The greens are full with club competitions as the 3rd February deadline looms!

Just a note that when you out the scorecards in the box, please give Stella a sporting chance of knowing which competition it is so it’s easy to track!

On Thursday at 6:00 pm, Tina, Jacqui & Teresa play the next round of the National (not oldies) triples v Egham at Cambridge Park. Supporters welcome and it should be a very good game.

And, finally (she writes sounding like Trevor MacDonald!), Joan Hudson says hello from Camberley. She came down to watch some of the match on Sunday. Alas, some mobility issues prevent her bowling more than 12 ends these days. For those who are not sure who Joan is, she played outdoors at NPL for many years and every time she was listed as reserve indoors, she always turned up in whites ready to play. Sometimes she got a game and sometimes she went home after an hour. She was a good lefty front end bowler and we were lucky to have her. What a gem!

Good luck yo Dave P who won all his rounds in the Open Singles Circuit at Desborough yesterday and has reached the quarter-finals. His opponent won’t be known until later as the other half of the draw play all their matches this morning.
Good luck to the CP team who are playing away to Camberley in a mixed friendly. We start at 2:00.

The Kent & Hampshire Under 18’s Triples play their National Semi-Final tomorrow morning

Come and watch if you can. These are future generations of bowlers and will have great skills to show.
Good luck to all the players.

Thanks to David Hale for the updates

Apologies, it’s taken a couple of days to get this out.
As anticipated, it was a fun afternoon with bowls, banter, beer and bite to eat!

On this occasion, CP bowlers took the game with Cliff, John E, Gym & Dawn taking top rink just staying ahead of Shaf, Stella K, Ange & Dave who took a mighty 6 on the 21st end!

The retiring President of London Welsh, Carole A’s rink skipped by Andy G took their top rink – for the least shot difference!

We retired to the dining room via the bar (thanks to Jane for serving all afternoon) to enjoy Cottage Pie & Peas followed by a choice of Berries & Ice Cream or Homemade Rice Pudding thanks to Head Chef Karen and Sous Chefs (and washer uppers) Marie & Sarah – thank you. Meal was lovely

However, that was not the end of the proceedings ….

Carole A handed over her President’s Chain of Office to the new incumbent

1. IMG_1103 Click on the link for the recipient’s speech!
2. Then true-to-tradition (no bribes needed) Luigi burst into song which you can enjoy on our Facebook page (file is too big for the site)
   Thanks to all the players and behind-the-scenes helpers who contributed to a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon.
   We hope Carole enjoys her presidential retirement and we look forward to her joining the CP teams on the rink in future.

So we’re now down to the final two!

Wild card Alex Marshall showed he still had all the skills necessary to reach the final after a great match v Paul Foster, which could have gone either way.  Those two run-the-jack shots taking it clean into the ditch were courageous, outrageous and perfect!,(Makes a note to practic=se those shots sometime!)

Stewart Anderson kept up his run of precision drawing to beat Harry Goodwin, who didn’t exactly play badly!

Only watched Nick Brett v Paul Foster tonight.  Gee whizz, how unlucky was Nick!  He just did not get the rub of the green despite playing some brilliant shots..  Mind you, Paul Foster was on it throughout the whole game so the pressure was on Nick from the off.

The Jamie v Harry match had a good review.  Both that and the Alex Marshall (who had a wild card entry this year) v Les Gillett went the whole way to 3 tie break ends which is very exciting.  Stewart Anderson must have had another brilliant game to win convincingly v Robert Paxton or did the score not reflect the match?

Six of the eight quarter finalists had previously won the Singles, so we knew the standard would be high.

If Paul Foster plays like he did tonight, his long-time former pairs partner is going to be in for a hard time.  The Harry v Stewart match is not going to be easy either.  Looking forward to seeing at least one of them live this afternoon.

Last year the Under 25’s matches were a really high standard, so worth watching on the red button.  The singles is open and last-girl standing Rebecca Morbey is up against last year’s finalist Darren Weir.  It will be Darren’s 3rd consecutive final and it would be great if it was third time lucky.  However, in the other half of the draw is Daniel Pool, also from Scotland, who has won the trophy in both 2022 and 2023, so he’ll be just as keen to win again and hold that trophy aloft.

Rebecca is a member of both the Under 25 and Senior International Squads who are playing in the BIIBC Championships on 9th & 10th March.  Pretty good credentials!

We have a Mixed Friendly v London Welsh on Sunday at home starting at 2:00 pm. It’s so good to have more mixed friendlies this half of the indoor season.

Teams:

Brenda, Duncan, George & Andy K

Shaf, Stella K, Ange & Dave P

Scott, Tony, Ann B & Kevin K

Cliff, John E, Gym & Dawn

Reserves: Chris & Malcolm P

Whites with club/white shirts.

On top of a fun, banter and competitive bowls, we’re looking forward to being serenaded by Luigi after the match!

Tomorrow will be the chance our teams have to put into practice the shots we’ve been watching on the television- the drawing shots to within a sixpence of the jack, not the ones over a yard away!

This is our second Middlesex League match. Century are our opponents. Two rinks home, two away.
Good luck to Will, Graham, Ian & Andy; Peter J, Tricia, Kevin & Peter T, with Jacqui as reserve, at home; and Barry, Frances, Bob & Teresa; and Tina, Laurence, Mike & Dawn, with Duncan as reserve, away.
Concentrate, play well and enjoy. Stay warm!

We can do it!