Whether you have to drive on it or just walk on it, the car park can be treacherous at the best of times! Please support the efforts to get the car park resurfaced and share as widely as you can in order to support this initiative from the Cricket Club.

The green was put to bed for another season over the weekend of 2-3 October. It was inevitable that rain curtailed some topdressing but this can wait for a dry spell. The hedges were also cut back during the week.

As they’ve proved popular in previous years, Nikki will be taking orders for homemade Christmas cakes at Tuesday’s social.

   One last item of news .. we’ve been informed that the main club will be without power on Thurs 28th October due to some essential electrical work.

The first of the winter social evenings kicks off on Tuesday 5th October at 7:30pm with an evening of cards.  The bar will be open and Alan Cordery will be our compere as he guides us through “Slippery Anne”.

It’s played like whist and the object of the game is to avoid winning tricks that contain Hearts or the Queen of Spades (all cards have a zero points value apart from these!)

ORDER OF PLAY

1) There will be 4 players on each table.

2) The first card dealer deals all of the cards (13 cards each).

3) Each player selects three of their cards and passes them (face down) to the player on their left.

4) The game starts with the player on the left of the dealer laying the first card and continues clockwise round the table.

5) After all cards have been played each player adds up all of the Hearts and the Queen of Spades they have collected and writes the score on their score sheet.

6) The player to the left of the previous dealer now starts the next game. Scores are added up as before.

7) After four games have been played the two players with the highest total scores will move up to the next table.

8) At the end of the evening the player with the lowest total score of all the games will be be the winner.                                                                                                       

Information from Peter Browne, SSA Bar Committee Chair, on the arrangements for the bar opening times over winter.

We won’t be fumbling around for rink number markers next season as we have a new holder for them courtesy of Tony Henning.

On the green itself, the rinks themselves have been switched for the final week of the season with outer rinks 1 and 6 closed for some early maintenance. Please let Dennis or David know if you can help with the main work on either day of the upcoming weekend, 2-3 October.

Our last team match of the season didn’t happen on Saturday as Weybridge had trouble with foxes on their green.

Our efforts in the South Middlesex Mixed league were rewarded with 6th place in the final standings. Thanks to our captain Di (and deputies) in achieving the creditable record of no matches conceded/defaulted during the season.

Just a reminder that the last organised roll-up of the season is tonight, Tues 21st, at 5pm, although if the weather continues to remain fair who knows .. ?!

The men won the annual Men v Women contest on Saturday 18th .. the first time in 4 years!

On a glorious day for bowls, it was looking a close affair for much of the day but the men enjoyed a good finish and ended up winning on 4 of 5 rinks and points overall. It was left to Yvonne and Dennise to uphold honours for the women. The result was soon forgotten helped by drinks and a lovely barbecue afterwards .. many thanks to Nikki. Also to Di for the raffle – just in time to be the first of the season, I think!

We lost our penultimate team match on Sunday 19th to Chertsey. We were lucky it went ahead after some rain late morning but the green played better than it looked with some bursts of sun helping it dry out. We may have lost on all 3 rinks but we weren’t outplayed. We have a chance to finish the season on a high with an away match at Weybridge on Saturday 25th. Please enter your name on the sign-up sheet or let Di know .. she’ll be running the Roll-up on Tuesday 5pm.

Some dates for your diary ..

Tues 5th Oct – Social Evening .. the first of the winter!

Tues 9th Nov – Annual General Meeting

Fri 19th Nov – Presentation Luncheon

All season we’ve been delighted by the ever-presence of our most loyal supporter and spectator. He/she always welcome us with a chirp or two and sits on the lawnmower after it’s wheeled out of the shed. I’m sure they’d make a great bowler given the chance (latest photo courtesy of John).

We put up a good performance in our latest South Middlesex match at Teddington, winning on two rinks and losing on the other two. Unfortunately the overall points score went against us (no thanks to the new Mens Champion!) and it went down as a 6-4 loss. We have two more opportunities to end the season on a high.

We have the upcoming Men v Women match on the 18th followed by barbecue – please add your names to the list in the club house or contact Nikki. Everyone is  welcome.

A little further off is the annual Lunch and Presentation of Awards on Fri 19th Nov at Fulwell Golf Club – there is a sign-up sheet in the club house or let Cassie know if you’d like to come. All members and significant others are welcome.

Tues 14th 5pm – Club-night Roll-up

Sat 18th 2:30pm – Men v Women

Sat 18th 5:30pm – BBQ

Sun 19th 2:30pm – Sunbury v Chertsey

Please come and help celebrate the end of the season with some bowling followed by a barbecue at the annual Men v Women on Sat 18th Sep at 2:30pm.

The women will be looking to consolidate their dominance with a third straight win in this annual event, but the men will no doubt try their all to change that. At the end of the day bowls will be the winner!

All members are welcome to play – everyone who enters will play regardless of standard and numbers! Please invite family and friends to join us at a barbecue afterwards from around 5:30pm. There will be vegetarian and vegan options. The cost is £7.50 for bowls & barbecue; £6 for barbecue only.

We need to confirm numbers by the middle of next week so please confirm attendance with Nikki, replying to this email or tel/txt 07753 621039.  There is also a sign-up sheet in the corridor of the clubhouse.

We rounded off the season’s internal competitions with a successful weekend of finals on 4-5th Sept. The weather played it’s part with no rain over the weekend and it even hit a scorching 27c on Sunday.

The weekend saw some mighty fine matches and it’s perhaps unfair to single one out but I have it on good authority the Women’s Championship surpassed expectations with high quality bowling and drama to match. Five times winner, Eileen, eventually saw off young upstart Karen who’s progressed well this season since winning the Junior Championship a couple of years ago. She may have wilted a little by the end of the weekend but to her credit, and helped by the cooler weather on Saturday, Karen lasted the course having bowled 151 ends over 7 matches by close of play on Sunday.

Richard blitzed his way through all the rounds and continued his form in the final to claim the Junior Championship – past champions have always done well and he’s one to watch next season. More established players Cassie, Alex and our Club President Tom picked up a trophy. John, who joined the same time as Karen and I, continues to pick up the odd trophy each time. It was also good to see some new names will be added to the trophies. Jim has returned to bowling after a break of a few years and picked up the Men’s Handicap after eventually getting over the finish line against a stubborn Brian. It would have been cruel if Liam had lost all his three finals and he was especially delighted to win the Presidents Plate. In her first year of bowling Tracy picked up the Women’s Pairs title, no doubt the first of many to come. Thanks to Yvonne for stepping into some big shoes as a late substitute for injured Ann. One last word for someone who left the weekend empty handed having lost all three finals, sorry Dennis! .. I’m sure you’ll come back stronger next season looking for your 4th Mens Championship title!

Apart from the unfortunate Pat who broke her ankle just as the competitions started, we had very few walkovers this year so thanks to everyone for the effort to play during some trying situations – weather, health, etc.. Lots of folk stepped into marking matches in the early rounds and on the day – I won’t mention names but let’s just say the competitions wouldn’t function without you!

Thanks to all the helpers over the weekend who stepped in at various times – sorting out equipment and the green, marking matches, finding missing trophies, etc. and to Nikki for keeping us refreshed. Lastly, thanks to all the supporters and spectators – it wouldn’t have been the same without you!