The season will be over in just over a month’s time – green renovations are booked in for Thurs 25th Sep. So far as team games are concerned we have three more friendlies and two SML games remaining, starting with this weekend against Ember and Hampton. Both are at home. It’s quite refreshing to see Sunbury still lying in 2nd place in the SML table, albeit with some teams having games in hand!

Throughout the season two Sunbury teams battled away on Thursday evenings in the North West Surrey (NWS) Mixed Fours league. Due to the geography of Surrey this inevitably involved away trips south of the river to such clubs as Byfleet, Oxshott, Ember, Addlestone, Horsell, et al, but also to fellow northerners Bishop Duppas!

Eileen and Keith did a grand job managing the teams in division 2 and 3, respectively, with some rather good results. The division 2 team just missed out on promotion finishing 3rd. Having started with two resounding wins the middle part of the season saw some mixed results but picked up again towards the end. The division 3 team went one better and secured 2nd place after winning 9 of their 12 games. This secures promotion and will see both Sunbury teams in the same division next season. Each team contains a squad of around eight players so congratulation to all involved.

Our Club Competitions final weekend is almost here .. Sat 30th & Sun 31st. There are a few games outstanding but the schedule is taking shape and will be announced in due course. Both days will start at 11am and continue through to sometime around 5-6pm, according to how many multiple finalists we end up with. The Men’s and Women’s championship finals will be played in their traditional spot of Sunday afternoon, hopefully on rinks 1 and 2/3.  Having mixed it up last year we are reverting to the more customary direction of play from carpark to paddock for this year. Of the 14 finals we will need 10 markers so please get in touch if you’re happy to help. The dress code for players and markers is club shirt (or white top) with dark blue (or dark coloured) bottoms. After each final is finished, or soon after,  the winner will be presented with the trophy by our club Captain, President or Secretary and photos taken. If you have any trophies at home please could you return them to the clubhouse this week and, preferably, polished! More details on the weekend will follow.

Construction of the summerhouse resumed this week – thanks again to everyone who’s spared some time to help.

The annual end of season Men v Women game is also fast approaching on Sat 13th Sep at 2:30pm followed by family BBQ from 6pm. It’s been contested for the past 7 years with the score standing at 3-3 after a dubious draw last year! The sign-up sheet is available in the clubhouse. All family and friends are also welcome.

Sunbury retained the Bluewood Cup for the third consecutive year on Saturday.

Superbly hosted by Fordbridge Park and also involving Hampton the day contained a series of short games played in Pairs (Mens/Womens/Mixed) and two triples. It was a good all round team effort with Sunbury gaining 25 points to Fordbridge Park’s 18 and Hampton on 17. Our captain Dennis extends his thanks to everyone involved including the great support we enjoyed  throughout the day.

It was a sunset finish to our latest SML game at Ashford on Wednesday. A 6pm start, 18 ends plus two trials meant for a gloomy finish now we’re half way through August! The game itself was brighter and rather close in the end with Sunbury taking wins on the last end on two rinks. Ashford took the overall shot count by 4 and the game 6-4.

Club Night will continue at 6pm for the next couple of Tuesdays but switch to an earlier start of 5:30pm from 2nd September.

We’ll soon be into the last two weeks of our club competitions with pretty much only semi-finals remaining before the silverware is decided at the end of the month.

The sign-up sheet and menu choices for the annual dinner and presentation of awards on 21st November is available on the noticeboard in the clubhouse.

 

The summerhouse arrived on Thursday and construction begins today,  Friday. Thanks to everyone who can lend some help.

Thanks also to those who’ve cleaned the walkways and bowls mats .. it’s made such a difference.

 

Our midweek friendly at Wraysbury brought a first for some and a reminder of indoor bowling for others .. an artificial green! Despite losing on rinks 2-1 most folk enjoyed the afternoon and would be pleased to see it on the calendar again next season. We followed this up with another friendly on Sunday, this time at home to Chertsey, where we again won on one rink out of three.

The Friday Triples league came to a climax this week with wins for teams captained by Diane, Karen and Nikki, who cemented the top spot.

14pts – Nikki; 12pts – Diane; 10pts – Alison; Eileen; Karen; 4pts – Alan;

Well done to everyone who participated and our organiser Eileen. One unusual feature this season was no cancellations due to the weather. Congratulations to the winning team of Chris, Keith, Neil, Pat, Paul and their captain Nikki, who’s now won it twice in the four years it’s been contested.

The last of our all-day club competitions, the Presidents Cup, was played on Saturday in the more usual hot dry conditions we’ve come to expect over the years. It attracted a bumper attendance of 34 players, with everyone playing at least 3 short games over the course of the day. There were some close games and even a draw courtesy of Chris and Keith. Three of the semi-finalists were a repeat of last year – Alan, Keith and Tracy; and they were joined by Colin. Both semis were close and decided on the final end – but it was Alan and Tracy who came out on top and will contest the final in just under three weeks time. Thanks to everyone who helped with the preparation of the green, setup, catering and organisation – too many to mention but special thanks to Dennis, Gary and Nikki.

The lineup for the Junior championship has been decided. Commiserations to Sandy and Simon who missed out to Andrew and Tracy. The other club competitions will have finalists soon and certainly in the next three weeks! Best of luck to everyone still competing.

Looking ahead ..

Tues 12th 6pm – Club Night;

Wed 13th 6pm – Ashford v Sunbury;

Thur 14th – Summerhouse arrives;

Sat 16th – Bluewood Cup at Fordbridge Park;

Sun 17th – Beer, Gin & Music festival

This Saturday we have the last of the season’s day-long club competitions – the Presidents Cup. It’s a bit different to other bowls formats in that the scoring is 4-3-2-1 regardless of who’s holding shot bowl. We’ll play a series of short games using a swiss system (not knockout) until we have four semi-finalists and then two finalists. The weather forecast is good, maybe too hot for some but don’t worry, we expect to have plenty of rest periods due to an unprecedented number of entrants. We’re aiming to start the first set of games at 10:30am so please report from 10am ready for the draw. We expect to finish around 4pm, although some may wish to bow out before that. Nikki is kindly arranging pizza for lunch and will be taking any orders on the morning. If you’re expecting to play please check you’re on the list below and let me have any changes asap.

Playlist – Alan; Alison; Andrew, Andrea; Anita; Barry; Bindley; BobH; ChrisSh; Christine; Colin; DavidP; Don; Eileen; Gary; JenC; John; Julia; Karen; Keith; Linda; Mike; Nathan; NeilF; Nikki; Pat;  Peter; Richard; Roger; Sandy; Simon; Tracy; Viv; Wade.

In the season-long club competitions, the Junior Championship has produced the first finalist. Congratulations to Andrew who had to battle through three rounds before beating Sandy in their semi-final, but only just and by winning fewer ends too!

Thanks for the response to help building the summerhouse on the 14th. We’ll let folk know when the delivery time is confirmed.

This week’s Friday Triples saw wins for teams captained by Alison, Nikki and, yes, Alan’s team! It was far from plain sailing though when the head was disturbed when measuring for a crucial shot on the last end .. a harsh lesson for those involved. Nikki’s team is in pole position going into the final week but could be caught by one of three other teams. The final showdown is this coming Friday.

12pts – Nikki; 10pts – Alison; Diane; Eileen; 8pts – Karen; 4pts – Alan;

Saturday’s friendly at Byfleet was shared on rinks 2-2 but the hosts did better on shots. Thanks to everyone who put their names down to play at one of the furthest trips we have. The weekend was rounded off with an SML game at home to Stanwell. It was 2nd vs 3rd in the table and it proved to be quite close with rinks shared 2-2 but with Sunbury scoring more shots for an overall 6-4 win. One unusual feature of the game was the sight of two sets of orange  bowls being used on the same rink and both by skips too! So we’ve now played three well-established clubs in the space of a week – Walton who celebrated their centenary three years ago; Stanwell did so last year; Byfleet’s centenary will be next year. Congratulations to them all .. let’s hope Sunbury make it too one day .. in 2068!

This coming week sees an interesting friendly at Wraysbury, a new venue for us and a new surface too .. an artificial green! The match is on Wednesday afternoon, following regular Club Night on Tuesday. Last week saw a bumper turnout of 36 players  with all six rinks occupied playing the favoured triples format. Please do bear in mind that it won’t always be possible and fours and even pairs may have to be played. Also if you find yourself on a rink where the majority of bowls are black, please consider attaching stickers to help identify your team’s bowls. There are plenty of red and blue stickers available in the clubhouse.

Jen, Nathan and Karen all compete in county games this week. Jen & Nathan compete at Ashford on Monday in the main Middlesex Mixed Pairs and Karen continues her quest in the SML 75pts competition on Tuesday. Good luck to all three.

This week, Jen, Nathan & Tracy came unstuck when facing yet another triple at Staines in the SML Mixed Triples. In the SML Mixed Pairs Jen & Nathan followed up a win at Fordbridge Park by beating our own Nikki & Dennis to progress into the semi-finals. Unfortunately Karen & Alan failed to join them after running out of steam against a pair from Hampton.

Lastly, the summerhouse has been ordered and is due to be delivered on Thurs 14th August. We’re not sure of timing yet but anyone who can spare some time to start the build on that day would be very welcome.

We may have come second in this week’s friendly at Walton but it was good and enjoyable afternoon of bowls. Sunbury were on top on all rinks at half way but the home team put the pressure on in the second half winning on all rinks by the end, albeit only just. Overall Walton took the game by 11 shots. It was sad to hear more about their woes of losing the bowls green at the end of their lease in 2028. We added our names to the petition – do a search for “Walton Bowls closure” or click here to see more about their fight to save the bowls club.

To the lucky few who are still going in our club competitions .. the play-by deadlines are suspended. We’re in a good position with a whole month before finals and just a few quarter-finals outstanding. For some a semi-final is their only game and we want to ensure that the game is played on a date both players are comfortable with and without pressure to squeeze games in. This is due in no small measure to all those who’ve arranged and played their games in good time throughout the season, so many thanks – it really has made the Competitions Secretary’s job an easy one!

As for the competitions themselves the lineup for the Women’s Championship semi-finals is complete. In a very long game, Tracy battled past current champion JenB in their quarter-final and will face Karen (2023 winner); the other semi-final sees Anita (2022 winner) play Pat.

The Men’s championship semis has defending champion Alan v Brian (finalist 2018 & 2019) and Keith (finalist 2024) v Andrew.

A special mention for Don for the determination he showed on Friday, losing to Richard and then Tarun but then winning Men’s Pairs on the final end .. all in the same day!

More names have been added to the playlist for Presidents Cup on 9th Aug. If you’d like to play too just get in touch.

Playlist – Alan; Alison; Andrew, Andrea; Anita; Barry; Bindley; BobH; Charlie; ChrisSh; Christine; Colin; DavidP; Don; Eileen; Gary; JenC; John; Julia; Karen; Keith; Linda; Nathan; NeilF; Nikki; Pat; Paul; Peter; Richard; Roger; Sandy; Simon; Tarun; Tracy; Viv; Wade.

The summerhouse project took another step forward last week with the concrete base laid. Thanks to those who did a great job levelling it.

After last weekend’s 8-2 loss at Fordbridge Park in the South Middlesex League (SML) we returned to winning ways on Sunday with a 6-4 win at Strawberry Hill. The day was wrapped up pretty quick in order to catch the lionesses battling past world champions Spain in the Euros. The midweek friendly with Oatlands Park was reduced from 4 to 3 triples in which Sunbury won on one. On Wednesday we visit Walton with 4 triples, hoping it’s not the last time we do .. sadly, Walton are under threat of closure.

The club competitions are hotting up with some players moving into form at the right time. More games are planned for this week so good luck to all and thanks again to everyone who offers to mark. The last of the season’s day-long competitions is the Presidents Cup on Saturday 9th August. This is a singles tournament ideal for those of us who may get close to the jack but not necessarily hold shot. The four nearest bowls get awarded points from 4 through to 1 regardless of whose bowls they are. It’ll be contested over a series of short games to determine the two players who progress to finals weekend. We currently have over 30 entrants so they’ll be ample opportunity for rest for some and to enhance those marking skills for others! Please let me know if you can no longer make it or wish to be added.

Playlist – Alan; Alison; Andrew, Andrea; Anita; Barry; Bindley; BobH; Charlie; ChrisSh; Christine; Colin; DavidP; Eileen; Gary; JenC; John; Julia; Karen; Keith; Nathan; NeilF; Pat; Peter; Richard; Roger; Sandy; Simon; Tarun; Tracy; Viv.

There are just two weeks left in Friday Triples and it’s very tight at the top after latest wins for teams captained by Eileen, Karen and Nikki; Alan’s team have safely secured the wooden spoon but may have a big say in who wins!

10pts – Diane; Eileen; Nikki;  8pts – Alison; Karen; 2pts – Alan;

As we head into the final third of the season, the worms are doing their thing and the worm casts and dew may need removing before play. The switchers are kept in the chalet above the door .. thinking positively, it can be viewed as a gentle warm-up for bowling!

The date of our annual Club Dinner and presentation of awards has been booked for Friday 21st November at Fulwell Golf Club. Apologies for pre-empting an earlier date.

Finally, a shout out to a few of our members celebrating significant birthdays this month .. congratulations Charlie, Keith & Pat!

It came close to a cancellation but we persisted with the Presidents Plate in the rain on Saturday. After a delayed start to let the worst of the rain pass through we were rewarded with much drier conditions as the day progressed with even some sunglasses on show! Apologies to those who had to withdraw .. we’ll hopefully get more usual weather (stinking hot ?!) for the last of our day-long competitions, the Presidents Cup, in three weeks time. After keeping their powder dry and missing the first round of games it was the team of Anita, Brian & Peter who won all their games and qualified for the finals weekend. Their opponents in the final had the opposite – a miserable start in the rain but then picked up the pace to win all their remaining games. Particular congratulations to Neil and Verena who both qualify for their first final alongside the more familiar Nathan. Thanks to all who contributed to the day and kept the faith .. weather apps, what would we do without them?!

Whilst the Presidents Plate was being fought out Eileen, Karen and Tracy were also battling the elements and some rather good opponents at Bush Hill Park in the Middlesex Women’s quarter and semi-finals day. Eileen & Karen played first in their over-55 pairs quarter-final and came out with a superb win. Next up was Karen against Tracy in the Unbadged Singles. Tracy took the honours and played a woman from Bishop Duppas in her semi-final. Meanwhile Eileen & Karen faced a home team in their semi-final. Although both fell short in their games they can all can take great pride in representing Sunbury and edging ever closer to top honours!

In our club competitions it’s great to see some of our newer bowlers doing rather well .. Frank, Don and Wade to name but three. In the Men’s Championship, last year’s finalists, Alan and Keith, have both progressed to the semis after battling past Colin & BobH. There’s lots more games this coming week so good luck to all.

I’m loathe to mention Friday Triples but suffice to say no one appears to observe the interim rules! Diane’s team got back to winning ways as did Karen’s team with a close win against Alison’s team; Eileen’s team maintains their push for honours with a win against Nikki’s team.

10pts – Diane; 8pts – Alison; Eileen; Nikki; 6pts – Karen; 2pts – Alan;

It’s a tough ask and may be tempting fate but a decent result on Sunday at Fordbridge Park could conceivably see Sunbury take top spot in the South Middlesex League. After propping up the league in previous seasons it’s refreshing to see both Sunbury and Stanwell towards the top of the table regardless of what happens.

Okay, Sunbury we may not be top of the league but it felt like it after achieving back to back wins in the SML. We followed up last weekend’s 10-0 win against Bishop Duppas by beating Staines 6-4 on Saturday. With a heavy loss on one rink and a matching heavy win on another it was left to the other two rinks to decide the outcome. In the end we came very close to winning on both of them but we’ll settle for sharing the rinks 2-2 and an overall shot advantage of 75-58. Amazingly this is pretty much the complete reversal of when we played Staines at the start of the season when we lost 6-4 and by a very similar shot count! Next up in the SML is another stern test at Fordbridge Park on Sunday 20th.

On another busy weekend of bowls we hosted a friendly with Ember on Sunday which was reduced to 14 ends due to the heat. Sunbury won on all 4 rinks to reverse the loss at Ember in our very first game of the season back in April.

Friday saw anther round of Friday Triples and only the second defeat for Diane’s team this time by Eileen’s team. Alison’s team obviously didn’t read the interim rules and inflicted yet another defeat on Alan’s team, and moves into joint top spot. Nikki’s team beat Karen’s team to join them.

8pts – Alison; Diane; Nikki; 6pts – Eileen; 4pts – Karen; 2pts – Alan;

Meanwhile, Karen had a battle of her own in the Middlesex Women’s over-55 singles for a place in the quarter-finals. Feeling a bit under the weather and 19-11 down she somehow managed to draw level at 20-20 and held shot on the last end only for her opponent to take the jack with the final bowl of the game!

Next week there are a  number of club competition games being played, mainly quarter-finals; Tuesday’s Club Night should see another fine evening; the Presidents Plate will be contested on Saturday .. we currently have the magic number of entrants so please double-check you’re on the list; Saturday also sees Eileen, Karen and Tracy in action at Bush Hill Park in the Middlesex Women’s quarter/semi finals – they are competing in the over-55 Pairs and Unbadged Singles; On Sunday we visit Fordbridge Park in the SML. Good luck to one and all.

Presidents Plate – Saturday 19th

Alan; Alison; Anita; Bindley; Bob; Brian; Cassie; ChrisSh; Christine; DavidC; DavidP; Diane; Don; Frank; Gary; JenB; JenC; John; Keith; Linda; Nathan; NeilF; Paul; Peter; Richard; Roger; Sandy; Tony; Verena; Viv.