Jack & Jean Isherwood

The Jack and Jean Isherwood is a BCGBA Competition for males aged over 60 years of age on 1st January of that year. Shropshire normally have two qualifiers each year for a finals day 32 currently held on Prees.

2026 Details:

Qualifying Date & Time: Monday 1st June at 1 p.m.

Entry Fee: £10

Enter By Date: Saturday 16th May

Enter with Mike Potter on potter.mike21@outlook.com 

Finals Date & Time: Wednesday 1st July at 10 a.m. 

Venue: Prees B.C.

2026

Finals:

Julian Cooke reached round two of the BCGBA Jack & Jean Isherwood Veterans Championship. He beat Andrew Jarrold first game 7 but then lost to Martin Gilpin 19. Our other qualifier Dave Nicholls lost to Gill Mcaleney 15. Nick Jelleyman from Derbyshire won the competition.

Full results are here.

2025

Finals:

Paul Williams lost out 20 in the 1st round of the BCGBA Jack & Jean Isherwood Veterans Championship. He lost to Vince Senior as Kerry Morris beat Steve Atkinson 18 in the final at Prees.

Full results are here.

Qualifiers:

From the 19 entries, a field of 17 players gathered at the picturesque countryside village green of Childs Ercall Bowling Club to contest for Shropshire’s two guaranteed qualifying places in the National finals of the Jack & Jean Isherwood (over 60s) Individual Competition that will be staged at Prees BC on Wednesday 2^nd July.

On an early Summer’s day, with possible showers forecast, we were happily greeted upon our arrival by sunny skies, so much so that most players stayed to the end of the session enjoying an afternoon of warm sunshine and after four hours of action we knew who our representatives at the finals day would be.

As per the competition rules, all games began with 3 chalks given to each player.

Highlights of some action included

Pre-Lim:

The only pre-lim game of the day saw Cedric Bancroft open up an 11-4 lead on Steve Smith, which he maintained as scores went on to 17-9 before Cedric finished the game off, 21-13.

Round 1

Cedric’s reward for his win was to face Chris Partridge who soon found himself 3-9, 6-13 and 10-17 down before Cedric ended it 21-13.
Pete Nicholls began strongly to go 10-4 up on Graham Turner who fought hard to level the game at 14-14 and go in to a lead of his own, but stalled at 18-15 as Pete took single chalks in the next six ends to run out a 21-18 winner.
Paul Williams hit back hard from 4-9 down against Dave Nicholls as Paul allowed him 3 more chalks before winning 21-12.
Derek Wright was relentless against Keith Pessall as he didn’t concede anything until at 17-3, Keith won a solitary end and got a pair before Derek finished it 21-5.
Nick Davies led 9-5 before clubmate Alan Hughes hit back to level at 11-11, but he never got any more as Nick ran out 21-11.
Phil Lyttle opened up good 12-4 & 18-7 leads and despite John Clarke battling to get back in it, Phil ended the game 21-13.
An evenly matched game saw Dave Brown & Steve Faulkner go from 6-6, 12-12, 16-16 & 18-18 before Dave got home 21-18.
Paul Beer saw his 12-6 lead vanish as Ian Foster levelled at 12-12 before Paul regained the jack to go 20-15 up and held on to win 21-18.

With the rumbling sounds of thunder and lightning flashes that had got everyone looking to the skies, as the forecast storm clouds began to creep towards us, the second round began. During these games, a sigh of relief could almost be heard as the storm changed direction and moved away, allowing the sunshine return.

Round 2

Cedric Bancroft shared the first half of his game with Pete Nicollls that saw the game tied 11-11 who seized control and take a 19-15 lead but Cedric wasn’t finished levelling again 19-19 and kept the momentum to win 21-20.
An even game between Paul Williams & Derek Wright saw their game also level 10-10 but after Derek made it 14-11, he got stuck as Paul held the jack and run out 21-14.
Nick Davies opened up a 13-5 lead only for Phil Lyttle to battle his way back to trail 14-16 from where neither could hold the jack but after leading all the way down the card, Nick sealed a 21-17 win.
Paul Beer quickly turned his 7-5 lead up to 16-5 on Dave Brown who managed to get in to double figures before going down 21-12.

Round 3

Paul Williams had to come from 6-12(9ends) behind to level with Cedric Bancroft 16-16(20ends) that then saw Paul go to the edge 20-16 only to have Cedric level it again 20-20. After both had the jack in the gutter for the last end, Paul just edged it to win 21-20.                

Meanwhile

Paul Beer, from 7-7(8ends) almost ran out against unlucky Nick Davies who could only add a single chalk to his tally that saw Paul eyentually wrap up the game 21-8(21ends)

A play off was then held between Paul Beer and Paul Williams on Wednesday 11th June at Childs Ercall as we only had one qualifier. This was won by Paul Williams 21-12. 

A big THANKYOU to the members of Childs Ercall BC for hosting our competition and providing a superbly presented green that proved to be a very good test for all the players. A special note of Thanks to club member, Rose for looking after us opening the club and providing refreshments throughout the afternoon. 

2024 Details:

Shropshire County Jack & Jean Isherwood Qualifying Competition

Played, by kind permission, on the green of Telepost Bowling Club on Mon 20^th May 2024

A field of 17 players gathered at Telepost Bowling Club to contest for Shropshire’s two guaranteed qualifying places in the National finals of the Jack & Jean Isherwood (over 60s) Individual Competition that will be staged at Prees BC in July.

Upon arrival we were greeted by cloudy skies that were burnt away by the end of the session and everyone that stayed enjoyed an afternoon of warm sunshine and after four hours of action we knew who our representatives at the finals day would be.

As per the competition rules, all games began with 3 chalks given to each player.

Highlights of some action included

Pre-Lim:

The only pre-lim game of the day saw Keith Pessall & Ian Gaut match each other until at 7-7, Keith seized control of the jack and held it for 11 ends as he slowly edged his way running out 21-07.

Round 1

Keith’s reward for his win was to face one of our qualifying players of last year, Mark Thomas who had to fight hard to turn a 9-12 deficit into a strong 20-12 lead and after Keith had battled his way back in to the game, Mark finally finished it 21-18.

An evenly matched game saw Nick Davies & Wayne Rogers share the lead several times with the scores going 5-5, 10-10, 14-14 and until 16-16 when Nick pushed on to 20-16 before ending it 21-17.

Dave Povey turned a 9-10 deficit into a 19-11 lead over Chris Partridge who fought back before Dave won the game 21-15.

With the scores tied 8-8 after sharing the first 8 eight ends, John Clarke wasted little time to run out against Dave Nicholls, winning the next 8 ends to win 21-08.

Another evenly matched start saw Tony Roche & John Nash at 9-9. Then Tony went on a run to take it up to 17-9 before John also hada run of his own to level it again at 18-18 only to have Tony take the game 21-18.

Pete Nicholls took a shared score with Derek Wright of 9-9 onto a 16-10 lead which he managed to maintain through to the end 21-15.

From 5-7 down, Ian Foster fought his way in to a 15-9 lead over Graham Turner who himself rallied to get back before Ian won 21-17.

Dave Redge moved from 10-10 onto 16-10 against Phil Lyttle who hit back to level at 16-16 only to see Dave run out 21-16.

Round 2

Nick Davies and Mark Thomas matched each other down the card as scores went 5-5, 9-9, 12-12, and 16-16 from where Nick took the last 3 ends to win 21-16.

John Clarke had to battle back from 6-13 down against Dave Povey and eventually levelled at 14-14 and then after trailing 18-19 John edged his way to a 21-19 win.

From 7-7, Tony Roche moved onto lead Pete Nicholls 18-10 and soon finished the game 21-13.

Ian Foster & Dave Redge went from 7-7, 10-10 and 13-13 until at 14-14 Ian gain control of the jack and held it to run out 21-14.

Qualifying Games:

Nick Davies from 8-10(10ends) down, single pointed his way up to 15-10(15ends) against John Clarke, and was able to maintain his lead after sharing the last 8 ends of the game to win 21-14(23ends).

Meanwhile

Ian Foster from 7-7(7 ends) saw him have to fight back from 8-13(13 ends) against Tony Roche and into a 16-13(18ends) lead and on to 20-14(22ends). Following a strong effort to get back by Tony, the game was finally finished by Ian winning 21-19(27ends)

Qualifying Players:

Our duo to represent and carry the hopes for a Shropshire Champion at the finals at Prees Wednesday 3^rd July are

NICK  DAVIES     &     IAN  FOSTER (picture below)

Congratulations and Good Luck, Lads,

MP

2023:

Finals

Our two hopefuls both lost first round of the BCGBA Jack & Jean Isherwood Veterans Championship. Mark Thomas dipped out 20 to John Colebourne, while Tony Roche lost 11 to Paul Stretton. It was won by Martin Simcock who beat Andy Sorsby 15 in the final.

The full results are here.

Qualifiers

A field of 17 players gathered at Madeley Cricket & Bowling Club to contest for Shropshire’s two guaranteed qualifying places in the National finals of the Jack & Jean Isherwood (over 60s) Individual Competition that will be staged at Prees BC a month later in July.

Upon arrival, an hour before, we were greeted by a cloudy sky but by the start time, the sun had burnt them away and everyone enjoyed the afternoon bathed in glorious Sunshine that would see four hours of action before we would know who our representatives would be.

As per the competition, all games began with 3 chalks given to each player.

Full results are here.

Highlights of some action included

Pre-Lim:

The only pre-lim game of the day saw Wrockwardine Wood club mates Helen Clee & Tony Garmson match each other until holding a  15-13 lead, Helen counted 5 ends on the bounce to run out 21-13.

Round 1

Helen’s reward for her win was to face another club mate, this time she was up against regular doubles partner, John Clarke who had to claw his way back from 7-11 to level the game 13-13. From there, the pair could only manage single shot winning ends, but by getting more of them, John went through with a 21-17 card.

Mark Thomas went from 5-5 to lead Pete Spragg 13-6 & 18-8 before finishing it off, 21-10.

Ian Gaut & Wayne Rogers matched each other down the card as the scores went from 8-8, 11-11 & 14-14 but with Ian scoring double points ends to Wayne’s single points, Ian took the game 21-17.

Keith Pessall turned a 6-4 score to 14-6 until Derek Wright fought his way back in to it to trail 12-14 only to have Keith retake control and moved to 19-13 and eventually finished 21-16.

Ian Foster saw a 14-7 lead evaporate as John Nash got back to within 1 chalk to trail 13-14. Ian managed to maintain his slim lead until at 18-17 he took the last two ends, winning 21-17.

Paul Williams, from 5-5 raced to a 17-5 lead before Dave Redge hit back with a big run of his own to level the game 18-18 only to see Paul take the final two ends to win 21-18.

Tony Roche from 9-9 went on a run with the jack to lead 19-11 over Alan Boulton and despite a mini fight back by Alan, Tony managed to hold on to secure a 21-16 win.

A very evenly matched game between Bob Renke & Brian Walters saw the scores go from 6-6, 11-11 and 15-15, then from 17-17, Bob took three ends to win 21-17.

Round 2

Bob Renke had to fight hard to turn round a 4-11 deficit and, by only dropping 2 of the next 12 ends went in to a 18-13 lead over John Clarke before ending it 21-15.

Mark Thomas and Ian Gaut shared the first 10 ends as scores went 4-4 to 10-10. Then Mark went on to take 7 of  9 ends to finish off Ian’s hopes and take the game, 21-12.

Ian Foster maintained a 6 chalk lead over Keith Pessall as the scores went from 10-4, 14-8 and 19-13 before ending the game 21-15.

Tony Roche battled hard from 7-13 down to level it up with Paul Williams 16-16 and went on to lead 19-16. Paul levelled it 19-19 and 20-20 before Tony took the last of 27 ends to win 21-20.

Qualifying Games:

Tony Roche wasted no time building a big lead by scoring 11 chalk in 6 ends to lead Bob Renke 14-3(6 ends). Although Bob did mount a revival effort a little to trail 7-14(10 ends) but he could not stop Tony’s charge as just after making double figures, the game was over with a score line of 21-10(17 ends) as Tony booked his finals day ticket.

Meanwhile

Mark Thomas from 6-6(6 ends) saw his 14-8(12 ends) lead over Ian Foster, disappear as Ian drew level 15-15(18 ends) and 19-19(23 ends) only for Mark to take the last 2 ends and qualify, winning 21-19(25 ends).

Qualifying Players:

Our duo to represent and carry the hopes for a Shropshire Champion at the finals  Wednesday 5^th July are

TONY  ROCHE              &                MARK  THOMAS

Congratulations and Good Luck, Lads,

MP