We enjoyed a damp time at the Bluewood Cup on Saturday, apparently the first time in its history.

After constant drizzle during the morning sessions the organisers decided to put down mats to protect the green, a novelty for many of us. All three teams were in contention at the half way stage but Hampton pulled away during the afternoon as the weather improved and eventually won on 27pts. Sunbury finished on 16pts, almost snatching 2nd place from hosts and previous winners Fordbridge Park on 17pts.

Despite the rain we all enjoyed the hospitality and bowls, Congratulations to our Women’s Pair of Ann & Karen as Sunbury’s top performers with 3 wins out of 4 and a big thanks to our captain Di for sorting out our participation and organising the team.

    

     

    

     

It’s two weeks until finals weekend for our internal competitions and all appears to be on track. There are 7 quarter-finals left to be played and then some semis. Please do let me know of any issues etc.
Barring any further rain we have one more set of games to play in the Monday Evening league.
This weekend we are competing in the annual Bluewood Shield at Fordbridge Park. It’s a series of matches involving Men’s, Women’s and Mixed Pairs as well as two Triples. On Sunday we are going for the third attempt of the Presidents Cup – the action starts 10am.

Sat 21st 10am – Bluewood Shield at Fordbridge Park

Sun 22nd 10am – Presidents Cup

Mon 23rd 6pm – Monday Evening league

Tues 24th 6pm – Club-night Roll-up

Wed 25th 2:30pm – Sunbury v Cambridge Park

Sat 28th 2:30pm – Sunbury v Esher

Since writing this update the match with Teddington has been cancelled 😥

 

The weather is set fair and we have a busy weekend of bowls with team matches on both Saturday and Sunday.
The internal competitions continue apace with various games scheduled for every day next week. Congratulations to Ann & Karen who are the first to qualify for the Finals – in the Women’s Pairs. If anyone needs me to help book rinks or help with anything please do get in touch .. Sunbury Bowls is pretty much my second home now!

Fri 13th 11am – Friday Triples .. it must be the last week as it just can’t rain again!

Sat 14th 2:30pm – Teddington v Sunbury

Sun 15th 10:30am – Di, Karen, AlanP & Eileen play at Staines in the John Gardner trophy

Sun 15th 2:30pm – Sunbury v Ashford

Mon 16th 6pm – Monday Evening league

Tues 17th 6pm – Club-night Roll-up

Wed 18th 2:30pm – Hayes v Sunbury .. CANCELLED!

This week we received some guidance on the maintenance of the green and grounds, courtesy of David winning a competition for a free independent consultation involving Dennis lawnmowers and sisis surface care. The advice was free so long as we agreed to be filmed for promotional purposes!

Overall, they said the green was good and well-maintained. We await the full report but one area of improvement is with the drainage and they have suggested a 2-3 year programme involving breaking up the underlying cinder base via vertical drilling, deeper scarifying and cutting back hedges to allow better airflow around the green. A greenskeepers’ job is never done .. even in winter!

 

NB: Links to the videos will be provided when available!

We will try and hold the Presidents Cup for a final time on Sun 22Aug .. apologies if this generates yet another wet weekend this summer! This is a knock-out competition from 10am with games played to 75 points and 4-3-2-1 scoring on each end. It will be played through to the semi-finals with the finalists playing on 4-5Sep.

Please let me know, by whatever means, if you want to enter. Entries are not carried over from previous dates even if you’ve paid, so you need to let me know you want to play on the new date.

There has been a flurry of matches played in the internal competitions this week – all the results have been updated and are available here on the website. Please contact me for any ones I’ve missed and further ones.

Mens 2021

Womens 2021

Junior Championship 2021

Open Handicap 2021

The midweek matches went off well – one in hot sunshine, the other in the cold and rain – such is the British weather! We enjoyed a narrow win at Walton and a moderate loss at Hounslow Cons. Sunday’s match against Addlestone has been cancelled due to lack of availability of the away team.

Unfortunately all our competitors are out of the Middlesex singles competitions after Ann and Nikki both lost in away matches. There is good encouragement for next season though with some great individual results.

 

Fri 6th 11am – Friday Triples .. the last of the season!

Sat 7th 10am – Presidents Cup – 7Aug .. rearranged from July .. I refuse to look at the weather forecast!

Mon 8th 6pm – Monday Evening league ..  the penultimate one?!

Tue 9th 6pm – Club Night Roll-up

Wed 11th 6pm – Roger, AlanP, Brian & Dennis compete at home in the Bunny Haynes trophy

 

Both friendly team matches planned for the weekend were cancelled by the opposing teams. With the weather set fair and the greens clear it’s a good time for internal competition bowls – don’t worry who’s named first, please get in touch with your opponent and setup a date!

This is a final call for the Presidents Cup on Sat 7th August. We currently have 14 entries so if you fancy playing please get in touch. It’s a knock-out with each game played to 75 points and 4-3-2-1 scoring on each end. The finalists will play on 4-5th September.

Congratulations to Nikki for winning her 4th round over-55 singles match this week. She and Ann are the last surviving Sunbury players in this season’s Middlesex competitions! Ann plays at Cambridge Park at 5:30pm tonight in her Women’s Champion of Champions match.

The greenkeepers continue their good work – rink 6, adjacent to the car park, has now been treated for dollar spot disease and is out of action for a few days.

Mon 2nd 6pm – Monday Evening league

Tue 3rd 6pm – Club Night Roll-up

Wed 4th 2:30pm – Walton v Sunbury friendly

Thur 5th 2pm – Nikki plays at Bishop Duppas in Middlesex Women’s over-55 5th round

Thur 5th 6pm – Hounslow Cons v Sunbury

Fri 6th 11am – Friday Triples league .. the last one after being postponed on 30Jul

Sat 7th 10am – Presidents Cup

Sun 8th 2:30pm – Sunbury v Addlestone

We said goodbye to a stifling hot week with a couple of team matches over the cooler weekend. Both were threatened with rain but in the end only Sunday’s match was impacted. We lost both but picked up valuable points in the South Middlesex League.

The internal Competitions pages on the website have been updated with results to date. Please let me know of any issues or if you need any help arranging matches or with markers. Bear in mind that all semi-finals need to be completed by the end of August in time for the finals weekend on 4-5Sep.

The Presidents Cup is the last of our day-long competitions. It’s scheduled for Sat 7th August from 10am so please sign-up or let me know, by whatever means, if you want to enter.

The week ahead ..

Mon 26th 6pm – Monday Evening league

Tues 27th 6pm – Club Night Roll-up

Thur 29th 4:30pm – Nikki plays at Cambridge Park in the Middlesex Women’s o-55 Singles 4th round

Fri 30th 11am – Friday Triples league

Sat 31st 2:30pm – Sunbury v Hayes in South Middlesex League

Sun 1st Aug 2:30pm – Sunbury v Weybridge

This week we have a few more entrants competing in the Middlesex competitions. Both Ann and Lynda qualified for the Women’s Champion of Champions this year by virtue of being Sunbury’s Women’s champions last year and 2019, respectively. The competition wasn’t held last year so both qualified. Although Ann gets a bye into the quarter-finals at the end of July after her 4th round opponent broke her wrist!

The Monday Evening league will now run until 16th August in order to catch up with postponed games. Similarly, the Friday Triples league will be extended to 30th July.

Here’s what’s in the diary for the coming week ..

Wed 14th 6pm – Nikki & Dennis play at home in the Middlesex Mixed Pairs 4th round

Thur 15th 6pm – Nikki, Karen, Tom & Dennis play at home in NW Surrey Mixed Fours 3rd round competition

Thurs 15th 6pm – Cassie, David, Lynda & Jim play away at Bishop Duppas in NW Surrey Mixed Fours league

Fri 16th 10:30am  – Lynda plays at Staines in the Middlesex Women’s Champion of Champions 3rd round

Sat 17th 2:30pm – Sunbury v Hounslow Cons in South Middlesex League

Sun 18th 2:30pm – Ember v Sunbury (friendly I think?!)

Mon 19th 6pm – Monday Evening league

Tues 20th 6pm – Club Night Roll-up

 

After last weekend’s aborted Presidents Cup, we were very lucky with the weather for the Mixed 2-wood Singles on Saturday, 10th July. Although it started raining just before the matches started it never poured down. The day was played in a good spirit and with a few folk new to marking .. thanks to all! The quarter-finals in particular saw some really close games – in the end, Bob Harvey and Alan Pilkington progressed to the final to be played 4-5Sep.