BARRY Turnbull of Silsden was the worthy winner of the Yorkshire Parks Veterans' Merit held at a cold and damp Asa Briggs BC recently.

He was the most-consistent bowler on the day and comfortably beat his former Clayton team-mate Alan Peel, 21-14.

Turnbull, who plays for Ilkley BC, is hoping for a quick-fire double-success in the doubles event at the same venue on September 7 when he teams up with David Leather.

Oxenhope reached the final of the Aire-Wharfe Doubles Knockout but came unstuck against league leaders, Idle ‘A’, going down by ten points despite a good effort by Ray Wolsley and Gordon Cox.

The Worth Valley league fixtures have come to an end and Cross Roads have retained the Division One title with ease after a good win over nearest rivals Whinfield ‘A’.

The latter finished second edging out Denholme. Pending any changes to the league, Bingley ‘A’ and Haworth are relegated.

In Division Two, Silsden PF ‘A’ won the title by a single point from Lund ‘A’ in a close finish while Bradshaw ‘B’ and Denholme ‘B’ finished in the relegation positions.

Finally, in Division Three, the winners were Craven who comfortably held off a challenge of Halifax while Whins Wood ‘B’ finished bottom of the pile.

The final series of the Federation’s District matches have been completed with the Aire-Wharfe ‘A’ team set to return to the top flight, depending on other results, after they comfortably beat Mid-Cheshire.

The home leg at Broughton Road saw local successes for Joanne Ellis, Billy Cater, Mark Barker and Steve Morris,

However, their ‘B’ team were overwhelmed by Warrington in Division Five, especially in the home leg at Craven, despite wins for locals Peter Hepworth, David Smith and Graham Lomax.

Chris Wilson also won for Bradford against South Lancashire but his team put in a poor effort in defeat.

Yorkshire Ladies crashed out of the County Championship against Shropshire where a narrow four-point home win was rivalled by a comprehensive away defeat. In the latter, a great effort by Viv Abell came to nought.

Yorkshire Parks were also defeated in the county semi-final by North Staffordshire while the Veterans' County team managed to defeat a poor Cheshire side thanks to a good away win after a disappointing home draw at Rufford Park.