Highlights
The 2026 Ladies Veterans County Championship was held on Tuesday 23rd June in Wrexham. As in previous years the competition was an eight player team round robin event with four groups at two venues, Llay Miners Welfare and Gresford Village BC, with the winner of each group moving to Brymbo Sports & Social Club to play a knock-out semi-final and final.
This format makes it a very long day and this year it was played in extreme temperatures that reached over 35 degrees. Bowls is a summer sport but a twelve hour program in this heat does make you wonder, especially for our Veteran’s Ladies Teams. Having said that, most of these girls have more ‘get up and go’ in them than this guy who sits at a computer most of the time.
But seriously, a huge well done to everyone who provided drinks as the day progressed to ensure everyone was as comfortable as they could possibly be in such difficult conditions.
Onto the bowls, and lets start with Group.A. at Llay Miners Welfare that included Merseyside, North Shropshire, South Yorkshire and Staffordshire.
This turned out to be a really tight group, with three of the teams winning two from three and so everything went to an aggregate count. It was Merseyside who pinched it by 5 shots over South Yorkshire, primarily due to their clean sweep of Staffordshire and the biggest 52 shot victory in the group.
Group.B, also at Llay, was the only three team group of the day and therefore was a simpler affair, and it was the Isle of Man who produced the two wins over Wales & Warwick & Worcester. But it wasn’t a landslide affair by any means, with a 3 and 6 shot victory respectively.
Over at Gresford, Group.C. contained Burton & District, Dudley & District, Mid Warwickshire and Yorkshire. It was Yorkshire who went unbeaten this time, powering their way past Burton & Mid Warwickshire. It was only Dudley & District that put up any kind of fight, narrowly losing by 7 shots.
Group.D. completed the qualifying at Gresford and Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and South Staffordshire produced another group where three teams won two games. This time the aggregate count back wasn’t quite as close with Greater Manchester progressing due to a 44 shot positive, which was 30 shots better than Lancashire, who finished second.
So onto Brymbo for the two semi-finals, Merseyside v Isle of Man and Yorkshire v Greater Manchester.
It was the Isle of Man who starter the stronger against Merseyside with a 15-6 win from Paula Garrett, and while Merseyside’s Lynn Mountford got some of these chalks back with a 15-9 win, it was card No.3. that set the trend for the match. Margie Taskers 15-3 and then wins for four of the remaining five for the Isle of Man, saw them through to the final with a comfortable 36 shot victory.
In the other semi, Yorkshire dispatched Greater Manchester with a similar ease. It was only Margaret Cowburn’s 15-5 win at No. 6 that showed any hint of resistance, and by that time Yorkshire were already 37 shots in front with the highlight being Lynda Drury’s 15-2. A total victory of 33 chalks for Yorkshire saw them into the final.
So who had the most stamina at the end of a long day in that blistering heat?
It was Yorkshire, as they carded 7 from 8 wins and a 40 chalk win. It was Lynda Drury who took center stage again with a 15-4 win in the final, and a full day where her 5 opponents together only scored 11 chalks in total against her.
Take a bow Lynda, congratulations to Yorkshire, well done to everyone who competed and a huge thanks to Wales for hosting the event in their centenary year.
Full results and team picture gallery can be found on the Ladies Veterans County Championship Page.
