Horncastle bowlers lose out in quarter-finals

​It was the furthest the club has ever reached in its 33-year history.

The 16-man squad travelled to Leeds Indoor Bowls Club to play against a very strong Cumbria ICB Team along with national umpire Les Smith. This was a four-hour, 21-end match played on neutral ground and was forecast to be a challenge from the off.

Cumbria hosted many well known England and international players, the under-25 world champion for the last two years and Stuart Erwin, who made it to the last 16 of the world championships in January 2023.

Horncastle played exceptionally well and the final result didn’t reflect how well they actually performed. The final result was Horncastle 65 to Cumbria 113, with Cumbria since having progressed to reach the final.

Rink Scores:- P Bark (N Burton, J Rapley, P Ulyatt) 9-35; T Nunn (P Boulton, R Benjamin, K Taplin) 21-27; K Jackman (C Sutton, B Rickard, M Burn) 19-24 and L Boucher (N Burn, M Storry, D Trapmore) 16-30.

*On February 4, Horncastle’s men’s national four team of Lee Boucher, Darren Traplmore, Paul Bark and Keith Jackman played away at Lincoln in the area semi-finals against a team including ex-world champion Billy Jackson.

Horncastle won by 20 shots to 9. They now play A Blacker and his team from Erewash in the National Final at Grantham on February 25.

*The Ladies Triples Team of Lorna Main, Judith Moody and Olive Wells played Lincoln’s ladies trio in the National Over 50s Triples semi-finals.

Having led from the outset the table started to turn on the 15th end with Lincoln taking the pot and starting to come back. With one bowl left and five shots down, Horncastle held their nerve and went on to win by 17 shots to 12 and they now play in the area national final.

Horncastle ladies Olive Wells, Jayne Taplin, Mary Johnson, Judith Moody and Lyn Ulyatt have also represented the club in the last two Midlands County competitions.

The first match was against Northamptonshire at Kingsthorpe where Lincolnshire won by 133 shots to 102. Then Olive, Jayne and Judith also helped Lincolnshire Ladies beat Nottinghamshire at Erewash by 137 shots to 86 and take all 22 points.