the national semi finals.
This will take place at Nottingham IBC on Sunday March 29 in the morning and should they be successful will be followed by the national final in the afternoon on the same day.
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The men’s county singles qualifiers were held at Lincoln IBC last Saturday from the last 32 stage onwards, and saw four places from Spalding in the draw taken by Kevin Ekins, Stephen Harris, Dominic McVittie amd Jordan Philpott after getting through their club matches earlier in the season.
Although Kevin lost at the round of 32 stage and Jordan fell at the last 16, the congratulations go to both Stephen Harris and the defending champion Dominic McVittie who battled their way though three games on the day and took their spot in the semi finals. Stephen will play Danny Brown (Lincoln IBC) and Dominic will play Nick Wilkie (Stamford IBC for county comps but does play for Spalding IBC n nationals) and these matches will be played on Sunday March 8 back at Lincoln IBC alongside the other LIBA men’s and mixed county semi finals.
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The outdoor Bowls England awards ceremony was held last weekend in Leicester for those with special achievements over the previous season, and this saw Spalding Bowls Club’s very own Dominic McVittie collect the male bowler of the year award for the first time in his career.
A spokesman said: “For both clubs he represents (Spalding Indoor Bowls Club and the Royal Mail Cart Bowls Club outdoors), they continue to be very proud of his successes both indoor and outdoor over the last few years (culminating in being the current world number four in the WBS rankings), and of course am sure he will continue to thrive and prosper in any future bowls endeavours.
“An additional well done also to Lincolnshire ladies bowls legend Amy Pharaoh (who plays from Cleethorpes BC in the summer) who won the Bowls England female bowler of the year award at the same event.”
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Congratulations to the Lincolnshire WIBA ladies Midland Counties team, as they won their second match of the season in their fourth fixture 159-59 versus Bedfordshire WIBA at Grantham IBC last Saturday. The players representing Lincolnshire from Spalding were Maisie Belding, Betty Deaton, Julie Hicks, Karen Martin, Ann Newbury and Maggie Wheatley.
