If like me you assumed replacing the water pump was like doing one in a fish tank – submerging your hand in water and fishing it out .. think again!

The automated watering system that’s used has evolved over a number of years. The water tank itself lurks between the green and paddock with most of it buried into the ground. After draining the tank, access to the pump and motor involves climbing into the tank via step ladders before disconnecting the various pipes. Lifting out the pump is as much a challenge due to the weight! Unfortunately there are extended waiting times to get someone to do the work so we’re reliant on Dennis to fit the new pump motor when it arrives in a few days time. We’re lucky to have folk like Dennis in the club, an ex-BA engineer, who can turn his hands to most things engineering-like .. we wish him and his helpers well, at least the excessive heat may have dissipated by then!

    

In the meantime, we rely on some manual watering ..

You may have already heard that Club Night is cancelled tomorrow night due to the extreme heat. We would also like to discourage large numbers onto the green whilst we have issues with it. Individual games using one selected rink are still okay. The watering system needs a new pump motor and this is hopefully being sought this week but, unfortunately, the sprinkler borrowed from the cricket club isn’t doing a great job due to the low water pressure. To add to the woes, foxes have been spotted tearing up parts of the green. Again this is being addressed and the green keepers are hoping this is the end of the run of bad luck!

We have two important team matches this coming weekend – both are South Middlesex League matches and are away at Staines and Fordbridge Park. We won’t have any green issues to content with but we are struggling to get full teams – we’re currently after 5 more players for Saturday and 1 for Sunday. If you can help out please get in touch with our captain Diane, or reply to this news update.

On a more positive note, the club competitions are doing well with both the Open Handicap and Junior Championship now down to the quarter-finals. The Mens competitions are doing okay too; the Women’s has less entrants and will undoubtedly click into action as we head towards August.

The watering system has failed – it looks like the electrics to the pump or the pump itself is faulty. Dennis is on the case and for the time being rink 1 is closed whilst the tank is syphoned out. The cricket greenkeepers have offered the use of their sprinkler if necessary.

Karen played her Middlesex Unbadged quarter-final at a parched West Ealing on Saturday. She’s been baby-sitting Tarun’s woods whilst he’s away and she put up a brave performance but lost 21-14. Tarun should be pleased .. I don’t think he’d be getting them back if she’d won!

 

In the Friday Morning League there were wins for teams captained by AlanP, Eileen and Alison. At the halfway point the standings are :

3 wins – AlanP; Karen, Diane

2 wins – Nikki, Eileen; Alison

We are keeping an eye on the red weather alert for Monday/Tuesday and will make a decision on whether to proceed with Club Night nearer the time.

 

 

 

 

 

Our latest South Middlesex League game took place at a very hot Hampton on Wednesday. We arrived to see the end of a club competition game and the players get drenched by the automatic watering system. We could have done with the water ourselves .. as a measure of the speed of the green, there was 6 bowls in the ditch on the first end .. with a medium-length jack! Earlier, Eileen took a worrying tumble on entering the grounds – luckily there were no lasting effects and she led her team of BobL and David to our only success of the afternoon. We came close to replicating Sunday’s comeback on another rink but alas it wasn’t to be and we recorded an overall 8-2 loss. The result moves Hampton into 4th place in the league with Sunbury remaining in 2nd for now.

If you’ve never experienced a team match before please do sign-up, especially the friendlies. They generally take place at the weekends, starting at 2:30pm. After around 2.5-3hrs play of triples we generally retire to the clubhouse for some drinks, snacks and chat. Our captain Di or any existing players can let you have more details. The sign-up sheets are in the clubhouse, alongside the Competitions sheets.

Tuesday Club Night has been going pretty well this season with more folk rolling up than previously. The weather has undoubtedly helped as has the influx of new bowlers who are setting a very high standard of play!

Fri 15th 11am – Friday Morning League

Sun 17th 2:30pm – Ember v Sunbury friendly

Tues 19th 6pm – Club Night (5:45pm sign-up)

Finally, we wish Karen well in her Middlesex Unbadged Singles quarter-final (& semi?!) at West Ealing on Sat 16th.

It certainly was a hot weekend of bowls. It started early on Friday with the latest round of matches in the Friday Morning League 2022. After wins for the teams captained by Diane, Karen and AlanP it leaves the league as follows.

3 wins – Diane; Karen

2 wins – AlanP; Nikki

1 win – Alison; Eileen

In the South Middlesex League on Sunday we hosted Bishop Duppas and reversed the score from 3 weeks ago with an 8-2 win! Mind you, it was very tight. After sharing the spoils on two of the rinks it came down to the other two where we trailed by 1 and 2 shots going into the last ends. Scoring 2 and 3 was more than we could have hoped for but that’s exactly what happened to record wins on both rinks! It moves us into 2nd place in the table behind Fordbridge Park. Next up is Hampton on Wednesday afternoon – it looks like we may be short of players so please sign up on the sheet in the clubhouse or get in touch if you can help at all.

On Saturday we played the last of our day-long club competitions – the Presidents Plate. The five teams played a series of short triples as a round-robin. After the 4th round (of 5) we had two clear winners who qualified for the Finals weekend in September. It meant there was time to cut the green in time for Sunday’s match.

Congratulations to the two finalists – Lynda+David+Alison & Diane/Cassie+Barry+Chris.

Presidents Plate 2022

 

 

‘Tis the season to swish the green. Unfortunately this needs to be done before play – it helps preserve the green by breaking up the worm casts rather than treading them in. It also helps keep the bowls a little cleaner. The swishers are kept in the chalet and you could view it as a gentle warm-up for bowling .. okay, I can hear the groans!

The club competitions sheets are up to date with results. Please keep up the good work arranging and playing your games. I’ll be chasing up some folk soon!

Mens 2022

Womens 2022

Mixed 2022

Some upcoming dates:

Fri 8th 11am – Friday Morning League – round 4 of 10

Sat 9th 10:30am – Presidents Plate – short set of triples

Sun 10th 2:30pm – Sunbury v Bishop Duppas in SML

Tues 12th 6pm – Club Night (sign-up 5:45pm)

Wed 13th 2:30pm – Hampton v Sunbury in SML

 

This season’s Presidents Cup was contested on a rather hot Sunday and went on for a little longer than expected. At the end of a long and tiring day we had 3 group winners and a best runner-up. Congratulations to BobH, Dennis, Liam and AlanP who will play out the semi-finals at a later date. Undoubtedly the best end of the day came in the match between Liam and Eileen where all the bowls were within two feet of the jack, and most a lot closer still!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next up is the last of our day-long competitions – the Presidents Plate on Saturday 9th July. This is played in teams of 3 (triples) with each team competing over a series of short games. Please get in touch if you’d like to play and likewise if you can no longer make it. I can assure you it won’t be as long as Sunday!

Current entrants : Chris, TonyL, Peter, AlanP, AlanC, John, David, Bindley, Tracy, Alison, Diane/Cassie, Eileen, Barry, Brian, Lynda

Just a reminder for those yet to arrange and play their competition games – deadlines are approaching! Please get in touch if you need help making contact with an opponent. Thanks, as ever, to those who’ve already played.

The clubhouse contains all the sign-up sheets for upcoming South Middlesex League matches and friendlies so please take a look and put your name down for any you’re available for. Unfortunately the latest SML table now has Sunbury in 3rd place .. it was good whilst it lasted. We play 4th-placed Bishop Duppas on Sunday 10th.

Saturday’s mid-season tidy-up included weeding and pruning the garden, sweeping the paths, trimming the hedges, straightening the path edges, repositioning some items, sorting the chalet and probably some other items I’ve forgotten to mention. Anyway, thanks to all who could make it, it went pretty well and knackered out those taking part in the following day’s President Cup!

     

A key safe has been installed alongside the chalet containing a spare key for the chalet. The code is the same as the clubhouse. Just lift up the black cover to reveal the digits, set the code and the safe should open. After closing it please ensure you spin some of the digits.

      

NB: the existing key is still in place in the usual place in the clubhouse.

If the season was to end now Sunbury would be champions of the South Middlesex League .. but, unfortunately, most of our rivals have 3 or more games in hand! We have played all other teams and have won 3 and lost 4 – not a bad return, and better than recent seasons. Our next match is a home fixture against Bishop Duppas on Sunday 10th. It’d be nice to stop them doing the double over us!

There was a dramatic finish to the latest round of matches in the Friday Morning League. Diane’s team, captained by Anita on the day, were one point behind on the final end but holding two shots. TonyL had the final bowl of the match for Karen’s team and magically wicked off the barrage of bowls in front and rolled towards the jack to take the game. After 3 games for each team, this leaves the league nicely balanced with 3 teams on 2 wins and the other 3 with 1 win.

In the last of the county competitions this week Anita & Bob had a convincing victory over a pair from Bishop Duppas on Friday and progress into the 6th round against the Ashford pair who defeated AlanP & Tracy. The Mens Senior Fours put up a good fight against current champions at Masonians and even scored a 5 on one end – after the shot of the match from skip Dennis to nudge the jack into the the teams’ pack of woods!

Half way through a recent cut the greenkeepers had to decide whether to abort and risk leaving the green half-cut or persevere through the pouring rain. In the end the mower had the final word and gave up with the green 2/3 cut!

It’s really encouraging to see so many competition games being played. Top marks (and results!) to Tarun who’s played more than his fair share of games before disappearing abroad for a while.

In the county competitions this week we lost Nikki & Dennis from the South Middlesex Mixed Pairs and AlanP & Tracy from the Middlesex Mixed Pairs. The latter played at Ashford until well past 9pm after taking the match to an extra end! Good luck to Anita & Bob who play their Middlesex Mixed Pairs match at home on Friday 6pm.

The Friday Morning League continues .. on Friday! Diane’s team of Anita, David, John & Mike are setting the pace with 2 wins out of 2. They play Karen’s team this week.

Just a reminder if you can spare any time to help clear and sort out the grounds/clubhouse on Saturday anytime from 10:30am. Then we have the Presidents Cup competition on Sunday from 10:30am – this is the final call for anyone wanting to play.