OAKWORTH'S Liz Bland will probably never forget 2005 for a variety of reasons, but the long suffering bowling partner of Yours Truly - Roy Sanderson - has at last had something to smile about.

The 'Dynamic Duo' teamed up to win the End of Season Handicap Doubles sponsored by the home club at Lund Park. They entertained supporters with a mixed display of good, bad and indifferent play, but still took the honours.

In the final the defeated consistent homesters Mick Paton and Hazel Cartwright 21-15. Losing in the semi-finals were Stuart Wrigley and Garry Bottomly jnr together with Tina and Joe Brinton.

The run up to the end of the Valley season began on Saturday with both knockout finals at Cross Hills with good support. In the Supplementary Final Lund C comfortably defeated an out of sorts Silsden PF B with future stars Jack Bennett and twins Ryan and James Tyler leading the way. The juniors are the future of the club, if they could only calm down.

There w2as a much closer final in the Valley Cup when Sutton B had a narrow win over Denholme. Rita Bland gave Sutton a great start with a 21-5 victory and Irene Stone applied the coup-de-grace to finish off Denholme despite good replies from Dave 'Action Man' Hewitt, Alan Downing and Steve Griffiths.

The Veterans Finals on Monday brought down the curtain in the league and gave Sutton more success as their B team narrowly defeated Cross Hills B to win the John Holmes Trophy at Whinfield, with John Dixon on top form.

In the Second Division final for the Edna Thornton Cup at Broughton Road, three narrow wins for Whins wood saw them to success over Denholme.

The Division One final for the Burgess Ford Cup saw top team Keighley A and Silsden PF A meet at Broughton Road when PF A emerged winners despite a good win for David Jacques, Jean Smith, Bob Scott and Margaret Slater who clinched a Cobbydale victory.

There was some superb bowling in the Devon Classic at Skipton which was won in great style by Ramon Brabar (Myrtle) who defeated team mate David Upton 21-10. His semi-final performance against Hedley Kettlewell was the highlight of the event with Graham Perry the other losing semi-finalist.

Former local stars Andy Uttley and Peter Clarke, now with Devon, teamed up to win the Guiseley Floodlit Pairs, defeating Oxenhope's recent recruits Nick and Ian Crossland 21-4 at Guiseley Bowling Club.

Cross Roads ended the season on an unlucky note, losing by one point to top Yorkshire side Brighouse in the Yorkshire Parks Victory Cup semi-final. Thbye lost the match, at Cullingworth despite a breathtaking effort by David Cadwallader. Brighouse defeated Holbeck in the final by over 80 points at Denholme.

That's about it for the season from your 'Roving Reporter' but he will try to keep you up to date with any developments during the closed season, including the usual player movements as they chase cups, and glory, all over the place. Roy goes away to consider his plans for 2006, for as the years go by can he still give 100 per cent and entertain his public?