Around The Bowling Greens

Published on: 31 Jul, 2019
Updated on: 31 Jul, 2019

Merrow Village Bowls Club Report by David Raison

Our annual match between teams representing the club’s president and chairman was held on Saturday, July 27.

Jarek lines up the jack, Tony bowls.

Despite early rain, we were fortunate to have a dry afternoon for the match.

To help us celebrate 90 years as a bowls club, four past members were invited to join us for the match: Rodney Morrison, Tony Cekŷs, Mike Jordan, and Sue Chitty.

Rodney centering the mat.

Sadly, neither the president nor chairman were able to bowl, due to health reasons but watched the match from the sidelines.

We played three rinks of triples, and one rink of pairs. Due to the threat of rain, the triples played 16 ends, while the pairs played eighteen ends.

All rinks played well, with close scoring all the way, and lots of groans when bowls just missed their target. There was also plenty of laughter.

Brian delivers.

At close of play, the scores favoured the president’s teams, winning 59-53, with each side winning on two rinks.

The top team were a president’s team of Judy, Mike, and David F, with a winning score of 16-10. Scores aside, a great afternoon’s bowling was enjoyed by all.

Chairman Brian Taylor presents president David Matthews with the Bob Ashdown Memorial Shield.

Following the match, chairman Brian Taylor presented president David Matthews with the Bob Ashdown Memorial Shield, after which we all enjoyed some well deserved refreshments, including a wonderful anniversary cake made especially for the occasion by Debbie. A fitting end to a great afternoon.

What a smashing cake!

Burpham Bowling Club report by Ian Mackrell

The week before last was quite spectacular with both a convincing win in the West Surrey League, Division 1, and a wonderfully successful fundraising event the following day, attended by more than 70 people.

The recent weather has been, to say the least, fickle. On Tuesday, July 23, our Guildford, Woking & District League team of two triples travelled the short distance to Woodbridge Hill.

We found the green tricky and slower than we are used to. For much of the afternoon we thought we were in with a chance – but somehow on both rinks, Burpham players lost concentration and the home side prevailed.

Late Thursday morning, July 25, our club captain, Alan Mogg, received the dreaded call from our intended opposition in the Knaphill Triples Zone 1 that afternoon, Tongham, that owing to the heat Tongham players were not prepared to play. The match was therefore cancelled.

Hot it was – yes – but our club night that evening went ahead, players played a full match, and spectators enjoyed the game and Colin Colbrook’s friendly face behind the bar.

To cap what had been a frustrating week all round, our local competitors, Stoke Park, called Alan Mogg to say they could only muster six players for a four triples friendly match on Sunday, July 28. That match, too, had to be cancelled.

How many more times will matches be either played with reduced number of rinks, or be cancelled altogether?

We will certainly be reassessing our match fixtures for next season as this is the second season in a row where so many matches have been reduced, or cancelled, by our opponents.

There was a silver lining however. We travelled to Horsell on July 27 for a five triples match, where we ran out winners by a handsome margin.