Page 39 - Spring 2018 Final

Jason McClean 1:Layout 1 02-Apr-18 5:16 PM Page 1

39

John McLean Charity event

Winners Jason McClean,
Paul & Callum Goodman

30 teams from as far away as the West
Midlands, Dorset, Wokingham (in Berk-
shire), Wiltshire, Essex and Somerset
played in the 7th running of the John
McLean Charity Short Mat Bowls Tourna-
ment, held for the fifth year at Banister
Park Indoor BC.
It is an event run in support of Wes-
sex Cancer Trust on or about the anniver-
sary of John’s birthday and over the
years around £7,000 has been raised by
the short mat bowlers.
Each year has seen a bumper raf-
fle, along with other attractions like target
Finalists the Morello Boys bowls. This year there was also a short
Ben, George & Martin Cherry break holiday voucher donated by Isle of
Wight Tours, run as a separate raffle.
The teams entered with names to challenge the scorer who had scorecards to set up,
but they came with a common aim to have a good, competitive, and “fun” day in the name of
raising money for the worthy charity. After four games each in the round robin matches, the
top 16 teams progressed to the knockout stages whilst the remainder contested the “Plate”
competition.
Teams with interesting names like “Hairy Potter & The Magic Pumpkins”, “Two Dicks & A
Dom” and “The Only Way is Ethics” filtered their way to the top of their respective groups, along
with rather shorter names like “PEP”, “MVS” and “TAC”. Also through as a Group winner was
one of the teams from the host club, Southampton SMBC, lead by the Club’s Chairman and
Tournament Organiser Jason McLean.
The first knockout round of the Main competition saw “Ethics” hold on for a win against
“Good Old Boys”, “Hairy Potter” came from 7-6 down with two ends to go against Nearly But
Not Quite to win 7-11.