IT HAS been an incredibly busy time for the men and women at Gerrards Cross Bowls Club.

The men had progressed to the Griffin Cup finals held in Radlett in Hertfordshire. The club entered the competition to allow more bowlers the opportunity to play competitive matches and had taken a number of Hertfordshire scalps en route to the semi-final.

With a two-rink cumulative score format, it was a close affair against Bushy, but the Cross side triumphed to the afternoon final against Berkhampstead.

Berkhampstead just edged the final despite Gerrards Cross winning on one of the two rinks. It was a significant achievement for the Cross side to do so well in their first season.

The weekend saw a Super Sunday for both men and women. The men were playing Marlow in the Bucks Cup semi-final on the neutral venue at Iver Heath.

Following a motivating team talk from captain Alan Price the Cross started quickly and soon drew ahead.

Despite a strong comeback in the second half of the game from the Marlow bowlers, Gerrards Cross won across all rinks with a cumulative winning margin of 38 shots.

The top rink went to Keith Young, Keith Patrick and Kirk Smith with a 30-4 winning margin.

Team manager David Ross was full of praise commenting; “It was a great performance from everyone at Gerrards Cross against a really good Marlow side and we had to be on our top game throughout to get through to the final.”

Not to be outdone, the ladies were also successful in both the quarter-final of the Burnham Plate and the Trundell and, as both matches were played at the same time, it showed the depth of the squad.

In the Trundell, the ladies met High Wycombe in a two-rink format and, in a close encounter, ran out winners by nine shots with the winning triple of Katie Reid, Janice Welch and Julie Skelly.

In the Burnham plate, the Cross entertained Olney in another successful game with the team of Anne Green, Gill Young, Maureen Merry and Margaret Poole winning by 18-11.

Both ladies teams’ now qualify for their respective semi finals.

The Wednesday Bucks Leagues are now getting to their final stages. This is a mixed competition with one rink of four players.

The Cross have entered five teams to give many new and club players the opportunity to test their skills.

With just a few games left, Swans are top of Division One Blue with a game in hand. The Erasers are also in Division One but the red side of the draw and second with a game in hand, with Allsorts holding their own.

For the newer bowlers, the Rowers are continuing to develop in Division Three, whilst the Pick and Mix look destined for promotion from Division Four.

The National Finals are now taking place at the home of English bowls in Leamington Spa and there were a good number of Cross players that had qualified for these prestigious finals.

The father and son partnership of John and Tom McGuiness progressed all the way to the semi final where they lost on an extra end to the England pairing and eventual winners, Sam and Sophie Tolchard.

There were also matches for Courtney Harvey in the junior singles and the Over 55s fours of Kevin Dwyer, Keith Young, Simon Cobb and Neil Farnish.

Charlene Turpie progressed to the Leamington final stages as well as Tom McGuinness and George Reid in the Under 25s pairs.

To cap off the busy period, Harvey was selected to be interviewed on BBC Radio as well as being selected to appear front of camera for a piece about younger players in bowls on BBC TV.