Memories
The 2nd article in this series of looking back at the history of some local competitions picks up on the Liberal League Mixed Pairs competition. No.2-THE JOHN CARSTAIRS MEMORIAL MIXED PAIRS KO by Dave Parkin
The 2023 event was held over until this season after it was postponed on its original date & a new date was unable to be found. This will mean that this competition will be unique in this series as it will be covered twice. For this event, I will cover the recent history & delve into “Who was John Carstairs?”
The 8 pairs below will line up at Almondbury Liberal on Sunday and it includes some previous winners too.
FINALS DAY OF THE 2023 JOHN CARSTAIRS MEMORIAL MIXED-PAIRS KO 2.00pm SUNDAY 7 APRIL 2024 at ALMONDBURY LIBERAL
This renewal could easily extend the “family feel” of what could be a candidate for the oldest mixed-gender pairs event in the district. There could even be a grandfather & grandchild winner. The Ladies must lead & follow plus Almondbury Lib members are on -2, -1 & scratch for their 3 games.
The first mention I can find for this Liberal League event from the Examiner archives is 1973 so this is the 50th anniversary event. For many events in the 1970’s whilst the Ladies League was getting up & running locally, the Ladies weren’t mentioned in the press releases. The Liberal League took off just after WW1 like many other local leagues when the clamour for more bowling was great.
Of course, as the Ladies became more well-known, they got equal billing and some accreditation.
Now, we move onto
“Who was John Carstairs?”
For those not aware (this author included), John was described by his partner & Primrose Hill secretary in a 2011 article as “Mr Primrose Hill”. He was the club rep on a lot of local bowling committees & after passing in 2010, this event was named after him with support from Primrose Hill club & members.
It has had a few sponsors over the years with the first trophy being provided by Benjamin Shaw & then later in the 1990’s, support from Bass North under the William Stones brand too.
More about this when we preview the 2024 event later in the year.
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