Mid-April and the outdoor season approaches rapidly. Just wish the weather would realise this and send out some sun and warmth and give up raining!

We have matches and competitions coming up.
Club comps need to be entered – see club noticeboard.
County comps. The draws are now online on the Middlesex website and handbooks, for those that ordered them, are now available. Please contact Norman.
Nationals. We have Top Club for both Men’s and Ladies and for those Over 60’s, the Tony Alcock Mixed Double rink v Bishop Duppas needs to be played by 19th May. We’re the challengers so have to offer dates.
I’ll put some sign up sheets for anyone who is interested in playing for the club. Weather apart, outdoor team matches are great fun as well as competitive so please put your names down for as many games as you can.
We’re also entering the Richmond & Barnes League. That association have individual comps and there’s a form in the noticeboard. Please add your name and which comps you’d like to play below Peter J’s and I’ll collect the money at the end of next week.
if you’re not down at the club before then, please let me (Dawn) or Steve G or Tony O’B know.
The Outdoor Fixtures (excluding National comps) are on the Calendar page of the website. Well done to John E for arranging all these. We’ll get some sign up sheets on the board soon.

Friday Night Triples League – again there is a sign up sheet on the noticeboard to get your names down so Barry can get the teams organised.

Such a long post! Look forward to catching up with everyone out in the fresh air. Hopefully we should hear soon when the green will be open. (Please stop raining!)

Oh, fingers crossed this weather holds up so the outdoor season can get under way as soon as possible!  We all need some Vitamin D!

With that in mind, David H – organiser of the Monday afternoon league – has updated the Rules as well as producing the Fixture List.  These can be found – Calendar – Monday League Draw and Rules.

Many thanks to David for all the time he puts in to our indoor and outdoor leagues.  It is greatly appreciated.

Fixture List below for those wanting to get dates in their diaries quickly – but do read the rules as well!

Cambridge Park is well represented in the Home Counties Final tomorrow at Sevenoaks with Steve G, Peter T, Kevin, Andy & Will representing the County.

Good luck chaps.  You can’t all be on the same rink (someone might notice) so enjoy playing with the other team members.

Meanwhile, at Westlecot IBC in Swindon, Duncan and 9 others are taking the final examination of their Level 2 Coaching Course.  We wish Duncan and the others well.  Level 2 coaches can coach up to county level so this will be beneficial to all the players in the respective clubs.

Dawn is acting as a student for 3 of the candidates and will first be learning how to fire (accurately) – notes say to take the jack back where it would be impossible to draw – now that would be a handy skill; secondly,  drawing to an off-centre jack and thirdly is a mystery session.  How to control your mind would be useful!

Well done to Peter J, Kevin, Steve G & Peter T who were up against an on-fire Four from Bound Green skipped by Nick E, who must be one of the top draw bowlers in the county.  You can be holding 4 shots and somehow he manages to slide a bowl in without wicking!  The rest of his team also played well and our lads just couldn’t catch them up.

On a a difficult rink 1, Jacqui & Teresa started slowly – Century is a bit of a shock with the speed and length compared to Cambridge Park – but they battled on and came back from 3-14 down to 19-22 after 19 ends.  Unfortunately they dropped 3 on the 20th end leaving them 6 to draw on 21st end and it just wasn’t to be.  Well done to Jacqui on her first Middlesex Indoor final, which earns her the County Indoor badge.

At the other side of the rink, Dawn faced Sandra W-M from The Lawn for the third time in the Indoor Singles Final.  Dawn got off to a good start 0-3 down after end 1 (oops) and stayed behind, but then gained a bit more confidence getting 1 shot at a time and eventually took the lead at  11-9.  Sandra came back and pvertook, leaving Dawn behind again then went 13-11 up. Sandra was 15-13 up when Dawn started playing longer jacks and managed to hang on by a whisker to win 21-15.  The game was not without measures – it was that tight!  After the second half of the season’s rubbish bowls, I am very happy to have won today.  Nothing like ending the season on a high.  Hoo-bloomin’-ray!

With today’s lovely weather, I think we’re all looking forward to getting outdoors.

In another room at Century, there was the Middlesex meeting where the Handbooks for the outdoor season were handed out to club representatives.  Marie is passing ours on to Norman, so please arrange to collect from him at the Club unless you hear otherwise.

Middlesex Finals at Century IBC today with all the Cambridge Park bowlers playing at 10 am.

Good luck to Peter J, Peter T, Kevin & Steve G in the Men’s Fours.

Good luck to Teresa & Jacqui in the Ladies Pairs; and

Good luck to Dawn in the Ladies Singles.

Remember there is no car parking at the Club today as the car park is being cleaned and new parking lines painted.

For those of you waiting for the Middlesex Handbook for outdoors, these will be handed out to club delegates at the County meeting at Century so they will be available to collect from Norman at CP from next week.

A view of the green from early yesterday morning.

Good news … the car park is to be cleared of weeds, leaf debris etc on Thursday. Parking during the day will be at your own risk and please use just the middle two rows.
On Saturday 13th, the whole car will be getting a spring cleaning with a jet wash followed by line re-painting so there will be NO PARKING all day.
If you intend to combine cars to go to the Middlesex Finals at Century, please arrange alternative parking/pick-ups.

The Board apologises for any inconvenience this may cause, but it will make parking easier as we go forward

Thanks

With that in mind, there is plenty of work to be done on the surrounds of the green, whilst leaving the grassy bit to the greenkeepers!

The notice below is on the boards at Cambridge Park and Tony O’B would love as many people to sign up to help.  In this case “the more the merrier” rather than “too many cooks …..”

What a great end to Finals Weekend.
First to finish were Teresa and Ange for the Ladies Championship. Teresa got off to a good start and despite Ange fighting back, Teresa held on.

Next to finish was the Men’s Championship between Andy H and Peter J, in his third final of the weekend. With two wins under his belt, Peter tried to make it three with some terrific draws and the odd running shot. However, Andy was also on his A game staying cool, calm and collected as he drew to the jack most ends, attacked Peter’s bowls with controlled weight when necessary even though not every attempt was successful. He pulled ahead with Peter digging deep and coming back. An unfortunate nibble on the jack when Peter was holding two and coming in for three pushed the jack just far enough to be nearest to Andy’s back bowl. An unlucky outcome.
It was a great game and definitely worthy of a final with Andy coming out on top.

The last event of the weekend was the MIXED Drawn Pairs. The girls did enter but so did plenty of men so it was really a Drawn Pairs competition. Hey, who cares?  The competition saw unusual pairings but most of them worked.
Dave P & Duncan settled down against John E & Karen who were both playing in their first final. Duncan was in his second and Dave in his third CP final of the weekend and 5th day of competition in a row if you count the Nationals in Nottingham!

it was intense and fun. Karen willing John on to cut down the oppositions’ number of scoring bowls. “Come on sweetheart.” “Take your time on the mat”. “ Don’t worry, you’ve got another bowl “

Alas, for Karen & John, even some of their best shots were picked off by Madame Pitt. It was Mr Pitt up until the 11th end when Karen decided to add a bit of spice to the match and Dave willingly joined in!

Great game played in the right spirit and gave much enjoyment to the crowd watching as Dave & Duncan took the trophy.

And finally (to quote Trevor MacDonald), the proceedings came to a conclusion.
Very many thanks to Stella, our Competition Secretary aided on the computer with David R and for this weekend by Peter C as chief host; to Brian C and Jacqui in the kitchen as ace sandwich makers/tea-coffee makers/washer-uppers and Brian’s daughter slaving over a hot oven making wonderful muffins; to Jane keeping everyone hydrated with non tea/coffee drinks; to Kevin K and Dawn for marking all the singles matches; to Vic P who came as umpire for this afternoon; and to all the club members, family and friends who came along to support, watch and cheer. It just wouldn’t have been the same without you.
We have a great Club and long may it continue!

Two good matches with the Ladies Pairs going to the final end with Ann H & Tina trailing by 3 going into 18th end and superb bowling by Tina displacing Tricia’s shot bowl gave Ann & Tina a match holding position with 5!  Teresa geared herself up and her first bowl missed the jack but her second cleverly took the jack into the ditch and secured the win.

Meabwhile in rink 3, the (all male) Mixed Open Triples was taking place and this was a bit more of a one-sided affair. It wasn’t that Gary, Peter M & Gordon were playing badly but they were outbowled by Peter J, Ian D & Steve G.
Gary kept the match going by killing the 16th end twice (Duncan was very pleased that the coaching advice and training he had given Gary which Gary had subsequently practised on his own had paid off!) but it was still a hill too far to climb to get near the eventual winners.

Well played all of you.  The crowd enjoyed both matches.