THE final stages of the first local tournament, the Wirral and District Charity (formerly Mayors) Handicap were played out at the Pensby Bowling Club green last Saturday.

On a sunny but cool afternoon, the winner was New Brighton Quarry Viking’s Chris Barton, who beat New Brighton Queens Royal’s Colin Saville in the final.

On a green that was in excellent condition and surprisingly fast, Barton was able to adjust to the conditions better than most and he thoroughly deserved his victory.

In the quarter-finals, he beat the 2014 champion, Tixall’s Brian Somerville, and he then played your correspondent, West Kirby’s Bill Atkinson, the winner from last year. Atkinson did all he could, but Barton was just too good on the extremely fast green.

Meanwhile, Saville had got the better of Harrison Park’s Bill Jones in his quarter-final match before having an excellent win over Tixall’s Nigel Hughes in the semis.

Initially the final was close, but Barton slowly pulled ahead and he was a 21-13 winner to put a new name on the trophy.

Results:

Quarter-finals: W Atkinson 21, L Henderson 13; C Barton 21, B Somerville 15; C Saville 21, W Jones 14; N Hughes 21, J Finch 13.

Semi-finals: Barton 21, Atkinson 10; Saville 21, Hughes 15.

Final: Barton 21, Saville 13.

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THE Wallasey Federation team made a winning start to their 2016 season when they defeated Mid Cheshire on Sunday.

The home team, playing on the green at Royden Hall, had seven winners and won by a 46-point margin. The best performances were a 21-3 win by Matthew Gilmore and Ian Hazlehurst with another single figure win, 21-5.

The away team, playing at Winsford Conservative Club, also had seven winners and they won their match by 29 points.

Ian Sherbrook’s 21-5 and Chris Barton’s 21-8 were the pick of the bunch.

Overall, the team had a 22-14 win and they should look forward to the rest of the season with confidence.

The Wirral Ladies players were also in action on Sunday when the Merseyside Ladies team, which is made up entirely of bowlers from Wirral, took on North Lancs and Fylde.

Though Merseyside had seven winners both at home and away the scores in both matches were very close.

In the home match at Pensby, North Lancs and Fylde took the match by 218 points to 215.

For the home team, Karen Smith, playing at number 12, top-scored with a 21-8 win.

In the away tie at the Goose District green in Garstang, however, Merseyside won by 210-205 giving the Merseyside team an exciting overall win by just two points.

The star performance in the away team was a 21-9 win for Linda Howard.

As with the men, the ladies should also be able to look forward to the rest of their county season.