Our Club Competitions come to a crescendo this weekend, the culmination of lots of bowls played over the course of the season. Thanks to all those entering and competing so enthusiastically – there’s been quite a few dramas along the way and a record amount of ends played in some games. There hasn’t been any actual walkovers which is pretty unique.

The makeup of the finals includes some of our more senior players – Cassie, David, TonyH and of course our oldest playing member, Charlie! They are joined by some far newer faces who have won through for the first time – Jenny, Keith, Michelle, Gary and our second youngest member, Jen! The rest is a mixture of now regular finalists from recent or less recent times! Apologies, you’ll probably be fed up of seeing one particular face over the weekend .. I’ve ended up in 6 finals, a repeat of two years ago and which was actually bettered by Karen with an exhausting 7 finals in the same year! Finally, please spare a thought for Jon, who picks up the award for unluckiest semi-finalist .. he finished second in all 5 of them!

We plan on having refreshments available over the course of both days together with lunch .. if partaking, a suggested donation will be worked out. For competitors, and markers, the wearing of whites is encouraged, particularly the top half if you don’t have a club shirt. Each player or team will be assigned red or blue markers to aid with identification for spectators, so please allow time to affix them to your bowls before starting. Thanks for all the offers of marking – we actually have more than is needed, which is fantastic. If anyone still has a trophy from last year please could you drop them off to the clubhouse before or on Saturday .. polished if possible! Lastly, the best of luck to all the finalists and I hope you enjoy the weekend win or lose.

We enjoyed a friendly win at Esher over the weekend .. although the weather was far from friendly at times! After a 15mins stoppage we eventually took the match by 3 rinks to 1.

  

Our Club Competition finals weekend is almost here and I’ll be sending out the schedule once all the semi-finals are completed on Wednesday. As always, I’ll try and accommodate any important engagements on a best endeavours basis so please advise of any issues. There are 14 finals to be played, 10 of which will require markers. I’ve spoken to one or two of you already but if you fancy getting close to the action please do let me know. If you have any queries do get in touch .. I plan to be down at Tuesday’s Club Night.

We had another bumper turnout for this week’s Club Night .. 34! This season must have easily set a new record for attendance and the welcome funds will no doubt help our Treasurer, Barry, to a speedy recovery from his op this week!

In our club competitions, we have a couple more new faces in the finals .. the latest is Jenny in the Women’s Handicap. She has another chance in the Women’s Championship too, although Bindley may have something to say about that. Michelle has also qualified, alongside last year’s winner Pat, in the Women’s Pairs. Michelle’s other half, Jon, must wonder what he has to do to reach a final having lost four of his semi-finals .. he has one last chance in the Junior Championship against Keith. Good luck to both and everyone left playing. Some weather apps are now showing a bright sun for 2nd Sep and cloud for 3rd Sep .. let’s hope the forecasts are right!

Don’t forget to sign-up for the Men v Women match, followed by BBQ afterwards on Sat 16th Sep. After a few years of female domination, the men will be looking for their 3rd win on the bounce! Everyone is invited – friends & family are very welcome.

The last of our club competition quarter-finals was played today so we have a full line-up of semi-finals left to play. I’m happy for matches to be played upto and including Wednesday 30th, leaving a couple of days free to put together a schedule and confirm it before finals on 2nd and 3rd September. The green is fully available over the bank holiday weekend as there is no grass cutting this Friday and we have no team matches at home over the long weekend.

We do already have a few finalists .. following Charlie’s lead, Cassie is the latest of our more senior players to qualify for a couple of finals. Also, I have joined Dennis in the Men’s Championship final .. a repeat of the final from two year’s ago. Good luck to those of you contesting semi-finals over the coming week .. what will be will be!

Mens 2023        Womens 2023         Mixed/Open 2023

With team matches, the last SML game of the season at Bishop Duppas has been postponed to Sun 23rd September. Before that we have a few more team friendlies left to play, the first of which is this Saturday 26th at Esher.

It was a grand day out for Sunbury Bowls at Fordbridge Park on Saturday 19th. Competing in the 3-club day-long Bluewood Shield with hosts and local rivals Hampton, we won by 6 points from last year’s winners Hampton. The teams of Men’s, Women’s & Mixed Pairs and two triples all contributed magnificently to the overall point score with 2 or 3 wins out of 4 over the course of the day. It’s 6 years since Sunbury last tasted success in the competition so acting captain Dennis and the team were quite rightly rather chuffed. Thanks are due to Fordbridge Park for great organisation and hospitality .. and for helping take some vital points off Hampton!

 

       

Following the Lionesses success the main club will be showing Sunday’s final.

We’re aiming for a very prompt start for tonight’s (Thursday 17th) rearranged SML game with Staines at 6pm. With 18 ends and two trials to play we’re hoping to get it wrapped up before sunset at 8:20pm.

On Saturday 19th we head to Fordbridge Park for the annual Bluewood Shield against Hampton and the hosts. It’s a series of mini-games starting from 10am.

Club Night continues on Tuesday 22nd at the usual time of 6pm.

Congratulations to Charlie .. fresh from his success with his team in the Presidents Plate, he qualified for the Junior Championship final two days later. Along the way he saw off three of the clubs most promising women bowlers whose time will surely come.

The semi-finals of the Presidents Cup (75pts) were played on Sunday, delayed from the competition proper on 1st July. Both games were keenly fought with Eileen and Alan just getting the better of Dennis and Tracy, respectively, in the last few ends.

The annual Presentation Dinner and Awards has been set for the evening of Friday 17th November at Fulwell Golf Club. A sign-up sheet is on the noticeboard in the clubhouse, together with a dinner menu.

We entertained Chertsey in the latest team friendly at the weekend. It was nip and tuck for most of the afternoon and we just fell short in the end with Chertsey winning on two rinks to Sunbury’s one.

Other activities at the main club ..

Saturday’s President Plate saw two new faces reach finals – congratulations to JenB and Keith, and also to two “oldies” Charlie and TonyH who haven’t featured recently. And not forgetting the other key members of each team – Colin and Tarun. The top three teams took games off each other but only two could go through. Overall there were some very close games with 10 of the 16 being decided by 2 shots or less. Every team tasted some success and it’s fair to say we were very lucky with the weather which saw cups and hats flying across the green at times! Thanks to everyone for making the last of our day-long competitions such fun and especially Nikki, for sorting out refreshments whilst juggling with playing for most of the day.

In other competitions we have our first finalist in the Mens Championship. The losing finalist for the last two years and three times champion Dennis got the better of Jon, who made it tough going at times. Just a reminder that our finals are now three weeks away!

The first silverware of the season was won on Friday in the last round of games in the Friday Morning League. Diane’s team cemented their top finish with yet another win to finish 4 points clear of a trio of teams. Congratulations to the team of Colin, BobL, Terry, TonyH and of course, captain Diane.

Final positions .. 14pts – Diane; 10pts – Alan; Eileen; Karen*; 8pts – Alison; 6pts – Nikki*

* Karen’s and Nikki’s teams finish with one game unplayed.

Earlier in the week Sunbury Bowls hosted a special day of bowls for the Greenwood Centre of Hampton. Organised by Gary and ably assisted by David & Cassie and Dennis & Nikki the guests enjoyed some bowling followed by lunch. By all accounts a good time was had by all.

The sun’s out and with it plenty of bowls to look forward to. In the Club Competitions, congratulations go to Richard who is our first finalist in either the Men’s or Women’s draws. He sneaked past Simon by one shot to take his place in the final of the Men’s 2-woods. Most draws are now at semi-final stage with a few exceptions .. I have a handle on those that are behind schedule but ultimately may have to take a proactive step if holidays and other things get in the way. Finals weekend is just over 3 weeks away!

On a balmy Wednesday evening at Ashford we played the latest of our SML games. Like at the weekend against Stanwell, we shared the wins 2-2 on rinks and just fell short of an overall win losing on total shots by 3 for a 6-4 loss. It just goes to show that even when losing on a rink and you feel there’s no way back, every shot can count towards the overall result! The result maintains our 6th place in the league between Ashford and Stanwell, with two games left to play.

Fri 11th 10:30am – Friday Morning League .. final round of matches

Sat 12th 10:30am – Presidents Plate (series of short games played in triples)

Sun 13th 11am – Presidents Cup semi-finals (75pts and 4-3-2-1 scoring)

Sun 13th 2:30pm – Sunbury v Chertsey (friendly match) .. 3 triples

Tues 15th 6pm – Club Night

Thurs 17th 6pm – Sunbury v Staines (SML match) .. 4 triples

The rain put paid to this week’s Club Night and a few games in the club competitions but the sun is now doing it’s best to dry all those worm casts so that we can get back on the green. Club Night will resume next week at 6pm.

Today is the last day for entry into Saturday’s Presidents Plate. There have been a few changes to the playlist so please get in touch asap if you want to play. The start time is 10:30am with refreshments (& lunch) available. Further details will be sent to competitors in due course.

Playlist – Alex; Alison; Bindley; Charlie; Chris; Colin; David; Dennis; Eileen; Gary; Jen; Jenny; John; Keith; Liam; Nathan; Neil; Nikki; Richard; Roger; Sandy; Tarun; TonyH; Tracy

Before that we have the last round of matches in the Friday Morning League. Diane’s team took a big stride towards taking top honours after a 2-shot win over Alan’s team last week, but both Alan’s and Karen’s teams could finish top if results go their way.

12pts – Diane; 10pts – Alan; 8pts – Alison; Eileen; Karen*; 6pts – Nikki*

* Karen & Nikki have a game in hand

Last weekend’s SML match against Stanwell finished with both teams winning on two rinks but Stanwell had the better shot count and took the match 6-4. This keeps Sunbury just above fast-improving Stanwell in the league table with 3 games left to play. Next up is a mid-week match at Ashford on Wednesday 6pm.

In the county competitions, at least one of our pairs progressed into the last-16 of the Middlesex Mixed Pairs .. Alan & Karen enjoyed success at Ashford, but unfortunately Bob & Anita had less joy at Hampton. In the more local South Middlesex Mixed Pairs competition, Nikki & Dennis joined Alan & Karen into the semi-finals with a good win at a rather damp Ashford on Tuesday.