The South Middlesex League table provides a rare sight .. Sunbury on top!

We may have played more and been penalised less than some others but it’s still worth shouting about. Mind you, if there was a league table for Friendlies it’d be a different picture. We received a warm welcome from Oatlands Park on Wed 1st and came away with a 1-3 loss with draws on 2 rinks. At least the weather was so much better than last year when I believe some folk never got out of their cars!

Some upcoming matches I missed in previous updates are Middlesex Women’s Unbadged Singles 2nd round matches on Monday 6th. Anita and Bindley both play at home and Tracy plays away at Ashford. All start 5:30pm with spectators/supporters welcome. Good luck to them and everyone representing Sunbury this week.

 

The captain at Esher has advised us that they are unable to raise a team for this weekend’s friendly – as such our game is cancelled this Saturday 4th. Sunday’s friendly game against Byfleet goes ahead as planned on Sunday 5th.

The weather hit us this week with Tuesday Club Night (and training) cancelled due to heavy rain (and some hail) at 5:30pm, as well as the coaching session on Monday evening. We’ll see if we can squeeze in another training session before next Tuesday’s Club Night & training.

The teams for Friday Morning League are being finalised and the first matches will take place on Friday 10th as planned.

The draws for this season’s internal competitions will take place and be published very soon. Entries for the 3 remaining day-long competitions will be accepted upto a week before they take place.

Wed 1st 2:30pm – Oatlands v Sunbury team friendly

Sun 5th 2:30pm – Sunbury v Byfleet team friendly

Tues 7th 6pm – Tuesday Club Night & training

Thur 9th 6pm – NW Surrey Fours home match

Fri 10th 2:30pm – Middlesex Womens Triples 4th round at Staines (Pat, Alison, Anita)

Sat 11th 2:30pm – Sunbury v Cambridge Park in South Middlesex League

Sun 12th 9:30am – Middlesex Womens 2-woods at Hayes (Anita, Eileen, Alison, Karen, Tracy)

We kicked off this season’s internal competitions with the Mixed 2-wood Pairs on Sat 28th May.

The format was changed for this year and played as a round-robin rather than a straight knockout and it seemed to work well. 16 players took part with refreshments provided via Surplus to Supper to keep everyone going.

Congratulations to Alex & Peter and AlanP & Tracy who qualified for the final in September.

Full results – Mixed 2-wood Pairs 2022

The deadline for entries for the Competitions is now very near so please do get any forms to me in the coming days. I’ll be down at Club Night on Tuesday to chase up folk. New bowlers who join will receive free entry into the Junior Championship and are very welcome to enter any others. The next day-long competition is Mixed 2-woods on Sat 25th June, closely followed by Presidents Cup and Plate on consecutive weekends in July.

After the mid-week heroics against Teddington we took the foot off the gas on Sunday in the team friendly at Hersham with a 1-4 loss. We borrowed a player from Hersham and perhaps thankfully that wasn’t our winning rink! Thanks to Tracy, Roger & BobH to spare our blushes.

Keeping the grounds in good shape is a never-ending task, especially at this time of year – the greenskeepers have been trying new tactics on the weeds .. burning them!

 

We bounced back from a 3-6 loss against Stanwell at the weekend with a 10-0 victory against Teddington in Thursday’s South Middlesex League match. Sunbury fell behind on 3 rinks early on but all came good by the end with wins on all 4 rinks. With 2 points for each win and a further 2 for the most shots overall we picked up all 10 points. At least we were more hospitable in the subsequent raffle with Teddington sharing the prizes!

In Sunday’s match at Stanwell we actually won on 2 rinks out of 4 but lost on overall shots and picked up a penalty for fielding an all-male rink .. don’t you love the rules?!

It’s very early into the season but Sunbury have a healthy record of played 3 – won 2. The next league match is Sat 11th June but before that we have a series of 4 friendlies starting at Hersham on Sunday 29th May. Our captain has found it difficult to get players for some matches , especially away games, so please do try and make her life easier by signing up for games when you can. The sheets with all the details are in the clubhouse and everyone is encouraged to play. New bowlers are especially welcome as it’s a good introduction to team bowls and a very pleasant way to spend an afternoon. All matches are played at 2:30pm – most at the weekends and some midweek. The matches usually finish around 5pm with some refreshments and a raffle draw.

In the Middlesex competitions this week we put up some good resistance but lost out to some strong teams. The Women’s Triples of Karen, Nikki & Eileen lost to a Cambridge Park team containing current county bowlers. The Mens Double Fours led by Roger lost to Ashford. Both matches were played on Tuesday 24th.

Here’s how the coming week or so is looking ..

Sat 28th May 11am –  Mixed 2-wood Pairs competition – 16 players in the draw

Sun 29th May 2:30pm – Hersham v Sunbury (friendly)

Mon 30th May 6pm – Training session for new bowlers

Tues 31st May 6pm – Club Night and training for new bowlers

Wed 1st June 2:30pm – Oatlands v Sunbury (friendly)

Sat 4th June 2:30pm – Sunbury v Esher (friendly)

 

There was a mixed bag of results from our bowlers competing in county competitions this week. Firstly, congratulations to Pat, Alison & Anita in the Middlesex Women’s Triples as they got though another round by beating Fordbridge Park 15-12. Our Middlesex Women’s Fours lost to a strong Bushnell team and Karen & Alan lost in the NW Surrey Mixed Pairs at Ashford by the narrowest of margins.

In the weekly Thursday evening NW Surrey League a Fours team made it two wins out of two to cement a great start to the season.

It’s very encouraging that 13 of the new crop of bowlers from the Open Days got a taste of Club Night on Tuesday. All have been invited to further training on Saturday 2pm.

Some dates to look out for ..

Sat 21st 2pm – Training for new bowlers

Sun 22nd 2:30pm – South Middlesex League team match away to Stanwell

Tues 24th 5pm – Middlesex Triples (Karen/Nikki.Eileen) away at Cambridge Park

Tues 24th 6pm – Club Night

Tues 24th 6pm – Middlesex Mens Double Fours at Sunbury and Ashford

Thurs 26th 2:30pm – South Middlesex team match at home to Teddington

 

There are two games taking place at Ashford this week. Karen & Alan play in NW Surrey Mixed Pairs on Mon 16th at 5pm and the next round for our Middlesex Women’s Fours is Fri 20th 3pm involving Branka, Lynda, Nikki & Eileen. The weekly NW Surrey Thursday Night League continues with a home match on Thur 19th 6pm.

The next South Middlesex League team match is at Stanwell on Sun 22nd May. Both Sunbury and Stanwell enjoyed success in their opening matches albeit in a different manner .. Sunbury just pipped Hampton, whilst Stanwell recorded a convincing win against Fordbridge Park.

The recent Open Days on 14-15th May were well attended with around 25 folk getting a taste of lawn bowls. It’s fair to say the Saturday crowd were treated to a glorious day for bowls with some very keen folk playing in damp conditions on the Sunday. Overall it was a success and we’ve invited all participants to see for themselves what goes on at Club Night on Tuesday (5:45pm register!). There will be extra help on hand to guide the new bowlers.

The first of our club competitions is fast approaching .. the 2-Woods Mixed Pairs takes place on Sat 28th May. There are currently 16 entrants (see below). If you are not on the list and would like to play please get in touch; if you’re on the list and can’t make it please also get in touch. The deadline is next weekend, 22nd.

Charlie, John, Eileen, Roger, Chris, Brian, Lynda, BobH, Anita, David, Peter, Pat, Alex, Bindley, Karen, AlanP

The women started the season as they mean to go on .. and the men had better watch out in the annual Men v Women at the season close! After registering a success on Wednesday in the Middlesex Women’s Fours, both our Middlesex Women’s Triples teams had very good wins on Friday 13th! Pat, Alison & Anita were up against an experienced team from Bishop Duppas but came out 17-12 winners; then Karen, Nikki & Eileen secured a 16-6 win against Cambridge Park. Both progress to the next round to be played Tues 24th May. Not to be outdone our Mixed Fours team (some men!) opened their account in the NW Surrey Thursday League with a good 18-11 away win at Bishop Duppas.

Just a reminder that the Friday Morning League starts on 10th June (matches played 11am-1pm). Please get your name on the list in the club house or contact Eileen in the coming days if you’d like to play. You won’t be expected to play every Friday as there will probably be 5 in each team with 3 required to play each time.

We enjoyed the best weather thus far at this week’s Tuesday Club Night but it was tarnished by a rather unfortunate incident. One of our valued new members had her purse stolen from the side of the green sometime during play 6-8pm. The man who took it also raided one of the cricket rooms taking cash and clothing. He was subsequently tracked down to a shop at Sunbury Cross where he used a credit card to buy tobacco. He tried later for a second time but the card had been blocked by then.

We are looking into providing a secure area alongside the green but in the meantime please be vigilant and look out for each other, especially during peak times when lots of folk are milling around.

 

On a brighter note, our Women’s Fours team had a good 17-11 win against Fordbridge Park on Wednesday evening and go into the next round. Congratulations to Branka, Nikki, Karen & Eileen. Also on Wednesday, our team friendly at Walton was played mainly in the wet. The sun made a brief appearance towards the end, which coincided with some of the best scoring by Sunbury! We lost on 3 rinks and won on 1 but it was a good introduction to team bowling for some of our newest members.

 

We opened our campaign in the South Middlesex League with a narrow win against local rivals Hampton on Sunday 8th. The match was played on a glorious day with the sun shining on Sunbury on the final end as we managed to comeback strongly and pick up some crucial points. The match was tied at two wins each for a 4-4 score, but Sunbury gained the two match points for a 6-4 win by gaining 66 shots to Hampton’s 62.

 

The previous day we warmed up with a friendly at Strawberry Hill, one of the most picturesque venues in the area. We won on one rink but lost on the other two, but had chances to take glory in the final end of one of the matches. It just goes to show that it sometimes comes down to fine margins (and luck) who wins on the day!

The good news keeps coming as we have our old mower back complete with new cutting blades, roller and clutch cable. Compared to other machines we’ve been using it purrs like a Porsche with great handling to match! There are plans afoot to roller the green at some point to help reduce some of the bumps.

This coming week we have the usual Tuesday Club Night and then some Middlesex competition matches – Women’s Fours on Wed 11th at 5:30pm and Women’s Triples on Fri 13th at 2:30pm and 3:30pm. All are at home. After that we welcome potential new players to the Open Days on Sat 14th and Sun 15th – from 11am-3pm. Please pop on down to lend any support you can – we’re providing some refreshments as well as getting folk to experience bowls.

A new date has been set for the Presidents Plate – it’s now scheduled for Sat 9th July. All original entrants were contacted and this date works best for most. Apologies for the couple who can’t now make it.

The Presidents Plate is played as Triples (teams of 3 randomly selected at start of the day) in a round-robin format. The top two teams at the end of the day go forward to the Finals weekend. There is still time to enter this and other competitions – closing dates will be announced soon.

PS: if anyone has lost a fleece-lined rain jacket after last night’s roll-up please contact Barry – he found it on a bench as the last to leave.