We recently received the sad news of the passing of Tony Latchford. Up to this year he was an enthusiastic bowler despite his sight issues, always keen to partake whenever he could. He certainly had a good life and was blessed with a way to recount stories of his past endeavours, having travelled in a golden time and particularly in the Far East. So far as bowls honours are concerned he was unlucky to lose out in the finals of both the Presidents Plate and Men’s Pairs in 2017. Tony will also be fondly remembered for hosting the Sunbury Bowls’ 50th anniversary celebrations in 2018 alongside his wife Janet. RIP Tony!

A past member of Sunbury Bowls has very kindly left us a legacy in her will .. a very generous £5,000. Barbara McQuade was an active player in her time, winning the Women’s Pairs alongside Ann Templeman in 2000. Playing bowls obviously did her no harm as she passed away at the ripe old age of 100! There are plans afoot for a summerhouse to be built by the green and it will hopefully bear her name in due course. RIP Barbara.

The start of October heralded the first Winter Social – a gentle game of skittles, although no one told the Surplus Firer! Pat arranged for some of her colleagues to try bowls before the season ended and hopefully they will stick around during the winter and come out firing on the bowls green come April. The next social is Cash Bingo with Neil who will be calling all the numbers on 5th November from 7:30pm.

Further into November we have the annual Club Dinner & Presentation of Awards on 15th. Please make contact asap if you haven’t put your name down and would like to attend. Also look out for invoices from Barry arriving in due course.

For those of you looking to enter next season’s Middlesex county competitions here are the entry forms that must be returned to David/Cassie by end of the month .. Middlesex Competitions

Finally, a reminder tickets are on sale for the second Comedy Night for Sunbury Cricket Club on Friday 18th October. For those of you who came to the first in March you’ll know what a brilliant evening it was and for those who didn’t please do not miss out again! Tickets are £15 each via this link .. Comedy Night 18Oct

After a weekend of spiking, scarifying and spreading the main objective was achieved and the green was put to bed for another season. In addition there was plenty of weeding, sweeping, pruning, painting, sharpening, barrowing, cleaning, drinking and lots more besides .. thanks to all.

Next up is the first Winter Social on Tuesday 1st Oct .. an evening of Skittles. Everyone is welcome to try their hand from 7:30pm.

Rosie let loose on the bowls green!

   

After the last Club Night this week the green is due to be put to bed over the weekend of 28-29th. As always any help would be appreciated by the greenkeepers, so if you can spare a couple of hours or more on Saturday or Sunday please report to Dennis, anytime from 10:30am.

On the subject of help, Dennis will be collating a list of winter jobs to be done so if you fancy lending a hand please get in touch or just pick off any from a new noticeboard that will be available soon. This includes help with the garden, keeping on top of weeds around the grounds, repairing the green corner supports, creating a new handrail for the steps, painting of benches and edge boards .. anything really – any help, big or small, appreciated.

After the last of the bowling activities this week it’ll be straight into the winter socials, kicking off with skittles on Tues 1st October at 7:30pm. There’ll also be an opportunity for chat and to consider entries for next season’s Middlesex county competitions. The socials will continue throughout the winter on the first Tuesday of the month. In addition, Nikki & Dennis invite you to join them to celebrate their Ruby Wedding Anniversary on Sat 26th Oct.

All fixtures & events will be published here when available .. Calendar

We still have a couple of rounds of Club Night left but the rest of the bowling activities came to a conclusion at the weekend. The annual Men v Women match was so well attended on Saturday that all six rinks were put to use with pretty much an equal number of men and women .. something to be applauded. As for the result, the honours were shared with wins on three rinks each .. which means the men remain unbeaten for the last four years! Many thanks to the organisers and helpers, particularly Dennis, our Club Captain, and Nikki.

Here are details of an event organised by the Cricket Club which may be of interest ..

Tickets are now on sale for our second Comedy Night on Friday 18 October. For those of you who came to our first one in March you’ll know what a brilliant evening it was and for those of you who didn’t don’t miss out again! Tickets available for £15 each via this link:

https://www.sunburycricket.co.uk/payments/comedy-night-saturday-18-october-120910.html

We’ve booked 4 more highly talented acts to entertain you:
PAUL TONKINSON winner of Time Out Awards with appearances on ‘Live at the Apollo’ and ‘Michael McIntyre’s Comedy Roadshow’
STEPHEN OWEN former Homicide Detective now with 40 years’ experience as an impressionist, MC and all-round comic talent
MARTIN GRAHAM a nice Scotsman fresh from the Edinburgh Fringe and one of the brightest new talents on the comedy circuit
MAX FULHAM an extremely talented ventriloquist and comedian who brings a contemporary twist to a classic art form
This is an all seated event with a strictly limited capacity so please buy early to avoid missing out on another brilliant night of Comedy.

Just a reminder that we have one of the highlights of the season this Saturday .. the annual Men v Women match. The men secured a hat-trick of wins last year, following a similar run by the women before that, so let’s see who comes out on top this time. The game starts 2:30pm, followed by a BBQ.

We played the penultimate team game of the season today at Teddington but unfortunately the weather won with the game abandoned after 6 ends. Picking out the positives .. it was good experience playing on mats for the first time for some and Sunbury picked up two of the three raffle prizes!

Here’s a message from DavidC, our representative for Middlesex Bowls, for anyone who fancies trying their luck in the Middlesex county competitions and perhaps emulating Anita’s fine win in the Unbadged Singles this season ..

It may seem premature but I have received the club entry form for Middx County Competitions for 2025. So please think about your intentions next May and summer and let me have details of your entries (personnel and team) by early October so I can meet the entry date. We will be giving Middx your name and a contact telephone.Contact me if you have any queries. Those of you with this seasons book will have a full list of options. Those who do not just ask.
David Chatterton Hon Sec.

Our annual Presentation & Awards dinner is scheduled for Friday 15th November at Fulwell Golf Club. Please add your name to the sign-up sheet and menu choice if you’d like to join the party.

The green will be put to bed for another season on the weekend of 28-29th Sept. The weather has turned a bit against us this last week and prevented grass cutting so here’s hoping for better in the next three weeks.

Our final two team matches in the SML matched the weather .. a bit below par, as we only  picked up two points in the two matches against Bishop Duppas. This cements our 7th place in the league.

Here’s how the remainder of the season looks ..

Tues 10th 5:30pm – Club Night

Thur 12th 2:30pm – Teddington v Sunbury

Sat 14th 2:30pm – Men v Women

Sat 14th 6pm – Family BBQ

Sun 15th 2:30pm – Chertsey v Sunbury

Tues 17th & 24th 5:30pm – Club Night

Four months of intense competition came to a head at the weekend with the finals of our Club Competitions 2024. The weather on Saturday was a little cooler than expected but some of the games certainly helped warm up players and spectators alike. Sunday was more like a usual Finals weekend .. hot and exhausting.

The 14 trophies were won by 12 players but, pleasingly, we had two first-time winners. Congratulations to Nathan, winning two trophies, including a very hard-fought Junior Championship; and Sandy who won the Women’s Pairs, alongside Eileen, by one shot after nearly 3hrs play .. the longest match of the weekend. Another game won by a single shot and with a remarkable comeback was in the Mixed 2-woods where BobH was behind after every end until the last one!

In the Men’s and Women’s Championships, the unlucky Keith and Jenny came up against a couple of in-form players in the shape of AlanP and JenB, who were determined to put right earlier losses in the weekend to Karen & Pat, respectively.

Thanks to everyone who contributed to making the weekend go so smoothly .. from preparing the green & grounds, on the day catering and associated logistics, help with the setup & close; markers; umpires; spectators and supporters .. it’s all greatly appreciated.

More photos from the weekend are available here .. Finals 2024

For info, next year’s Finals weekend is scheduled for 30-31Aug 2025.

As sunset is now well before 8pm, the start time for Club Night will be 5:30pm from now until the end of the season (there’s no announcement on green closure yet!), so please endeavour to register by 5:15pm.

Things are taking shape for our Club finals this weekend .. we’ve ordered some good weather, the grounds have been spruced up and the green will receive a special cut on Friday. For those of you new to finals weekend, or needing a refresher here are some pointers as to how it works.

The key to the weekend is the playing schedule. The first games will start promptly at 11am and continue throughout the day, but bear in mind that the later games may start a little later than scheduled.

The dress code for players and markers is a white shirt, preferably a club shirt (new/old).

The first named player is known as the challenger and is named first in the scoresheet and is top of the scoreboard. The challenger calls the toss for the mat. Each game has two trial ends before playing for real.

Soon after the completion of each match there will be a presentation of the trophy to the winner and a photo taken with the losing finalist. In the absence of a President, the trophy will be presented by either our Club Secretary (David) or Club Captain (Dennis), according to who’s available. All photos will be available on the website at some later point.

Spectators are very welcome and there will be refreshments available throughout the weekend with lunch around 1pm on both days. Just be aware what’s happening on the green and avoid walking across the head when players are bowling. Walking along the side or behind them is fine.

There’s been an abundance of offers for marking so please don’t feel too upset if you’ve been omitted, it’s not deliberate. The names currently earmarked can easily be changed so please feel free to negotiate accordingly.

If any issues arise on the green or markers need clarification please feel free to ask any of the more experienced club members .. David, Cassie, Eileen, Roger, Dennis, Nikki for example.

The best of luck to those playing and thanks to everyone else for their support in whatever capacity.

Here’s how we arrived at the weekend .. Competitions 2024

This week’s team friendlies were cancelled due to the visitors in one case and a washout in the other. Fortunately the SML game with Hampton went ahead on Sunday with plenty of sun on show. The rinks were shared 2-2 but Hampton gained more shots due to some rather loose final ends by the home team and took the match 6-4. This means Hampton look untouchable at the top of the table whilst Sunbury maintain  6th place, just ahead of Bishop Duppas. This should make for an interesting couple of remaining games as both are against Bishop Duppas .. Sunbury have never finished above them in recent history!

Let’s hope the weather forecast comes true and we’re blessed with yet another dry and sunny weekend for Club Competitions finals. The playing schedule will be published very soon and, as always, the aim is to have an even spread of games over the two days and especially for those lucky enough to be in more than one final. Nathan was the fourth first-timer to make it into finals this week, and reflects the growing strength in depth of the club and augurs well for next season. For the 4th year in a row we have a husband and wife both competing in the Men’s and Women’s Championship finals .. this time it’s the turn of Keith and Jenny. When it comes to competing against each other there’s been a few husband vs wife finals down the years and this time it’s the turn of Karen v AlanP in the Open Handicap.

After this weekend we’re into September with a couple of team friendlies and then the big one .. Men v Women on Saturday 14th 2:30pm. Since it’s inception the women won it three straight years but then the men have done the same over the last three years, so it’s all to play for! There will be a BBQ following the match from around 6pm .. everyone is welcome including family & friends. The sign-up sheets for both are in the clubhouse.

Finally, good luck to Nikki & Dennis who play in the South Middlesex Mixed Pairs semi-final on Tuesday evening at neutral ground Bishop Duppas. They won through two rounds to reach the semi-final and there’s no pressure as they’ll be the underdogs going up against an Ashford pair containing this season’s Middlesex county Men’s Singles champion.