26 Sep MICK COX FIRST WINNER OF JOHN HOYLE MEMORIAL TROPHY
The John Hoyle Memorial Trophy has been presented to our Association by the family of the late John Hoyle who sadly died whilst in office as President having been our General Secretary for four years. We felt it fitting that a competition of the elite players from the Huddersfield Inter-District Home and Away teams of which John was a proud member should compete for this new trophy on an annual basis from 2021. It was poignant that the first running of the competition was held on 24 September 2021 which would have been John’s 77th birthday.
The hosts for this competition were Huddersfield Recreation at their Moldgreen Cons home. John’s bowling career started at the old Leeds Road bowling greens of the ICI Recreation Club which after several changes of name became Canalside. John was instrumental in negotiating with the owners of Canalside to facilitate the clubs move to the Moldgreen Conservative Club with a change of name to Huddersfield Recreation.
The competition was refereed by Ray Tunnacliffe for the first round and quarter finals and then by Pat Stevenson for the Semi-Final and Final. In attendance were many members of Johns family including his wife Doreen and sons Jonathan and Jeremy, many of the family had travelled from the far reaches of the UK to attend this celebratory event in honour of John.
There were some tight matches in the first round and even tighter competitions when it came to the semi-finals. The final between Mick Cox and Tim Poulter looked as though it was going to be a runaway win for Mick Cox but Tim made a very spirited rally before finally succumbing to Mick. The scorecard is below.
The new cup was presented to Mick Cox by Doreen Hoyle and Mick said being the first name on the trophy meant so much to him because he had so much respect for John as both a bowler and for his contribution to the association and bowling.
All the proceeds for the day which amounted to £500 are to be presented to Kirkwood Hospice. Contributing to this magnificent sum was £100 from Huddersfield Recreation, £50 from Honley Dental, the entry fees and raffle plus some very generous individual contributions on the day.
Our thanks go to Huddersfield Recreation and Moldgreen Conservative club, the referees and most of all to the Hoyle family for their generous sponsorship and the trophy.
Round 1
P Hopkinson 8 v K Brown 21
D Simmons 10 v R Manning 21
B Gibson 17 v M Cox 21
M Gilbert 21 v A Carter 15
P Rangeley 21 v D Pollard 17
Edwin Haigh 21 v F Griffin 20
D Hewitt 21 v F Greenwood 10
E Haigh 11 v T Poulter 21
Quarter finals
K Brown 21 v R Manning 15
M Cox 21 v M Gilbert 15
P Rangeley 16 v Edwin Haigh 21
D Hewitt 18 v T Poulter 21
Semi finals
K Brown 20 v M Cox 21
Edwin Haigh 18 v T Poulter 21
Final
M Cox 21 v T Poulter 14
Photographs courtesy of Frank Greenwood and Richard Armitage
