Crown Green Bowls Special

The Red Lion once again awaits the games’ top names...

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In a sport widely considered to be an “old peo-ple’s game” it is a shock to many that one of its

most recently successful players is also one of its youngestCallum Wraight, from Shrewsbury in Shrop-shire, has proven himself to be one of the games stand out names and, within the last few seasons alone, has emerged as one of the professional crown green bowling circuit’s most prolific com-petition winners.Within the past five seasons the 27-year-old has amassed 38 major titles as well as claiming the All-England bowls title in 2009. He also holds the rare distinction of being one of only two bowlers to have lifted both the junior and senior all England titles, winning the former in 2003. Such consistently devastating form has seen him emerge as second favourite to this year’s Xmas Handicap event and Wraight insists he will not be daunted by such expectation.“Over the years I have grown used to going into competitions with people expecting me to be there or there about, so it doesn’t faze me really. I’m more excited in all honesty as I do love pay-ing in this competition and I enjoy playing on the green, even though people tend to think that my game doesn’t really suit large greens.”Throughout his fairly short but successful career the Xmas Handicap has been one of the few honours to have eluded Wraight, having fallen short on three occasions. However he strongly believes that this has given the tournament a special place in his heart and an added edge to finally get over the line.“It is special to me, yes. It’s a bit of a love/hate thing as I’ve come so close on a few occasions but I just enjoy playing in it, the green is great and there is always a big crowd which, for me personally, helps my game no end as I lap all that up.”“I really want to win it as it is one of the high-lights on the bowing calendar and one of the competitions that every bowler is gunning for. The field of players on show are incredible this year as well so to win it and be victorious over such players as Gary Ellis, Glynn Cookson and Wayne Ditchfield will be something extra spe-cial for me.”A victory in Westhoughton will be the seventh major title of 2014 for Wraight and will cap off another magnificent season for bowls’ young pretender, entering him once again into the re-cord books as the youngest player to reach such a tally, beating his own record of six that he set last year.“It’s been a good season and I’m happy about how consistent I’ve been throughout but I try not to get too ahead of myself, I’m going to focus on my first round game and take it from there.”“It should be a great spectacle for bowls, with a lot of big name players and a massive crowd. I really cannot wait to get started.”

Gary Ellis: Bowls’ most recent Record BreakerBy Nathan Scott

The date: Friday 19th September,

the venue: The Water-loo Bowling Green, Blackpool and amidst the buzz of a packed house and the circu-lating seaside breeze history was made.Gary Ellis of Prest-wich, widely consid-ered by many to be the greatest player in the game and the cur-rent favourite for this years Xmas handicap, equalled a record regarded by many as incredibly improbable.With a 21-16 victory over Chris Brown of Lower Opton, Ellis, 45, claimed a fifth Waterloo title and equalled a 22-year-old record previously held by Preston’s Brian Duncan and instantly wrote his name into the annuls of Crown Green Bowls royalty.Ellis however, remains blasé over such an historic achievement and instead chooses to focus on the current task at hand.“As far as I’m con-cerned it’s all about the Xmas handicap in Westhoughton at this very moment in time,” he declared earlier this week.“It’s a tricky green but I have plenty of experience of playing on it, it has a lot of tricky marks and it’s a great test for bowlers. The field of entrants is particularly strong this season and with bowlers such as Wayne Ditchfield, Callum Wraight and experi-enced campaigners like Noel Burrows

it makes for a very entertaining line up which will be great for spectators and even greater for Bowls”A win would cap off another unbelievable season for Ellis who has already taken out 18 major titles heading into the prestigious December event. Ellis agrees that a win this week would just be the “icing on the cake”.“I’ve had a good year personally, not as good as last year where I won 21 majors but I’m still happy with how I’ve performed this season.”“The conditions have definitely helped me, I like it when greens are quite wet and heavy and you have to really it push it. It suits my game and it suits

my bowls. They are stronger than normal bowls and tend to deviate a lot more than a standard set allowing me to have a greater advantage when play-ing trickier marks in wet conditions. A win at the Red Lion will be the icing on the cake”18 major title vic-tories is a terrific achievement for any professional however nothing compares to the Waterloo, the Blue Riband event in Crown Green Bowls. For many, to even play in such an event is an honour and to win it once is the great-est achievement in a Bowler’s career, but for Ellis once wasn’t enough as he has gone on to win five within the space of 11 years.

Many would think that this would lead to it to becoming “rou-tine” but Ellis remains adamant that he is still attracted to the ro-mance of the famous, old green.“Growing up and play-ing bowls it’s all you want to do, you want to step foot on that iconic green. You’ve seen all the great bowlers like Dennis Mercer, Brian Dun-can, Noel Burrows etc. Appearing on the television and you just want to step in their footsteps. Even now when I play on it it’s very, very special, I get goosebumps every time.”“In regards to winning it I can’t put it into words. It’s an over-whelming sense of

The Silver Fox: Gary Ellis in action last year at the Oceanico Masters in Portugal.

It’s all going Wraight for Callum

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The Bolton News Crown Green Bowls Pull-Out

Gary Ellis: Bowls’ most recent Record Breaker

The Silver Fox: Gary Ellis in action last year at the Oceanico Masters in Portugal.

pride and happiness that has never been equalled in my life as of yet. To win it for a fifth time this year was a big thing for me as I equalled Brian Dun-can’s record, some-thing I never thought possible, it was fair to say that I got a bit emotional after the fi-nal bowls was played.”The victory, as well as his dominance of the sport over the last five seasons, saw many within the professional bowling circuit award-ing him the title of the greatest ever, however Ellis, although humble by the recognition, remain abhorrent to such labels.“I don’t tend to lis-ten to such titles, I’m happy to be given such compliments but on

the whole I just switch off. I just focus on my next game and that’s all I’ve ever done, leave such discussion to the press and spectators.”Ellis, a joiner by trade, admits to being incredibly awe struck about how much he has achieved in such a small space of time, declaring that not even in his wildest dreams would things have played out the way that they have.“I started playing when I was 13 years of age after seeing the Bassmasters on TV. I remember watching it and thinking: ‘I could do that’ and I took it from there. I was never a natural but I wanted to be a good player and practiced accordingly, I was

never off a green.”“It took me a bit to get to get going, like it does for everybody I presume, but the big turning point for me was winning the British 41-up champi-onship. It gave me an enormous amount of confidence and I genu-

inely got the feeling that I could compete with the best players and beat them, from there it just seemed

like it was natural pro-gression.”Such “progression” has now led him to amass a total of 87 Major Trophies within his fairly long career, 37 of which have come within the last three seasons. One would think that such a haul

would cre-ate a certain level of com-pla-cency, how-ever “The Silver Fox”

as he his affectionately known on the circuit, admits to have a great-er hunger than ever to claim the game’s top

prizes.“I am as enthusiastic and as motivated as I ever have been. The feeling that you get from winning a com-petition is second to none and it becomes addictive. Winning breeds winning, in my opinion, and it’s that drive, that mentality that keeps me striding to bigger and better things and I already have a few objective in mind for what I want to achieve before I pack away my bowls for the last time.”All future objectives aside, Ellis’ first port of call is the Xmas Hand-icap at the Red Lion Hotel and although he believes himself to be confident, he still remains wary of the rest of the field.

“On a personal level I can’t wait to get start-ed. As I say, I am not looking past this event and I am taking it very seriously. I’m playing my best bowls of the season and I’m in a bit of a purple patch at the moment so you could say I’m raring to go on that front but I’m not ruling out the other contenders because it’s a really good field this year, anyone can win it and that’s what makes this competition so exciting.”Gary Ellis will be play-ing his opening match against Noel Burrows on the 12th December at the Red Lion Hotel, Westhoughton. Entry Fee: £3 Adults, Kids go free. All Welcome.

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2011 Champion Wayne Ditchfield

Red Lion named as “Special Venue” for Panel President

Located on Wigan Road in the

sleepy town and Civil Parish of Westhought-on. The Red Lion hotel Bowling Club once again plays host to the 15th Panel Christmas Handicap.Starting life as a farm-house for the Pend-lebury family, it was decided after a council meeting in the early 1930’s that is would be best used as Bowling Green to try and cre-ate a social hub within the community.Over the last five decades it has entered several teams in the local league with con-siderable success how-ever in 2000 the venue was endowed one of the greatest honours in the game by being chosen by Bowls’ own professional body, The Panel, to host the first Christmas 41-up handicap.“The decision was pretty much straight forward,” said Roy Armson, President of

talented bowler seem ordinary.“The green, to put it politely, is a challenge. I have played bowls for the best part of 30 years and this up there with some of the trick-iest greens that I’ve played on as you have to be on top of your game throughout as it can make you look very ordinary indeed.”The green remains a challenge for bowlers far and wide, however it’s off the green and away from bowls that the venue has had to face its true challeng-es, none more so than the sudden closure of its pub facilities in 2013.“Losing the pub was a big blow to the tour-nament in more ways than one,” declared Panel President Arm-son. “Not only did it limit us in the amount of space that we had to use, we also saw a significant drop in the number of spectators turning up for the

finals day which hurt us financially. At the end of the day, we’re a bowling organisa-tion but we’re also a business and we aim to make money and I’d be lying if I said we didn’t look to relocate for this year’s event.”

The Waterloo in Blackpool sand Fish-wick Ramblers in Preston were just some of the many greens that were considered. However after a long period of thought and consid-eration it was decided that the Red Lion was still the green of choice for Armson.“It’s a great green, the bowlers love it and it would be wrong to just up sticks and move somewhere else. The council have given us their word in regards of using it for the next three years but we hope to stay longer. It’s a very special place for us and we do not want to see it go.”

the Panel. “There were a handful of greens on our shortlist but in the back of our minds The Red Lion was the obvious choice.”“The facilities were already there, it was well sheltered, well spaced and it was very spectator friendly with seating and, at that

time, a pub on the side. The green is quite tricky as well and has a lot of good marks on it, it’s a fair sized green as well so it suits all types of bowlers.”The green itself is measured at 66 yards by 48 yards and is considered by many professional bowlers

to be one of the trick-iest on the circuit due to its layout.Andrew Cairns, the competitions joint most successful bowler having won the title in 2002 and 2007, says the layout of the green is the true test of a bowler’s skill and can make the most

“A special venue”: The Red Lion will once again host the Xmas Handicap

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