The ever popular Helensburgh Bowling Club, Gents Open Pairs competition, was held at the club during the week commencing 27th June 2016 and was run on a knockout basis, this year it attracted a large entry from within and out with the Helensburgh area.

The competition was again very kindly sponsored by the well known local company Helensburgh Toyota and Subaru.

The early rounds were played on Monday and Tuesday, all of which were played over 12 ends from which local pairings, Iain Macleod with George Sneddon, and Alan Howie with Gordon Stephen MBE along with father and son pair John Neal Jnr and John Neal from Cove and Kilcreggan as well as Lee Walter Cove & Kilcreggan playing with Andrew Sneddon from Helensburgh.

The semi-finals were played on Thursday in the first of which Iain Macleod and George Sneddon faced their club members Alan Howie and Gordon Stephen MBE. The Alan and Gordon partnership opened the scoring and lead 2 - 0 after two ends before Ian and George levelled the score at 2 -2 at the third end. Alan and Gordon then raced into a 7 – 2 lead after 8 ends before Iain and George hit back to make the score 8 – 5 against them going into the last end.

In an exciting final end Ian & George needed to win by 3 shots to tie the game but try as they may they only managed to win by 2 shots and Alan and Gordon progressed to the final by 8 shots to 7. In the other Semi Final the Cove & Kilcreggan pairing John Neal senior an junior faced Lee Walter from Cove and Andrew Sneddon from Helensburgh. In the early stages this game was very close with the game tied at 4 shots each after 5 ends. Lee and Andrew then took the lead at 8 shots to 5 after 8 ends before the father and son teams passed then and lead by 9-8 going into the final end. Exciting indeed as Lee and Andrew scored 3 shots to progress to the final by 11 shots to 9.

The final was scheduled to be played on1st July but the inclement weather and Helensburgh Open week delayed the game which was played on Tuesday 12th July.

In the Final played over 15 ends the Alan Howie and Gordon Stephen MBE pairing opened the scoring and their was never very much in the game in the early stages so much so that the Lee Walter and Andrew Sneddon partnership led by only 5 – 4 after 8 ends. The game was level at 8 shots all after 12 ends before Lee and Andrew surged ahead to score 5 shots over the last 3 ends to win the Trophy.

After the game President Eric Wallace welcomed Gary Mulvaney from Helensburgh Toyota/Subaru and thanked him for the continuing support received for his Toyota/Subaru.

Gary then presented the prizes to the Losing Semi finalists, the Runners up, and finally the Trophy and Prizes to the winners Lee Walter from Cove & Kilcreggan and Andrew Sneddon from Helensburgh who thanked all the players for participating, the match committee for there organisation and in particular Helensburgh Toyota/Subaru for their generous sponsorship of the event. Gary in closing said he had enjoyed watching the game, it was some time since he had thrown a bowl, he appreciated the effort of all the players and Helensburgh Toyota and Subaru were pleased to be involved with the club in the competition.

The photograph shows, from left to right,