We kick off the Friday Morning League tomorrow 2nd June at 10:30am. Eileen has been doing a grand job absorbing some final additions and substitutions and the teams and schedule are available here and on the clubhouse noticeboard soon.

There are six teams, with each team playing a series of triples against each other twice over the course of 10 weeks. Each team captain will run their team how they see best, but hopefully everyone will get a fair share of games played, depending on their availability. Last year’s winning team was captained by Nikki, and she is again a non-playing captain, which is why she has an extra player in her squad. Anyway, hopefully all will become apparent as the season progresses.

We saw out May with a midweek friendly against Oatlands Park, winning on 2 rinks and drawing on the other. A good time was had by all, with a good opportunity to regain some confidence after Sunday’s defeat to Hersham. The return match on Wednesday 26th July is one that I’d encourage you to sign up for if you can, as they tend to uphold some of the traditions of lawn bowls with shirts, ties (and jackets in some cases) and with a break for tea half way through the match. There is also a spider competition to win a bottle of wine!

We’ve just heard that due to an unprecedented injury list Esher have had to call off this Saturday’s match. Apologies to all those expecting to play.

There was another bumper turnout for this week’s Club Night and apologies for bigging up the weather as it turned out to be rather chilly in the end! Although the main purpose of club night is for a sociable evening of bowls there is also a competitive element involved. The scoring system is unknown to me so we may have to defer to last year’s winners Simon and Pat to reveal what’s involved in winning the trophy!

We started the week with another bumper Club Night of 30 folk and ended it hosting a team friendly with Hersham. In between we had another team friendly against Teddington and played the first of the season’s club competitions. And all in glorious weather, which looks to be set for next week too!

We may have lost the last two team friendlies against Teddington (narrowly) and Hersham (less narrowly!) but we can make amends against Oatlands on Wednesday 31st. Yours truly is in charge of this one and the team will be confirmed in due course.

As we head into June the Friday Morning League kicks off .. as the name implies on Friday morning! The team captains have been informed of their squad and will be in touch for the first round on 2nd June at  the new start time of 10:30am. Over the course of 10 weeks (or so) we play a series of triples to determine winners.

The club competitions started with the Mixed 2-woods Pairs on Saturday 27th. It went miraculously to schedule finishing at 3pm and with both semi-finals going to the last end with all to play for. Commiserations to David & Keith and Charlie & Alison who just missed out and  congratulations to Gary & BobH and John & AlanP who are the first to qualify for finals weekend in September. Thanks to all for making it such a relaxing day for the Competitions Secretary. Full results are here .. Mixed 2-woods Pairs.

Looking through the entry lists for the other competitions we could do with a few more in the Women’s draws so anyone who fancies playing just let me know. The Pairs in particular is a lovely game .. you don’t need a marker, get into the swing bowling 4 woods each end and with some chat along the way! The remaining day-long competitions will be open for entry right up until the week before they run.

This week sees the second of our Open Days, followed by Tuesday Club Night, Friday Morning League and team friendlies with Oatlands on Wednesday, Esher on Saturday and Byfleet on Sunday. With ad-hoc roll-ups too there’s hopefully something for everyone. Lastly, a special mention and good luck to Colin who travels to Springfield on Thursday evening for his inaugural county game in the Middlesex Unbadged Singles.

Cricket activities ..

We recorded our first victory in this season’s SML on Sunday with an 8-2 win at Stanwell. Dennis, our captain on the day, played his first match of the season and helped lead the way. After losses to Hampton and Staines it was nice to boost the confidence and move up the table, albeit against a struggling Stanwell who were short of players.

Further work on gluing the matting to the 4th and final side, and grass cutting is being done today and then tomorrow we resume the Tuesday evening Club Night.

Thursday sees a team friendly at home to Teddington – there are still places available so please reply here or contact vice-captain Dennis if you fancy playing.

On Saturday 27th we have the first of our club competitions – the Mixed 2-woods Pairs. Partners will be drawn so you don’t need two of you to enter – please get in touch asap if you’d like to enter or are missing from the player list ..

Alison; Anita; BobH; Charlie; Eileen; Gary; John; Keith; Liam; Richard; Roger; Simon; Tarun; TonyH

We host Hersham on Sunday 28th in another team friendly, this time with a slightly different format – 4 rinks (16 players).

On bank holiday Monday 29th we have the second of our Open Days. Last Saturday’s went pretty good with 12 people trying their hand at bowls for the first time .. with one or two playing suspiciously too well for first-timers! Many thanks to all the helpers .. if you have a spare hour or two on Monday please turn up anytime from 10:15am for setup or hosting duties from 11am-3pm.

The team for Sunday’s SML match at Stanwell is AlanP, Brian, Dennis, Eileen, Karen, Lynda, Nikki, Roger, Tarun.

Please contact Dennis (or Nikki) if any problems on the day or before.

 

We stage the first of two Open Days on Saturday. Promotions have been heard on Radio Jackie and published in Sunbury Matters and elsewhere. The grass will receive its regular Friday night cut and the weather is set fair, so please pop on down to lend support.

Sunday sees the next of our games in the SML .. an away match at Stanwell. Unfortunately we’ve heard that Stanwell are down on numbers so the match will continue with 9 players each.

The gluing team of David and Brian have now completed attaching matting to three sides of the green .. one more to go and we can award them medals!

The weekend may have felt more like March than May at times but crucially we didn’t see any rain over the two days of bowls!

We welcomed Strawberry Hill to Sunbury on Saturday for the first of a series of friendlies this season. After falling behind early on two of the rinks we recovered well and ended up winning on all 3 rinks with an overall 58-29 score.

 

 

On Sunday we turned our attention to the SML and an away fixture at sunny Staines. Despite arriving with a depleted team of 9 we came very close to winning on the day. One team led from the 5th end but dropped a painful 4 on the 17th and ended up losing by a single shot. So just like at Hampton the previous weekend, a win on just one rink resulted in an overall 8-2 loss.

Thanks to all from acting captain AlanP for 100% effort .. judging by what I saw the future is bright at Sunbury! I’ll be handing the reins back to Diane and Dennis for the next match on Sunday 21st – another away SML game this time at Stanwell.

Club Night resumes on Tuesday 6pm. Please take time to check the boards in the club house and sign-up for any matches and Friday Morning League. Also, Competitions sheets will be available .. the unannounced deadline is looming!

The weather may have won overall this week but we had a minor win with a rearranged Club Night on Thursday evening. Despite light drizzle during setup it actually remained dry for the 12 ends played! Club Night resumes on Tuesday evening with the weather forecast looking okay at this stage. Cassie and Barry will be in charge of arrangements so please contact them if running late, or contact me and I’ll get a message to them.

Earlier in the week we had to cancel both the regular Club Night on Tuesday evening and the friendly match with Walton on Wednesday afternoon due to on-off showers, some of them quite heavy.

Next up are two team matches this weekend starting with a home friendly against Strawberry Hill on Saturday 2:30pm. On Sunday we resume our campaign in the SML with an away match at Staines.

The sign-up sheets for the Friday Morning League are available in the clubhouse. The matches are expected to start on 2nd June and run for 10 weeks so please add your name if interested. Each team will comprise 5-6 players but only 3 will be needed each week – your team captain will liaise with the squad to fit your availability.

Here’s hoping for some better weather for bowls this weekend and beyond ..

After Tuesday’s washout we’re going to try Thursday for this week’s Club Night! Just pop on down at the same time – 5:45pm for a 6pm start.

The team matches are coming thick and fast .. after today’s home friendly we have two team matches over the weekend – a home friendly on Saturday and an SML at Staines on Sunday. We are currently short of players for the Sunday game so please get in touch if you can help out.

There’s still time to enter the first of our club competitions – Mixed Two-Woods Pairs on Sat 27th May from 10:30am. You don’t need a pair to enter – teams are drawn beforehand.

Finally, the Friday Morning League is scheduled to start on 2nd June so watch out for more details on this soon.

We started our campaign in the SML on Coronation Sunday with an 8-2 defeat at Hampton. We suffered heavy losses on two rinks, came a lot closer on the 3rd and enjoyed a nice win on the 4th, courtesy of Keith, Lynda and Eileen. Although not the start we wanted, it was an enjoyable afternoon with plenty of sunshine and support .. the Hampton captain noted there were even more supporters for Sunbury than the home team at one point!

Next up after Club Night on Tuesday is a home friendly with Walton on Wednesday afternoon. There may be a few places available so if you fancy playing please get in touch with Diane or reply to this update. For most of us it’ll be a great opportunity to get more time on the green!