It was a good weekend of bowls for Sunbury. On Saturday we visited Byfleet for a return friendly and after sharing the rinks 2-2 we won overall by a rather close 5 shots. We nipped the home fixture back in June by an even closer margin of 2 shots, so you could say the clubs are pretty evenly matched. On Sunday it was the turn of an SML game hosting bottom side Stanwell. At half time Sunbury had comfortable leads on two rinks and it was all to play for on the other two. The day ended with wins on 3 rinks and on overall shots to cement an 8-2 win, putting some daylight between us and bottom placed Stanwell.

There was a close finish in the latest round of Friday Triples. The league leaders captained by Nikki played 2nd placed team captained by Eileen, and with two ends remaining it was 14-14 and anyone’s game. A fine finish by Viv, TonyH and Tracy saw them through and take the title for Nikki and the rest of the team, Cassie and John. In the others games there were wins for teams captained by Alison and Karen.

Nikki (14 pts); Alison (8); Eileen (8); Karen (8); AlanP (6); Diane (4)

Particular congratulations to Nikki for her second win in three years, and TonyH for being a member of the winning team two years’ running.

In our Club Competitions, JenB becomes our first finalist in the Women’s Championship but, boy, did she have to dig deep .. coming back from a long way down against the unfortunate Tracy. All the draws are up to date here .. Competitions 2024

Congratulations and well done to Anita who received her Middlesex county badge this week, playing in a winning team match against Berkshire. Fingers crossed for one last push in her final of the Middlesex Women’s Unbadged Singles on Saturday 10th at Cambridge Park.

The Sunbury team got back to winning ways on Wednesday in the latest friendly against Walton .. recording wins on all 4 rinks, albeit some closer than others! This completes the first double of the season after we beat them narrowly in May, on a similarly hot day.

Next up is another round of games in the Friday Triples league and then team games on both Saturday and Sunday.

As we’ve already seen in the Olympics it can often be fine margins between winning and losing and so it proved in two recent SML team matches. We got the luck against Fordbridge Park the previous weekend with an 8-2 win when it could easily have been the reverse. In the latest match at Strawberry Hill on Sunday we were within touching distance of gaining wins on two rinks, but alas it wasn’t to be and we recorded a 10-0 loss. This leaves the team one place off bottom, courtesy of Stanwell, which adds an edge to the next SML match on Sunday 4th August .. against Stanwell! Before that we entertain Walton in a return friendly on Wednesday 31st July and travel to Byfleet for a friendly on Saturday 3rd August. Please keep checking the team sheets in the clubhouse for sign-up and team selection.

Last week’s Friday Triples saw wins for teams captained by AlanP, Eileen and Nikki. This leaves Nikki’s team in a healthy position with 3 rounds to go.

Nikki (12 pts); Eileen (8); AlanP (6); Alison (6); Karen (6); Diane (4)

As some of you may have seen we’ve had some foxes on and around the green over the past week, leaving unwanted deposits and holes in the green. The green keeping team are exploring ideas to deter them but please do continue to keep the area as clean and tidy as possible.

We ventured across the river again for the latest team friendly on Wednesday at Oatlands Park. It’s a fixture where the hosts maintain a taste for past traditions and although the match was limited to 3 triples on the day, Sunbury came away with a respectable 52-43 loss. We continue on our travels this weekend with an SML game at Strawberry Hill on Sunday 28th. Following that, we play our first team match at Sunbury in a while with a friendly against Walton on Wednesday 31st. The sign-up sheets for some of the early August team games are in the clubhouse so please take a look when next there.

This season’s Club Competitions are hotting up with most now at the quarter-final or semi-final stage. The radar has been focused on those who may end up in multiple finals as we’d rather avoid the 5, 6 and even 7 finals that we’ve had in the recent past! Having said that, if it happens we’ll applaud it and manage it as best we can. There’ll be a new name on the Women’s Championship trophy as past winners Anita, Eileen, Karen and Lynda have all now been knocked out. Also in the Men’s Championship there is only one past winner left in the draw and he’s nervously hoping the same fate doesn’t befall him! Many thanks to the folk who dare to go away during bowls season and have managed their games accordingly and the best of luck to all those who are due to play competition games over the coming weeks. All the draws should be up to date and available online and on the paper sheets in the clubhouse so please get in touch with any updates .. Competitions 2024

Congratulations to Tracy and Karen who made it an all-female final for this season’s Presidents Cup. After a series of shorter games played in three groups, we ended up with the group winners and a best runner-up (a lot closer than expected, in fact a nightmare for the Competitions Secretary to determine!). In a reversal of last year’s semi-final Tracy gained some revenge over 3-times winner AlanP and finished the day as the only unbeaten player. In the other semi-final, Karen beat the unlucky Keith. So, the Presidents Cup will have a new name on it at the end of the season and will join Cassie’s, as the only woman to have won it back in 2018.

We were very fortunate to avoid the previous day’s hottest day of the year, in fact it worked out very well with plenty of cloud cover and a touch of sun. Thanks to everyone who made the day work so well from Nikki/Dennis with the well-received pizza and refreshments to some first-time markers doing a great job with the tricky and fast-moving 4-3-2-1 scoring. We thought we may get one draw over the course of the day but in the end we had three – Alison somehow contributing to two of them! One of our new bowlers, AlanT, is fast making his mark and was very near to reaching his first semi-final. Lastly I’d like to thank the guys who finished towards the bottom of the pack but kept on trying regardless. Everyone’s contribution and enthusiasm makes for a great day.

We rounded off the weekend with a trip to Fordbridge Park for a Mixed Triples match in the SML. They are always great hosts and so it proved on the green too as we won on 3 rinks and shots overall 63-61 for an 8-2 win. It could easily have been the reverse as two of the rinks were very close affairs. The win hopefully moves us off bottom of the table.

The latest round of matches in the Friday Triples saw wins for teams captained by Diane, Karen and Nikki, the last one albeit by one shot! Standings : Nikki (10 pts); Alison (6); Eileen (6); Karen (6); AlanP (4); Diane (4)

With so many club competitions games taking place this coming week, just a reminder to try and book a rink online so the greenkeepers can plan green cuts. Also, the finals of our Club Competitions will be held on the weekend of Sat 31st August & Sunday 1st September. As always, it’ll be best endeavours to accommodate finalists requests for a specific day, but that’s not always possible. The Men’s and Women’s Championship matches will be played on the Sunday.

The Presentation & Awards dinner will be held at Fulwell Golf Club on the evening of Friday 15th November.

Most of you may have seen the implementation of boxes for the equipment required for each rink. Please keep things together as best you can and we’ll see how it goes. Next up for most of us is Club Night on Tuesday .. it should be good with the weather set fair and the green playing very well.

The last of our all-day club competitions takes place this Saturday. It’ll be played in a round-robin format over a series of shorter games played with 4-3-2-1 scoring. The weather forecast for the day is looking pretty good, hopefully not too hot – they’ll be plenty of opportunity for breaks from playing or marking as they’ll be 18 players/markers on the green at one time and we’ve had offers of other markers. As usual the draw will take place on the day – please congregate from 10am for a 10:30am start. Here is the playlist so please let me have changes asap.

AlanP; AlanT; Alison; Anita; BobH; Charlie; Chris; Eileen; JenB; Jenny; John; Julia; Karen; Keith; Lynda; Maggie; Neil; Nikki; Pat; Peter; Richard; Roger; Tracy

This year’s Bluewood Shield(Cup!) is fast approaching which is a day-long competition involving Sunbury, Hampton and hosts Fordbridge Park – a series of short games competed over Mixed Triples, Men’s, Women’s & Mixed Pairs. We actually won it last year Bluewood Cup 2023, the first time in six years, and I’m sure previous winners Hampton, in particular, will be very keen to wrestle the trophy back. If you’d like to be considered for playing please sign-up on the sheet in the clubhouse.

For info, the new date for the postponed SML team match against Bishop Duppas is Thurs 29th August 2:30pm.

Thanks again for all the enthusiasm to get games played in the Club Competitions – all the draws are pretty much up to date online and on the sheets in the clubhouse. Competitions 2024

 

Anita won through to the Middlesex Women’s Unbadged Singles final in dramatic style at Ashford on Saturday. She came from behind in both her quarter-final and semi-final matches to level the score at 20-20 and went on to get the winning shot in both games on the deciding end. As for JenB, competing in the same competition, on her own admission and standards, it was a bad day on the bowls green! Karen put up a great effort fighting it out amongst the county’s women club champions on Sunday losing to an eventual finalist in her quarter final in Champion of Champions.

Anita plays her final on Saturday 10th August at Cambridge Park .. all support welcome.

We enjoyed a good afternoon of bowls at Ember on Sunday in the latest team friendly. Despite some traffic headaches we all got there on time, beating the opposition in one case as she went to Sunbury by mistake! The rinks were shared 2-2 but we nicked the win 55-54 on overall shots.  Congratulations to John who picked up the prize money for the shot nearest the spider, a novel change to the raffle.

It wasn’t quite the same story in our SML game at Staines on Saturday, with the “green” being the challenge. The start was delayed due to traffic issues (a recurring theme!) and in the end we came away contented with an 8-2 loss. We move onto the next game on Sunday 21st at Fordbridge Park.

Friday Triples resumed this week with wins for the teams led by AlanP, Eileen and Nikki. In a complete reversal of fortunes, this leaves last year’s winning captain at the bottom and the wooden spoon holder on top! .. Nikki (8pts); Alison (6); Eileen (6); AlanP (4); Karen (4); Diane (2)

After being pelted with around a month’s worth of rain over the last few days, the green is now fully open. Activities are returning to normal with Friday Triples resuming after last week’s postponement. The green will also get its regular cut on Friday evening, but please be aware it may need swishing before any play. If you treat it like a warm-up before bowling it isn’t so bad! You may also notice a few changes taking place inside the club chalet with plenty of clear boxes on show .. let us know what you think.

We have a couple of team games this weekend, both are away matches ..

Sat 13th 2:30pm – Staines v Sunbury (SML)

Sun 14th 2:30pm – Ember v Sunbury (friendly)

Also this weekend, we wish the very best of luck to three of our women bowlers who are flying the flag for Sunbury Bowls Club in county competitions. Anita and JenB compete in the Middlesex Unbadged Singles quarter-finals at Ashford on Saturday. If both were to win they’d play each other in a semi-final afterwards. Karen has a little further to go, travelling to Broomfield on Sunday, to play in the Middlesex Champion of Champions quarter-finals. Again, a semi-final awaits the same day if she were to win. Good luck to all.

Unfortunately the weather is winning at the moment, forcing a postponement of last Sunday’s SML team match with Bishop Duppas, upsetting some club competition games, as well as cancelling this week’s Club Night! The green has been badly impacted, with the worms having a field day.

On the positive it does look to be improving in time for Friday Triples and the weekend’s matches with Staines (SML) and Ember (friendly) as well as any ad-hoc roll-ups.

Looking a little further ahead we have the last of our day-long club competitions on Saturday 20th – the Presidents Cup. The format will be a series of shorter Singles games played using the scoring format 4-3-2-1 for the 4 bowls closest to the jack, regardless of who’s holding shot bowl. The current playlist is here so please get in touch if you can no longer make it or would like to be included. Final names will be announced a few days before.

AlanP; AlanT(?); Alison; Anita; Barry; BobH; Charlie; Chris; Eileen; JenB; Jenny; John; Julia; Karen; Keith; Linda; Lynda; Maggie; Nathan; Neil; Nikki; Pat; Paul; Peter; Richard; Roger; Tracy

All the competitions have been updated online (as at Sunday 7th) so please get in touch with any updates/errors .. Competitions 2024