Fun in the sun for Kirkcaldy Bowling Club

Interest in playing in this competition was good with 40 people registered to play including many of long standing members and some newer, up and coming members.

Behind the scenes planning was taking place in drawing the teams up, splitting them into four groups playing five ends, arranging the playing order, together with timings.

All of KBC’s maximum 9 rinks were in use for the knock out rounds, with a different set of four players sitting on the sidelines during each set of games.

The day started off at 9.30am with bacon, sausage, black pudding and egg rolls complete with tea and coffee being available.

Although most players had breakfast before arriving, the aroma of freshly cooked smoked bacon was too tempting with many rolls being consumed.

A 100 square grid was used instead of raffle tickets with squares sold for £1 each and was a sell-out.

At 10am the competition started in earnest, with everyone being advised of the rules, collecting their score sheets and personal jack for the day and the now socially distanced group photograph.

On completion of matches, scores were verified between skips and score sheets handed in to the control desk to update their master record.

Teams were continually trying to work out who was going through to the next round and the competitive nature was evident throughout the morning knock out sessions.

By lunch time, the first round games were complete with score cards returned, allowing calculations to take place to determine who has been successful and going through to the quarter finals.

With the bar now open, steak pies and rolls at the ready, players enjoyed a bit of relaxation and replenished their energy. With the weather being so good, many players sat outside to eat.

During this break the opportunity to draw the 100 Club for August 2020 was taken, with prizes of £100, £60, £30 and £25, with a “novelty” surprise prize.

Following that the raffle was drawn with some 30 prizes being won.

But, the scores were now in, calculations done and quarter finalists announced. 40 were now cut down to 16 playing another five ends.

The 16 were then cut down to eight in the semi-final: Tom Craigie and Pat Craigie v Kenny Knight and Margaret Mordew on rink two, Dick Gartshore and George Scott v John Nylk and Alf Koprek on rink seven.

And then there were only 4, 2 Pairs from Groups A and D. By now, it must be about half past three in the afternoon with the finalists feeling both excitement and a bit of trepidation playing on rink one for the final seven ends in front of a very healthy number of spectators.

Group A started well winning the first two ends with the score sitting at 2/0. Group D assertively responded taking four points from the third end.

Group A pulled back to 3/4 in the fourth end. Ends five and six were a bit of a blur, with Group D concluding victory after the seven ends with a score of 5/8.

The runners up were Tom Craigie and Pat Craigie, and the winners of the Covid Cup were John Nylk and Alf Koprek.