Finalists braved wind and torrential rain at last year's festival - the seasonal highlight of the local bowls calendar - but there was no repeat this time around and relieved competitors were able to parade their talents unhindered by the elements.
Sue Haigh got the the weekend underway by claiming the ladies individual crown for the third successive year.


Haigh's first round clash with Karen Portman, who took the champion to 19, proved her toughest test of the day. Haigh disposed of Pontefract's Sarah King 21-9 in the semi-finals and Maureen Chambers 21-5 in a one-sided final.
Chambers had beaten Valley Ridge (Kippax) bowler Gwen Hopps in her semi but found the going tough against her Glasshoughton club-mate when it came to the crunch.
Next up on Saturday was the gent's pairs competition, with the first round throwing up three big wins and another that went to the wire.


Ray Robbins - one half of the 2006 title-winners - and Mark Brain crushed George Aitken and Derek Draper 21-0 and Dennis Metcalfe and Darren McKenna thrashed Mark Hagen and Jason Cooper 21-2.
Yorkshire representatives Craig Newton and John Webster went through with a 21-9 victory over Pontefract pair Paul Campsall and Roy Charlotte while the other quarter-final saw defending champions Stuart Thompson and Robert Lloyd edged out 21-20 by brothers Richard and Mark Lewis.


Robbins and Brain saw off the Lewis's 21-14, with Newton and Webster booking their final slot with a 21-2 hammering of Metcalfe and McKenna.
Leading 20-15 in the final, Glasshoughton duo Robbins and Brain looked well set but they figured without the never-say-die spirit of their Smirthwaite-based opponents, who recovered superbly to post a 21-20 success.
As part of the high-flying Ossett Flying Horse side currently running away with the Ladies League, Dawn Bray and Sarah Fox were strongly fancied to win the ladies pairs competition, which kicked off proceedings on Sunday.



But former Micklefield stalwarts Pat Walton and Christine Sutcliffe underlined the value of experience by winning a one-sided final.
Methley duo Walton and Sutcliffe, who have lost in the final for the past two years, made it third time lucky by seeing off the Ossett pair 21-8.
Bray and Fox had earlier survived a stern examination to win their semi-final 21-18 against Elizabeth White and Eunice Riding.


The Castleford association recently appointed Rob Lloyd as captain of its inter-district team and the Glasshoughton bowler proved the wisdom of that selection by landing the gents individual crown.
After seeing off Sid Bridges 21-8 and Smirthwaite's Nathan Webster 21-17 in previous rounds, Lloyd edged out Craig Newton (also Smirthwaite) 21-16 in the decider.
Newton had seen off Castleford Town's Steve Williams - the 2007 champion - in his semi.
All four semi-finalists are in the Cas side that embarks on its inter-district assault next week.
The final of the mixed pairs - the concluding event of the festival - was won by 'homers' Roy Charlotte and Sarah Carroll.


The Pontefract pair, carrying a 6-4-2 handicap over the three rounds, saw off Irwin Newbould 21-12 and Richard Lewis and Nicolle Farrar 21-10 to meet Steve Portman (Savile Park and Methley) and Methley's Pat Walton in the final.
It was close but Charlotte and Carroll gained the upper hand to win 21-16.
Mark Lewis and Sue Haigh, were chasing their fifth final in six years, but the two-time champions went out in the first round, beaten 21-14 by Mark's brother Richard and Farrar.


Association president Alwyn Beedel said: "It's the eleventh year of the festival and I often wonder why we run such events as this.
"But the thrill of competing, the enjoyment of watching and the satisfaction of helping run this fantastic event is greater than ever - and it gets better every year. That's why we do it."