THE RECENT spell of cold weather has not deterred players as the bowls season gets under way,

especially at Highfield, where Cross Roads' Peter Walsh retained his Thomas Foster Cup Handicap title with a narrow 21-18 victory over Devon veteran Mick Claxton.

Losing in the semi-finals of the opening Worth Valley event were young Thomas Johnson, of Oxenhope, and Ken Baker, of Lund Park.

It was also a cold and wet day for Walsh’s team-mates at Cross Roads when their A team regained the Hebden Bridge Sunday Morning KO crown at Todmorden Park. They comfortably defeated Mytholmroyd Church Institute in the semi-final and did the same to Old Town A in a rather one-sided final. They only had one loser in both games of the six-a-side event, with the usual Hargreaves ‘boys’ leading the line.

Yorkshire Ladies made a great start to the County Championship season when they gained revenge for last season’s narrow defeat to rivals Lancashire by thrashing them in the home and away legs. The area’s only representative, Viv Abell of Broughton Road, recorded a good win at ‘sunny’ Southport!

The Valley/Skipton Juniors made a reasonable start in the Yorkshire ABA’s Division Two League, despite having only a small squad, when they recorded a narrow defeat at Heavy Woollen B with several close scores and two winners in Ben Hewitt and Thomas Lowe.

There were mixed results for local sides in the Yorkshire ABA team events with Cross Roads progressing in the Yorkshire Cup with an uninspiring victory over Knaresborough, while the only other representative, Broughton Road, made an ignominious exit to Broad Oak.

On a brighter note, both Devon and Settle recorded wins in the mixed team event for the Hutchinson Trophy but Cross Hills lost their sense of direction altogether against Magnet Sports and go into the Supplementary event for the Radley Trophy. Next games are on May 14.

Meanwhile, Haworth have had to withdraw their Saturday team from the Worth Valley League but will continue with their veteran side.