We ventured into Berkshire on Thursday to play our last team friendly of the year at Wraysbury. Despite coming second on all three rinks we enjoyed the afternoon in a perverse kind of way .. playing indoor bowls outside!

Just to confirm that Tuesday will be the last official Club Night of the season. After that, half of the green will be worked on to prepare it for winter. This leaves three rinks available for open play until the green faces full closure sometime towards the end of the month.

Also, the first Winter Social is fast approaching with Bingo! on Tue 6th Oct 7:30pm. The next dates are set for Tue 3rd Nov and the revised date of Tue 8th Dec.

The sign-up and menu choices sheets for our annual Club Dinner & Awards evening on Fri 13th November are available in the summerhouse. They will also be available in the hall during Sunday’s BBQ and at the Winter social on 6th Oct. Please make your choices by the end of October.

The club’s Annual General Meeting will be held on Tue 24th Nov 7:30pm. Please do try and attend to hear about what’s happening at the club and to raise any issues or ask questions you may have,

The website Calendar is up to date with all planned events and will be updated as more are known, including next season’s fixtures in the new year.

Due to popular demand we are planning on hosting a Marker’s course next spring. This will be led by a recognised umpire so that we can all learn about the art of marking a game. The date will be broadcast nearer the time.

Looking ahead again, here are some notes for those of you interested in stretching yourselves beyond our own internal club competitions into County and external competitions next season. Entries to Middlesex county competitions have to be submitted by the end of October. We are proposing to hold a Q&A session on this for interested members at some point soon.

County & external competitions

Lastly, good luck to Eileen & Tracy competing in their South Middlesex finals on Sunday, and to everyone competing in Sunday’s Men v Women game. If able, please get down early to help swish and setup the green – all rinks will be in use.

The weekend friendly at Chertsey was played in drizzle although it cleared nicely by the end. Sunbury enjoyed a good win on one of the rinks which offset two very narrow defeats on the others for an overall win. We wrap up the season’s friendlies with a visit to Wraysbury on Thursday afternoon.

It turned a little damp last year but the forecast looks pretty good for this year’s Men v Women game on Sunday. Best of luck to all competitors!

Also for Eileen and Tracy competing in the South Middlesex finals at Ashford on Sunday. Tracy plays at 10am in 75pts and it’s Eileen v Tracy at 1pm in the Women’s Singles.

The green will face a partial closure from Wed 23rd to allow the greenskeepers to work on half of the green for a couple of days. The green will then be closed fully at some point after that depending on the weather and when the guys have renewed their energy levels!

The first winter social of the year on 6th October will be Bingo! Eyes down from 7:30pm. The year will be rounded off with further socials on 3rd November and 1st December.

Sunbury enjoyed a fine start to the three remaining team friendlies of the year with a visit to  Teddington on Thursday afternoon. It’s proved to be a notoriously unpredictable fixture with the last three visits producing two draws and an abandonment. This year saw a comfortable win for Sunbury on two of the rinks and two very close finishes on the others with last bowl drama producing a win for each team. Next up is Chertsey on Sunday 13th and Wraysbury on Thurs 17th.

The penultimate round of Friday Triples saw Eileen’s team crowned this year’s winners. Although they lost to Simon’s team, Diane’s team also lost to Colin’s team. One more round next week to finish off the season.

20pts – Eileen; 16pts – Diane; Colin; 14pts – Alison; Simon; 4pts – Nikki

It rounds off a fine week for Eileen as she played through the rain on Tuesday at Bishop Duppas against a fancied opponent from Staines to win her semi-final of the South Middlesex Women’s Singles. That means she’ll play Tracy on Sun 20th at Ashford BC in the final .. a Sunbury winner guaranteed!

The bowls season may be drawing to a close but it’s not quite done yet. Swishing over the weekend was not as intense of late .. hopefully the worms have got the message that we want the green kept open for some time yet!

Club Night will continue every Tuesday at 5:30pm until the green gets closed by the greenskeepers;

Chris’ Thursday roll-up continues every Thursday morning;

We play three team friendlies – all away games on 10th; 13th and 17th – see the sign-up sheets in the summerhouse;

Friday Triples runs for two more weeks with the outcome still in the balance after last week’s defeat for the current pacesetters ..

20pts – Eileen; 16pts – Diane; 14pts – Colin; 12pts – Alison; Simon; 4pts – Nikki

The annual Men v Women game is on 20th 2:30pm; followed by family BBQ at 6pm; The sign-up sheet is on the noticeboard in the summerhouse.

The South Middlesex competitions finals are on 20th at Ashford BC with Tracy going for glory in two finals .. and, possibly, Eileen joining her too!

Alan & Tracy go to Brentham on 12th, competing in the Middesex Mixed Pairs quarters/semis;

October heralds the start of the monthly winter socials on 6th October 7:30pm .. everyone is welcome.

The Club Dinner & Presentation evening on 13th November .. an early sight of the menu options are on the noticeboard.

Lastly, you’ll have to watch your back in February .. Geoff & co. will be presenting Murder at the Bowls Club on 27th Feb!

We were blessed with some superb weather for our end of season Club Competitions finals .. and some mighty fine games too! Thanks to everyone who contributed in some shape or form .. it was a real team effort and it really couldn’t have gone much better. Here’s how the drama unfolded ..

Club Finals 2026

The weather is set fair for the finals of our Club Competitions on Sat 5th and Sun 6th and everyone is welcome to support the games. The benches and chairs have been spruced up and grounds cleared. The green will get cut on Friday afternoon/evening and switched to play carpark-paddock. The green is then closed for play until the finals. Refreshments will be available over both days, with the games themselves running between 11am-5pm. Thanks to everyone involved including those who, sadly, didn’t make it to a final. We had 50 entrants over all the competitions and there are a lucky 21 represented in a final this year. This is a marked increase over previous years which reflects on the high level of competition. Good luck to all the finalists and everyone involved in making the weekend a success!

In the few remaining external competitions, Tracy added to her recent qualification for two South Middlesex finals by beating an Ashford pair in the last-16 round of the Middlesex county Mixed Pairs with playing partner Alan. So, after 3 consecutive home wins they travel to Brentham, near Ealing, on Sat 12th to play a quarter final in the morning and, fingers crossed, a possible semi-final in the afternoon!

Club Night will now run with a 5:30pm start (please check-in by 5:15pm) until the close of the season. If running late please get in touch with someone already there or post in the member’s WhatsApp group.

We move into September very soon and welcome the finals of our club competitons on 5th & 6th. They have progressed nicely over the last three months thanks to everyone arranging their games in good time and the army of willing markers! The exceptionally settled weather over most of the summer also helped although it did get a little too hot at times resulting in a few delays and rehydration breaks.

Thus far, this season has also witnessed an unprecedented number of close finishes, including 11 games won by the margin of a single shot! King of the close finish is Mike having won two and lost one; followed by  Peter and Verena, having experienced both sides of the coin. Last year’s Presidents Cup (75pts) final went to an extra end but was bettered by Chris and Julia who had to play two extra ends to decide the winner!

So, we now look forward to Finals weekend. As always the scheduling has proven rather tricky but most folk who are in multiple finals will hopefully find most of their games distributed over the two days. A few semi-finals have been carried over to the coming week so the full schedule will be posted on Wednesday. We’ll require markers for 9 of the 14 games so please get in touch if you fancy it .. it really is a splendid way to watch a game without the pressure of actually competing! Dennis, Gary, David and Eileen will be acting as umpires over the two days. Spectators will be able to follow the games with the first named player/team (the challenger) is the first-named on the scoresheet and on top of the scoreboard. This should always be the case regardless of who wins the toss, or anything else!

We played our last league game of the season in the South Middlesex League on Saturday against 2nd-placed Ashford. With two wins each over the four rinks it came down to shot count in our favour to end the season with a nice 6-4 win! Our midweek friendly with Teddington also finished in our favour so Sunbury finish the month on a roll .. just as the season comes to an end!

The latest round of Friday Triples saw some close games – wins for teams managed by Alison, Eileen and Simon. The missed game earlier in the season will be played on 18th Sep, leaving three rounds left. The current standings mean one further win (or draw) for Eileen’s team will see them crowned as winners this season!

20pts – Eileen; 14pts – Diane; 12pts – Colin; Simon; 10pts – Alison; 4pts – Nikki

Congratulations to Tracy who won both of her semi-finals in the South Middlesex competitions Women’s Singles and 75pts games this week. She plays her finals at Ashford Bowls Club on Sat 20th. Fingers crossed that Eileen can join her .. she plays her semi-final on Tuesday 10:30am at Bishop Duppas.

As for Alan & Karen – they played their NW Surrey Mixed Pairs final at Ottershaw on Sunday and somehow won!! It seemed to be a popular win against their esteemed opponents from Egham. A big thanks for the support.

Finally just a reminder that we are well and truly into swishing season so please factor this into your preparation to play, alongside setting up the equipment. The sticks are kept above the door of the chalet. It’s a pain but could be treated as a warm up for those arms and shoulders in readiness for bowling on a heavier green!

We’ve reached that time of year when the evenings draw in, the worms do their worst on the green and our club competitions come to a crescendo. After three months of intense competition all the draws are at semi-final stage and with the lineups of some finals already decided. Please could those lucky enough to have won trophies last season, please return them .. and with some degree of polish!

Sunday saw our penultimate South Middlesex League game. Hampton got some degree of revenge over Sunbury’s Bluewood Cup win with an 8-2 win. The last game is against Ashford at home on Saturday. It’s doubtful it will affect our last place standing in the league but it’d be nice to finish on a high! We wrap up our programme of team friendlies with a home game on Thursday followed by three away games in September, which are always ones to enjoy for various reasons.

The latest round of Friday Triples saw wins for teams managed by Alison, Diane and Eileen which leaves gaps between them all with four rounds left to go!

18pts – Eileen; 14pts – Diane; 12pts – Colin; 10pts – Simon; 8pts – Alison; 4pts – Nikki

There is a sign-up sheet in the summerhouse for the annual Men v Women game on 20th September followed by family bbq. All are welcome including friends & family. The game decides the fate of the Mavis Steele trophy, named after Sunbury’s most decorated bowler. She represented England for 40 years, was England Ladies Outdoor champion three times and was awarded an MBE for her services to bowls. We’re lucky that we have an almost 50-50 split between men and women bowlers at Sunbury which is unheard of in most other clubs. Despite the women being rather good bowlers too the men have found a way of finishing on top every year since 2021.

In the remaining external competitions, you may catch Tracy and JenB deciding who progresses to the final of the South Middlesex (SM) Women’s Singles .. they play their semi-final during tonight’s Club Night; Thursday sees Alan, Karen, Martin & Nikki play a semi-final in the SM John Gardner trophy at Ashford; Tracy plays another semi-final on Friday at Fordbridge Park in the SM 75pts; Alan & Karen play their NW Surrey Mixed Pairs final at Ottershaw on Sunday; Tracy goes yet again, this time with Alan in their next round of the Middlesex Mixed Pairs on Bank Holiday Monday at Sunbury; Finally, Eileen plays her SM Women’s Singles semi-final at Bishop Duppas on Tues 1st.

Sunbury retained the Bluewood Cup at Fordbridge Park on Saturday for the third time since 2023 and with a record score of 34pts! Second placed team Hampton finished on 17pts and the hosts came third on 9pts but had the distraction of providing catering, etc on top of missing some key players. As always, the day was managed superbly with some gorgeous weather too!

Team Sunbury visited Bishop Duppas on Sunday to play their latest SML game. There was a super close finish on one rink where the last bowl decided the win in the host’s favour. Another rink went Sunbury’s way but there was less fun on the other two rinks where Sunbury came distant second! The overall result was an 8-2 win for Bishop Duppas, a reversal of the score when they visited us back in July.

This follows a very narrow defeat in another SML game on eclipse day at Ashford where Sunbury lost on overall shot count by 3 for a 6-4 defeat.

Our club competitions will all be at semi final stage in the coming days with a couple of finalists already decided .. good luck to those still going strong! For info, next year’s finals will be held on 4-5th Sept 2027 and a key requirement for entry is to be available on at least one of those days.

The latest round of Friday Triples saw wins for teams captained by Alison, Colin and Eileen leaving the standings as follows ..16pts – Eileen; 12pts – Colin; Diane; 10pts – Simon; 6pts – Alison; 4pts – Nikki

Our new rooms at the corner of the SSA main building are being kitted out but won’t be occupied until next season. The steps down will be worked on and a handrail provided in due course. Your bowls committee are drawing up plans for a list of winter jobs so please see if you can help out to get the grounds and green into better shape for next season. We are still looking for an auditor to help examine our books so please get in touch if you know anyone who could help.

At the last of our all-day club competitions this season, Barry and Roger, together with their playing partners Andrew and Anita, progressed to the final of the Mixed 2-wood Pairs. Over the course of the day, each pair played 4 games of 8 ends with finalists decided by semis. Congratulations also to relative newbies Mike and Susanna who reached the semis playing with last year’s winner Sandy and JenC, respectively. Thanks to all who helped with setup and on the day arrangements. The next big event of the season is the finals of our Club Competitions on 5-6th Sept. We then have the small matter of Men v Women on 20th September!

 

There’s been a couple of team friendlies this week against Wraysbury and Chertsey, both played over 3 triples. We may have lost out against Wraysbury on Wednesday losing on two rinks to one but reversed the score against Chertsey on Sunday but lost on overall shot count by 2 shots. That’s what friendlies are all about!

The latest results in Friday Triples closed the gaps at both the top and bottom of the table.

14pts – Eileen; 12pts – Diane; 10pts – Colin; Simon; 4pts – Nikki; Alison

Club Night continues on Tuesday 6pm (5:45 register) with everyone welcome; Team Sunbury then visit Ashford for an SML game on Wednesday 6pm with the solar eclipse likely to make for an interesting evening!

Most of the county competitions are drawing to a close but we we still have some folk keeping the flag flying for Sunbury .. good luck to all!

JenB plays Tracy in the semi-final of the South Middlesex (SM) Women’s Singles; Eileen could make it an all-Sunbury final after progressing into the other semi final this week.

Tracy is into the semi-finals of the SM 75pts up against Karen’s nemesis from Masonians.

Alan, Karen, Nikki, Martin have progressed into the semi finals of the SM John Gardner trophy (Mixed Fours) to play Bishop Duppas.

Alan & Tracy are in the last-16 of the Middlesex Mixed Pairs in the longest playing of all the county comps!

Alan & Karen have made it to the semi-finals of the North West Surrey (NWS) Mixed Pairs joining all the other semi-finalists who are from Egham .. say no more!

Finally, the SSA will implement the use of digital cards tomorrow (10th). Forms are available at the bar to request a physical card.