Well, I’m not sure anyone saw that coming .. Sunbury coming out top in both of the weekend’s SML team matches!
First up were league newcomers Strawberry Hill and after a hot and muggy afternoon of bowls, Sunbury recorded convincing wins on 3 of the 4 rinks and an overall shot count of 87-53 for an 8-2 points win. Sunday was the turn of Staines, one of last season’s top three teams. Sunbury took early leads on two rinks and pushed on for healthy wins. The closest contest of the afternoon involved new club captain Dennis and his team, who just fell short on the penultimate end. We may ban playing on rink 5 as, like on Saturday, it proved to be tricky and our losing rink. It didn’t detract from an overall 64-55 shot count in Sunbury’s favour and a 6-4 points win. The SML matches continue next weekend with a visit to Stanwell on Sunday .. fingers crossed for an unprecedented hat-trick of wins.
Before that we have the first of our Open Days on Saturday 11am-3pm. Thanks to John, our unofficial advertising executive, who’s been working hard promoting the days. As ever, we won’t know how many folk will turn up but if you could spare an hour or two please do head down to the club to welcome any guests and potential members.
The weather is forecast to cool down a bit during the week but should, hopefully, be okay for Club Night on Tuesday evening.
This week’s mid-week friendly with Walton was played in hot and sunny conditions with bowls the winner, a nice change from the last couple of encounters when rain came out on top! Sunbury won on one rink and drew on another for a narrow 67-62 loss on shots. Thanks in particular to two of our most senior players, Terry and Charlie, for bearing up to the hot conditions.
We enjoyed some traditional May weather for the first of our club competitions on Saturday .. the Mixed 2-woods Pairs. 11 pairs were split over 3 groups with the group winners and best runner-up competing in semi-finals. The green received a last-minute cut before play commenced and it made for some good bowling and very close games. One group in particular ended with 3 pairs on 2 wins each and only separated by one shot. Congratulations go to JenB & John and TonyH & Tracy who won through to play in finals weekend. Many thanks to Dennis for pulling out the stops with cutting the green and to Nikki for sorting refreshments. We have two day-long competitions scheduled for June so get your entries in for those and all the others .. the deadline will be declared soon.
Short mats were the order of the day but the first team match of the season went ahead as planned on Sunday afternoon. The decision to play was made despite a morning of rain and threatening clouds but by the end of play even the sun made an appearance. The visitors, Ember, won on three rinks, although one of those was decided on the final end, so there’s plenty of encouragement for the hosts.
Club Night kicked off this week with 20 keen souls bearing up well to the cool conditions .. top marks to Colin and Simon in their shorts! The green was remarkably dry and firm so no need for cloths (or buckets!) .. all that was needed was some warmth! Next week is forecast to be a little better.
Our bowls season kicks off proper with the first Club Night of the season this Tuesday 23rd. Please check-in from 5:45pm with bowls at the ready for a prompt start at 6pm. We’ll do our best to make it triples but, as always, it’s subject to a magic number.
There was a new helper at the club today, well Surplus to Supper!
The greenkeeping team would like to thank everyone for their efforts in clearing the grounds over the weekend. Together with the hedges being cut a few months back, the grounds are in pretty good shape going into the season. Opening day is planned for this Saturday 13th, weather permitting .. there’ll be a crucial inspection on Thursday followed by, hopefully, another cut on Friday!