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.

 

There will be a general clear-up around the grounds and clubhouse on Saturday 2nd July. If you can spare a couple of hours or so please drop by anytime from around 10am.

Sunday’s friendly with Ashford was postponed at late notice due to issues with Ashford fielding a team. The fixture may be moved to later in the season when less competitions are running.

We enjoyed the second of our day-long club competitions on Saturday – the Mixed 2-woods Singles. The format was changed, like the 2-woods Pairs before it, with a series of round-robin games in random and then seeded groups. The 18 entrants were eventually whittled down to two short semi-finals with Anita and Brian progressing to Finals Day in September. Special thanks to Cassie and Lynda who stepped in with marking duties and everyone who helped keep the day ticking along nicely. Mixed 2-wood Singles 2022

The Presidents Cup is up next on Sunday 3rd July. We currently have 21 entrants so please get in touch if you’d like to play or can no longer make it. This is a singles competition with 4-3-2-1 scoring for the four closest bowls. So even if you don’t have shot bowl you could still end up with more points on the end!

Finally, please be mindful of pedestrians and other users of the pavement when exiting the club car park and especially at busy times.

I’m afraid there is no photographic evidence but there are reports of our Club President Tom having been spotted on the green this week. Firstly on Monday afternoon, and then at Club Night on Tuesday. Good luck Tom and we all hope you get back playing regularly after getting the sign-off from your consultant.

The club competitions are up and running and it’s encouraging to hear of so many games being arranged. The sheets have been amended to indicate play-by dates and the format for each competition. Please get in touch with any further queries.

On Wednesday we had a good result (by recent standards!) in our latest South Middlesex League match .. a creditable 6-4 loss to undefeated Staines. This keeps our points tally ticking along nicely and might even keep us top of the table for another week! The next team match is a friendly at home to Ashford on Sunday, so please get in touch with our captain Di if you’d like to play – there are a few slots available and she’s especially keen to encourage any new bowlers to make their debut. I can forward names to Di if you reply to me.

In the Middlesex County matches this week, congratulations go to Karen in beating her opponent from Bishop Duppas in the Women’s Unbadged Singles and qualifying for the quarter/semi-finals at West Ealing in July. Unfortunately yours truly couldn’t emulate her performance in the Men’s Unbadged Singles 5th round. Also Dennis put on a great performance on his birthday but narrowly lost out at home on Thursday evening. Next week is the turn of the Mixed Pairs.

The week ahead ..

Fri 24th 11am – Friday Morning League

Sat 25th 10:30am – Mixed 2-wood Singles

Sun 26th 2:30pm – Sunbury v Ashford team friendly

Tue 28th 6pm – Club Night (5:45pm sign-in)

Fri 1st July 11am – Friday Morning League

Sun 3rd July 11am – Presidents Cup

 

We endured a miserable weekend in the South Middlesex League but retained top spot in the table thanks to the one winning rink in Sunday’s match!

We got a 10-0 drubbing at home to Fordbridge Park on Saturday and faired a little better away at Bishop Duppas on Sunday with an 8-2 loss. On the positive we did win the raffle after Saturday’s match and are in better shape than the bottom 4 teams in the league. On the negative we have a home match on Wednesday against undefeated Staines!

This will be the last of our league games for a while so we can put in some practise with team friendlies, Club Night, Friday Morning League and the next of our all-day club competitions on Sat 25th – the Mixed 2-woods Singles. Entrants have already been contacted so if you’ve been missed or would like to play please get in touch.

 

This season’s club competitions are up and running – the draws are available in paper form on the notice board in the clubhouse and online here … Mens 2022  Womens 2022  Mixed 2022
Most competitions are singles so will require a marker. Please ask someone to mark and hopefully you can reciprocate. Don’t worry if you’ve never marked before as it’s quite nice being at the head watching the bowls arrive and without the pressure of actually having to deliver any of them! On each end you’ll need to straighten the jack, answer any requests for info, measure if either of the players ask, and of course keep a record of the score. You can update the sheets with any results or pass them through to me. I’m happy if you want to keep the scorecards as a memento – I don’t need them.
Please adhere to the deadlines for each round – I’d suggest you arrange a mutually convenient date/time with your opponent and then ask around for a marker.
For info, I’ll still be taking entries for the 3 remaining day-long competitions up to the week before they run so just get in touch if you want to enter. The next is Mixed 2-woods Singles on Sat 25th June – played as a round-robin.
Good luck to everyone and please get in touch with any issues etc.

It was good to see so many members and new faces at this week’s Club Night, no doubt spurred on by the super weather. Apologies for the delayed start as we introduce our new bowlers to existing ones.

It’s been the turn of the men in this week’s Middlesex county competitions. Both John and AlanP had home matches in the Unbadged Singles 4th round. John came back from a big deficit and eventually lost out to a player from Staines. Alan just about saw off a youngster from Ashford. Dennis’ match at Springfield was conceded so we have two players in the 5th round. Unfortunately in the Mens Fours, Barry, Roger, Brian & Dennis came unstuck at West Ealing.

On Thursday in the NW Surrey League our Fours team lost and now have a season record of 2 wins and 2 losses.

The first set of matches took place in the Friday Morning League on the hottest day of the year thus far with wins for teams captained by Diane, Alison and Nikki. There might have been a few lucky wicks today but by far the luckiest person on the day was Pat who lost her mobile phone but didn’t know it. As Eileen and I were leaving we heard a phone ringing in the bushes by the steps to the green. It was well hidden and took some finding by eagle-eyed Eileen. We subsequently discovered it had slipped out of Pat’s bag.

Unfortunately tonight’s Middlesex Unbadged Singles match between Anita & Karen has been cancelled. Anita injured her back at Saturday’s match with Cambridge Park and hasn’t properly recovered. Tracy has also had to concede her next match so we are relying on Karen as the last woman standing in the Middlesex competitions .. and she’s yet to actually play a round!

Tuesday’s Club Night will see some new faces with the new crop of bowlers playing too. Don’t forget to sign in before 6pm!

The draws for the internal competitions have been made apart from Men’s and Women’s championships, which will be done at Club Night. If you’d like a sneak peak check back here very soon.

The Friday Morning League kicks off this week, Friday 17th 11am. Please check with your team captain if you’re due to play.

This coming weekend sees two team matches in the South Middlesex League. After the win at the weekend it’s nice to see Sunbury holding onto 1st place in the league although Staines are not far behind and with a game in hand.

The sun certainly shone brightly for Sunbury at Saturday’s South Middlesex League game against Cambridge Park. The home support spurred on Sunbury to wins on 2 of the 4 rinks, one of them being a final end one-shot win! Crucially, the teams on the losing rinks for Sunbury battled to the end to keep the shots against down for an overall shot count of 64-61 and a super 6-3 win for Sunbury!

(NB: Cambridge Park received a penalty for a win on one of their two all-male rinks).

   

In the Middlesex county competitions this week our only winner was Dennis in the Men’s Unbadged Singles 3rd round at Staines. The Women’s Triples team of Pat, Alison & Anita put in a good performance against a strong Staines team and BobH played his 3rd round Unbadged Singles at Ashford, where only Tracy seems to get much change! On Sunday 12th some of our women play in the day-long 2-woods knock-out at Hayes BC. On Monday 5:30pm we have a Sunbury showdown in the Women’s unbadged singles 3rd round – Anita v Karen, and on Tuesday 2pm it’s the turn of yours truly playing Unbadged Singles 4th round at home.

The current members had better watch out as the new crop of bowlers, recruited from the Open Days, are doing rather good. Training sessions on Tuesday evening and Saturday morning provided match experience and some great bowling. Thanks to all involved and especially the new bowlers for making it so easy for us!

I’ve been asked about arranging ad-hoc rollups .. it’s advisable (but not essential) to book a rink via the booking system Book a Rink. The bowls equipment is kept in the chalet, access to which is available with a key that’s kept in a drawer in the 2nd room on the right in the clubhouse. The combination code is available to all so just contact me or ask around if you don’t know it. There are plans to put a combination lock on the chalet itself at some point.