BILLY Cater, of Sutton and Guiseley, was the worthy winner of the John Rycoft Trophy held at Broughton Road, Skipton by the Aire-Wharfe Bowling Association where he beat the organiser, Peter Hepworth, also of Sutton, 21-14, after a long day.

Billy beat his son Tom in the semi-final, while Hepworth narrowly accounted for Andrew Uttley.

The Hebden Bridge Merit was also completed last weekend with Ryan Tiler, of Cross Roads, coming out on top in a small field of entrants at Sowerby T and BC by narrowly defeating Mark Jeffreys, of Mytholmroyd BC, 21-19 after his opponent made a strong comeback. Scott Wilkins, of Cross Roads, reached the semis.

Popular players in the area, Chris and Diana Slater, who moved away to North Wales some years ago, made a recent return to the region to visit family and friends and entered the Colne Memorial Doubles held at Alkincoats Park in memory of Philip Wright, who was killed some years ago, and reached the final itself only to lose 20-21 to a local pairing, Aaron Harrison and David Ward.

Yorkshire Ladies have reached the semi-finals of the County Championship after a comfortable victory over North Warwickshire, but things did not quite go right for local hope Viv Abell in the away match at Haunchwood.

In Aire-Wharfe League, Broughton Road and Sutton fail to trouble the leaders in Division One on a Saturday, while Oxenhope have sunk into the relegation zone.

The Wednesday Singles League sees Broughton Road third in League One, while Addingham have regained top spot in Division Two but only by a narrow margin.

In the Tuesday Pairs League there is better news for Oxenhope who remain second in the top flight.

Cononley continue to make hard work of it in Bradford’s League Two and remain fourth.

Top positions in the Worth Valley’s Saturday League are filled by Denholme, Bradshaw B and Royd House with no sign of any changes at present, while in the Veteran’s Leagues, the five leaders are Settle A, Broughton Road, Bradshaw B, Alkincoats B and Cross Roads.

Finally, section winners in the new Wednesday League were SPF and Alkincoats and play-offs for this event are continuing.