27 Mar Eddie Haigh – always a top bowler
EDDIE HAIGH, who passed away on Sunday 23rd March, was a top-class bowler in the Huddersfield Veterans Bowling Association (HVBA) winning the major competitions on numerous occasions. And, if not winning the actual competition he was competing in then his name would feature somewhere in the final rounds – indeed he finished the 2024 veterans’ season as a prize winner in the John Hoyle Finals at Moldgreen.
Looking back over the past decade or at the honours list on the HVBA website and Haigh’s name is always prominent.
The winner of the Peter & Judith Muff Rosebowl on two occasions, in 2009 and 2016 he won the John Hoyle Trophy on three occasions, in 2007, 2010 and 2017 when that competition was known as the Select Players competition.
He won the Over 70s individual competition in 2017 (against former HVBA President Frank Greenwood) and again in 2022 against Tim Poulter.
In the Over 80s he defeated Trevor Sykes to win that competition in 2023.
Eddie was equally successful in pairs competitions, winning the Pairs Shield on two occasions, the first with Lockwood Con colleague Mick Fisher in 2013 and three years later when he partnered Mick Cox.
He bowled alongside Ronnie Manning to be inaugural winners against Meltham pair Barry Gibson and Roy Sutton in the inaugural Over 70s pairs competition in 2019.
Eddie’s final game in the HVBA was a quarter-final tie against Garry Senior in the John Hoyle Trophy, where he lost by four points.
He was a competitor in the Over 70s and 80s individual competitions in 2024, the Over 70s Pairs and the Pairs Shield in which alongside Mick Cox he lost to eventual winners Alan Stephenson and Ian Lunn.
His consistent high standard of bowling saw Eddie help Lockwood Con win the Veterans League championship in 2021 and he was member of the Association’s Inter-District side for a number of years.
Although he bowled for Lockwood Con in the vets on a Saturday he bowled for the Meltham club finishing as the top bowler in the Drayton Cup in 2023. And, after finishing his summer bowling in 2024 he competed in the winter league that followed.