ALAN PRICE proudly stands a champion among champions. In a season of quality crown bowling in the Leigh & District Catholic League, he carried off the Merit Trophy as individual points winner.

His score of 46 was just one point ahead of David Hulmes (St Richard's).

And for Alan it was a time of double celebration. His team, Sacred Heart A (Hindley Green), are league champions - one point clear of runners-up Sacred Heart (Leigh) in a dramatic finale.

For the Hindley Green side the championship follows three years of near-misses. Twice they have had to settle for second place, last year they were joint third.

Their winning squad, led by skipper Alan Pimblett and Merit winner Alan Price, was W Bennett, R K Brown, R Wilkinson, F Parr, A Bishton, F Devereax, B Fairhurst, M Godfrey, H Meadows, H Johnson, J Gaskell, J Parr and H Edwardson.

Final league points (after 22 matches): Sacred Heart A (Hindley Green) 42, Sacred Heart (Leigh) 41, St Richard's 36, Westleigh Catholics 32, St Ambrose 28, Sacred Heart B (Hindley Green) 27, Leigh Catholics 24, St Joseph's 23, St Gabriel's A 20, Our Lady of the Rosary A 19, St Gabriel's B 16, Our Lady B 6.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.