The competition was first played in 1988, thought up and organised by the then Woodley Sports Centre bowling-king, Eric Cartwright. Consisting of 64 players and played over several weeks, it was won by Jed Close beating Gordon Duckworth 21-14.

In the fourteen years the competition has run, the only one player to have taken the title twice is the legendary Ken Strutt from Diggle.

The competition goes from strength to strength attracting many top players to one of the games top bowing greens and is now run over 5 weekends including the final and attracts more than 128 players. At one time, Ivor Hulme used to take more than 256 entries, but as time went by, it was reduced to 128 players to make the competition leaner.

This year's competition sees the usual top-players. We can welcome back last year's winner, Rob McKernon from Bollington and the knock-out player Ken Strutt who again is going for the triple.

We also have past-winners in the form of Graham Wilson (GI to his friends), who was last years semi-finalist and the bowls repairer himself, Robert Crawshaw. They are all gunning to match Ken Strutt's Classic Bowls Double. We also welcome some new names to the competition from all over the country.

Hudson Communications Ltd of Stockport is again sponsoring this years competition and have donated not only the prize money, but also this site on the Web so you can all catch up on the gossip of Woodley and also see the results. Who will you be playing on the final day? Place your bets now or join us on April 29th for the final day and place a bet for real.

Woodley Sports Centre welcomes new members for the 2001 season. Come and enjoy the facilities during this year's Classic and ask any member of the Club about membership. We are cheap and certainly cheerful and everyone is welcome to join.