WELLINGTON Park made it a double this week after securing two Greenock and District Bowling Association league titles.

The club captured the fours league championship for the second season running to add to their third successive over-50s crown.

In the Fours League Championship, Lady Alice led the way for the most part of the season and started off with a maximum 12 points from 12 in the first two games, with Wellington Park closely behind.

The competition was split into a top four and bottom four after week seven, with the final three games played on neutral ground.

By week nine the gap between Lady Alice and Wellington Park had been cut to just one point, and when the two teams clashed at Ardgowan in the penultimate week, it was the Wellington Park quartet who showed their experience, recording a 6-0 win over the team from Brachelston Street to go five clear with one game to go.

That left Wellington Park needing just one point against Grosvenor to retain their title, and they showed they weren’t messing about, overcoming the Bank Street team 4-2 to ensure they’d be crowned champions for a second year.

In division one of the triples league, Port Glasgow 1 opened up a commanding lead after six weeks of play and kept that early season form going to secure the title in style.

Four teams were in danger of being relegated going into the final night’s matches, and it was Inverkip who tumbled into division two after a heavy defeat against Kilmacolm 1, who retained their top flight status along with Fort Matilda and Lady Alice.

In division two, Port Glasgow 2 fought a season-long battle with Wellington Park 2 for the top place, with the leadership changing hands several times from week to week.

In the end, Port Glasgow 2’s strength in depth proved a significant factor and a 4-2 win over Wellington Park in week nine gave them a cushion to see the final night out and win the Division 2 title and promotion.

The over-50s afternoon league is proving very popular amongst most of the local clubs; having only been introduced into the calendar in 2019, it has steadily grown since and now sees nine of the area’s 13 clubs participating.

Last year’s competition was decided with the very last bowl of the game, and this year’s tournament looked like it might go the same way, with only four points separating first and fifth place after week five and with Kilmacolm, Grosvenor, Lady Alice and Victoria all in the mix behing early leaders Wellington Park.

In the end, Wellington Park kept their nerve and saw out a 4-0 win over Port Glasgow in week seven, enough to ensure that when other results went their way the Drumfrochar Road side had secured the league title with a game to spare.

Fours league championship: League flag and Shield champions Wellington Park; George Melvin Shield (runner-up) Lady Alice; bottom-half split Victoria BC.

Triples division one: champions Port Glasgow 1; runners-up Wellington Park 1; relegated Inverkip BC.

Triples division two: champions Wellington Park, runners-up Victoria.

A GDBA spokesperson said: “Congratulations to all our league winners for season 2024.

“The committee would like to thank all the clubs who participated in this year’s new league formats and to everyone who sent in their club results every week very promptly to allow the league tables to be updated immediately after play.”