MEMBERS of the Ladeside of Kilbirnie Bowling Club had plenty of reasons to celebrate at the weekend.

On Friday, July 12, the Garnock Valley club were crowned champions of North Ayrshire for the first time ever in the competition's current format.

Formed in 2016, the North Ayrshire Bowling League in competed each year by teams from across the county.

This year, 10 teams made up the league, with each playing each other once to decide where the title would be heading.

Matches began in early May, and heading into the final round of fixtures the race for top spot could not have been tighter.

Despite the eight matches that come before, the destination of the league trophy all came down to the final match, a winner-takes-all game between Ladeside of Kilbirnie and Saltcoats.

And it was the Garnock Valley club who earned the bragging rights for the year after they put in a stellar performance to win 5-0 against the Three Towns club.

Their record of seven wins and two losses was enough to finish top of the pile, three points ahead of the eventual runners-up, Halkshill Bowling Club in Largs.

Showing just how tight the league was this year, the three teams below Ladeside all shared identical overall records of six wins and three losses.

In the end, the Kilbirnie club were worthy winners and they celebrated in joyous fashion when they got their hands on the league trophy for the first time.