YORK Indoor Bowls Club's teams moved into the next round of their national knock out competitions with relative ease.

Ther ladies crushed Ryedale 108-43 in the Yetton Trophy preliminary round and the men beat Blackburn 95-64.

Melanie Brooke's four paved the way against Ryedale by thrashing Sue Westoby's team 43-7, winning 11 of the last 12 ends scoring 30 shots to only two against.

Helen Walker's rink also had a comfortable time even though they lost seven of the last nine ends they had still done enough to win 22-15.

At Ryedale, Carol Instone's team bounced back from 5-1 down after four ends to 19-5 ahead after 14, going on to win 24-9. Linda Harrison's side also had a good run winning ten out of 12 ends to go from 4-1 down to 18-7 up on their way to a 19-12 victory.

York's men always had the upper hand in their Denny Cup second round game as they led on aggregate from start to finish at home.

Michael Bruce's team started with a four then finished with a six in their 27-15 win. David Stroughair's rink scored a five on the second end and never let their opponents get within three shots at any stage in their 24-15 victory.

Gordon Smith's team were trailing 13-10 at Blackburn after 12 ends before winning seven of the next eight ends to seal a 26-15 win.

Paul Mooring's four were the only rink to lose. After leading 13-10 with 15 ends gone they lost four successive ends to trail 19-13 but then nearly pinched a draw, winning the last two ends but going down 19-18.

York now play Blackpool Newton Hall in the next round.

New Earswick went out of the competition when they lost 89-58 to Selby with their only winning rink coming from Barry Johnson who gained a 20-12 victory.

Bob Edwards made a fight of it but went down 21-20 but it was at Selby where Earswick really suffered.

Bill Waldie's rink lost 33-7 after a tough start which saw then 21-4 down after only ten ends and Ken Harrison was beaten 23-11.

However, New Earswick made up for the defeat in the Egham Trophy where they completely outplayed South Leeds 101-64, winning three rinks.

Johnson's home team took the lead for the first time when they scored a five on the 14th end to lead 14-11 then won the next five ends which was enough to claim the game 24-13. Edwards led 9-0 after five ends and was never in danger as he won easily 29-10.

At Leeds, Jim Bone and his team scored a six on the second end then found themselves 8-6 down three ends later but they refused to panic and won the next five to lead 19-8 at the halfway stage. Leeds came back to within five shots before Bone's side won three of the last four ends to claim an excellent 31-18 victory.

Bob Howland did well to come from 18-7 down after 12 ends to only lose 23-18.

Death of former Yorkshire champion

PETER Clough, one of York's best known bowls players, has died after a long illness at the age of 76.

He represented Yorkshire and as county captain won the Middleton Cup in 1973 - a feat only achieved twice since.

Mr Clough was born in York on July 21, 1929, and lived all his life in the city, working in the Evening Press advertising department for 48 years where he went on to become sales manager.

He joined the Press in 1944 and represented the newspaper at bowls, football and cricket, and was also a keen tennis player and golfer being a member of Pike Hills Golf Club for 48 years, playing off a nine handicap during his best playing years.

Playing bowls for the Evening Press kick-started a successful bowling career which saw him become the Yorkshire Singles and pairs Champion during the 1960s.

After his singles success he represented Yorkshire in the national finals and reached the last eight at Mortlake.

Mr Clough spent many happy years with Scarcoft Green Bowls Club during their successful period throughout the 1960s and 1970s before retiring from the outdoor game to concentrate on indoor bowling.

He was a founder member of the Indoor Bowls Club in Thanet Road, helping to raise money to get the organisation started and was equally proud when his son, Ian, was appointed secretary-manager in 1998 and later become indoor bowls correspondent for the Evening Press. His other son, Grahame, works as a construction civil engineer for Thames Water.

Mr Clough, of Lycett Road, Dringhouses, died on Sunday. He was married for 54 years and his widow, Audrey, sons Grahame and Ian, and grandchildren Sarah and Matthew.

His funeral service will be held at York Crematorium tomorrow at 9.30am.

Updated: 09:22 Thursday, October 27, 2005