COBBYDALE bowlers battled out an all-Silsden final in the Valley Handicap Doubles at Cross Hills last weekend.

David Galley and Lennie 'The Lion' Buxton of Silsden Bowling Club narrowly defeated rivals Jim Horsfield and Alan Pennington of the Playing Fields club, edging to a 21-17 victory. It was a special win for pigeon fancier Buxton as all his 'woods' came home to roost.

Losing semi-finalists were Kevin Wordley and Margaret Wood, Mick Walsh and Scott Bairstow.

There was success for Keighley Bowling Club when Peter Loftus won the Skipton Veterans handicap on Skipton's Devonshire green. Well handicapped, he just defeated teammate Joe Brinton, the well known snooker star, 21-18, with some shots that 'came in off the black.'

Losing in the semis were Lennie Buxton and Wally Atkins of Grassington.

The Veterans Inter-District team continue on their way today when they face Bradford at 2pm. The away match takes place at Horton Park, which is closest to home, as the 'home' team travel to Settle. The Bradford outfit is a very experienced team and will be hard to beat.

The Valley Over-60's team again travelled to Halifax for their popular Federation fixture, but only the No1 team had any success against Leeds, defeats were handed out by Doncaster and Hebden Bridge. The last game in the series is on July 9 at 1.30 for the No1 team with the No2 team in action on July 23 at 10.30am.

Ex-Steeton star Andy Uttley became the only local qualifier in the Craven Classic with his Devon team mate and past winner, Les Foster, among his victims. The final is on July 9.

Foster made amends when he qualified for the Rycroft finals at Broughton Road on August 8, the only local to make the grade so far.

Both Cross Hills and Sutton progressed to the last 32 of the Henry Taylor Cup. Sutton will meet league rivals Whinfield in the next round.

Top local side Cross Roads lost narrowly to last year's runners-up, Mirfield Old Bank A in the Yorkshire Cup. In an amazing 12-a-side game at Holbeck they suffered three early defeats to go behind, but fought back with only one further loser but they could not pull back the deficit and slipped to a seven-point defeat. To put it mildly the players were gutted.

Cononley B pulled off a shock one-point victory over Keighley A In the Clarkson Cup knockout competition, One point also separated Devon B and Whinfield A with the Devons side edging ahead. Others to reach the last eight included Whins A, Silsden B and Steeton A with the quarter-finals taking place on July 12.

In the league itself Keighley A have extended their lead ahead of Devon A, Cononley and Silsden A, but Decon B and Rolls Royce A look setr for a quick return to Division Two.

Oakworth still lead Division Two as Craven A, Steeton A and Lund A close in. Lund B are in fine form at the top of Division Three ahead of three North Craven rivals.

Graham Lummax and Phil 'The Moose' Anderson of Cross Roads have qualified for the Halifax Merit finals and Trevor Hargreaves reached the semi-finals of the Yorkshire Hill Supplies Handicap at Kirkheaton, only to lose 8-21 to outsider T Souther of Eccleshill. The event was won by wily veteran Brian Starkey of Slaithwaite..

Valley events continue on Sunday with the Trebles at Denholme, starting at 9.30. The draw is -- 9.30: J Tiler v S Hook, J Brinton v B Ellis, Liz Bland v V J Ambrose, C Uttley v K Baker. 10.15: R Lighthouse v P Rutt, P Dowgill v M Walsh, R Hewitt, R Carter, S Pickup, M Demaine. 11.00: K Coppen v W Burnett, K Harrison v M Taylor, D Smith v Tiler or Hook.

We recently reported the success of Brian Harrison and Scott Bairstow in the Valley Doubles, but mistakenly said it was Harrison's third consecutive victory in the event, in fact it was Scott's third win.