GLADSTONE'S Nick Burridge won Wirral and District's Charity Handicap Tournament for an amazing fourth time on Saturday.

In the finals, played at the Lever Club, he beat Tixall's Dave McDermott in the final after a good evening's bowling.

To reach the final Burridge had beaten his team mate at Gladstone, Darren Hankin, in the quarter finals before coming through 21-16 against West Kirby Victoria's Brian Somerville in the semis.

Meanwhile McDermott beat Heswall RBL's Alan Heaton in his quarter final game before having a comfortable 21-06 win over Harrison Park's Bill Dow in the semi-final.

Both the finalists were previous winners of this tournament and it was Burridge who made the better start establishing a 19-05 lead; though McDermott fought back to get the score to 19-15 Burridge finally got the two shots that sealed his win.

On Sunday the Wallasey Federation team unfortunately lost their first match of the season in their Division One fixture against Halifax.

The team had seven winners in the home tie on the West Kirby Victoria green and this resulted in a 234-210 points victory with the best result being a brilliant 21-09 win for Craig Saville.

In the away tie on an excellent green at the Ackroydon Victoria green in Halifax the team had four winners and went down to a 242-171 defeat. The best away result was by Mike Havern who had a 21-15 win.

The overall match result, a 19-11 loss for Wallasey, was disappointing for the team but it is early days and hopefully the next match against arch rivals Colne Valley on May 20 can see a reversal in their fortunes.