THE finals of the Senior National Championships are taking place at Nottingham this week but, to date, there has been little to cheer about for Cumbrians.

The Men’s Senior Triples commenced on Monday and Cumbria IBC was represented by Bill Adam, Ron McMath and Rick Gallagher.

The Cumbria trio began well enough leading 5-4 after five ends but could add only one shot in the next five ends while conceding eight.

Their opponents from Essex County IBC continued their domination over the next five ends and led 18-10 with three to play. A count of four on the 16th end brought the contest to a disappointing close.

In the Ladies Two Wood Senior Triples, Cumbria IBC was represented by Margaret Docherty, Christine Wharton and Eleanor Gass and made a poor start to their first round match against Lucy Ratcliffe of Harpenden IBC.

Cumbria trailed 6-1 after the first five ends but over the next five ends they rattled up twelve shots without reply to lead 13-6.

From then on, however, it was the Hertfordshire-based trio which took command and with three ends left they drew level at 14-all. They continued to hold the upper-hand and scored a further seven shots on the next two ends at which point hands were shaken.

Cumbria was not represented in the Men’s Senior fours as they went down to The Parks quartet of Roy Goldsmith, Mike London, Ian Brown and Brian Houghton in the inter area final.

The Parks showed that the Cumbria defeat was not without merit for they went all the way to the final before losing out 22-14 to a Norfolk based four from County Arts skipped by Brian Taylor who is no stranger to the many Cumbrians who make the summer trip to Bournemouth.

Play continued at Nottingham yesterday and Sheena Kikrpatrick and Cindy Edmondson represented Cumbria in the Senior Ladies Pairs.

The Cumbrians did not make the best of starts against Mary Price of Desborough and trailed 7-2 after the first quarter. The Carlisle pair battled hard but could never quite peg back the Desborough duo and in the end went down 21-19.

yesterday afternoon it was the turn of the Senior Men as Ray Gall and John Wills faced Angel IBC’s Graham Standley, the former English International.

The Cumbria pair like all the local qualifiers were lacking match practice and lost out on the early exchanges trailing 7-3 after five ends but fought back well to be just two adrift at ten and one behind after fifteen.

With three to play they took the lead 18-17 and scored another single on the 19th to lead 19-17. They then lost a single on the penultimate end but won the game 20-18 with a single shot on the last end.

Rick Gallagher will be playing his first game in the Men’s Senior Singles tomorrow.

Outdoor Bowls:  Despite the continued inclement weather outdoor bowls is just around the corner and a number of clubs will be opening in the next two weeks.

A sign that the outdoor is close is when the annual bible arrives and I understand from Competition Secretary Vic Emmerson that this mine of information should be available in the next 10 days. Vic’s home club Keswick Fitz Park was one of three clubs devastated by Desmond but I understand that good progress is being made.

The green is expected to be in good order as it was last year and whilst the Opening Day is being put back slightly it is hoped that things will soon be in full swing once more.

Courtfield Bowls Club is also well on the way to recovery and most of the work on the Bower will be completed this week.

There are still some scheduled works on the surrounds but there should be no problems and the club will be back in full swing sooner rather than later.

I understand that Appleby is also making good progress. All three clubs have done remarkably well without any assistance from the National Association.

I notice on its website today that they are asking for details of any clubs which have suffered damage as a result of the weekend storm Katie though the body is quick to point out that it is unable to give any financial assistance to individual clubs.

Rather strange when it lists as its top priority “to provide the best possible support to each and every one of its clubs and counties”.