It’s been quite a while since we had two friendlies on a weekend but we have them this weekend!

On Saturday, we play our friends from Bishop Duppas and on Sunday we take on Chertsey.  Good luck to all those that have been selected to play.

Both games start at 2:00 pm, so please come along and watch for a bit if you’re in the vicinity.  The bar will be open from lunchtime onwards.

Next weekend (20th & 21st), we have a Middlesex League match on Saturday and a friendly v London Welsh on the Sunday.  We’re ramping up the action in 2024!

Great to hear that Barry F, Peter J, Peter T & Kevin won their Over 60’s Men’s Fours v Hounslow putting them into the Area quarter final v Noel O’S from Century.  Not being able to hang around on their laurels, they play the next match at Century this coming Tuesday!

Peter enjoyed reaching 60 last year.  It’s stood him in good stead for the competitions and he is through to the Area Semi-Final in the Over 60’s Singles.  He had a good win over Dave P, who had beaten Noel O’S in the previous round.

Dave had secured a win over Peter and partner in the Over 60’s Pairs and then went on to win v Peter W and partner from Century.  This puts Dave and partner into the Area Semi-Final of that comp.

I can’t believe Peter didn’t enter the Over 50s Triples!

Dave beat Peter in the National Singles in one of the early rounds before Dave went out in the Area Quarter-final to Tom S from Century.

Turning to the Ladies, Tina & Dawn beat Teresa & Jacqui in the Over 60 Pairs last Sunday and now face that well-known duo of Doreen & Pauline from Egham in the Area Semi-final which they play at Cambridge Park on Monday 22nd.

Tina, Teresa & Jacqui beat Ann H, Di & Dawn in the Triples and now play Norma & co from Egham in the Area Semi-Final.  The CP girls face each other again in the Over 50’s Triples this Sunday.  Should we get our grey wigs out so we look like different teams?!

In the Singles, Tina beat Dawn in an early round and now Tina plays Helen from Wey Valley in the Area Semi-Final.  It was a turnaround in the Old Girls’ Singles, as Dawn secured a win over Tina, then Norma from Egham conceded the next round giving Dawn a w/o into the Area Final.  That has to be played by 3rd March, so plenty of time to practice!

So, all in all, we’re doing ok in our Area even though we have had to play our own CP members on several occasions.  Good luck to all playing in the next few weeks.  It would be great if some, if not all, could hold up the CP flag in the National Finals!

Some good matches yesterday and a few surprises.  Former champion Darren Burnett went out to newcomer Darren Weir and well done to Egham’s Jon Wilson for securing a 2-0 tiebreak win v Jamie Chestney.  Personally, I thought the FB report was rather unkind when it stated JC “became an unwanted statistic”.  Hmm.

Four seeds have now gone out.  What does that say?  It means the new entries are playing at an exceptional level and pushing forward.  That can only be good for our sport.  Fresh blood and no one can rest on their laurels – at any level.

Stuart Anderson had a fantastic drawing game v the South African Wayne Roberts, who looked about 7′ tall!  I think a lot of the spectators were bowled out and headed off to bingo as there weren’t so many in the crowd last night.  Good match to watch on YouTube though.

Today seems to be all singles:-

A couple of days later than I’d intended – apologies.

For those of you who are on Facebook there is live streaming for every match through the World Indoor Bowls Championship 2024 page.

If you’re not on Facebook, then you can watch the matches on YouTube – search for World Indoor Bowls 2024.  The matches get uploaded there after the live streaming has finished and you can catch up on matches from previous days.

The complete schedule is here but you’ll need to zoom in to read it – unless you have exceptional eyesight!

https://www.pottersholidays.com/world-bowls/schedule/

The Pairs is now through to the Final stage – Paul Foster & Jason Banks v Stewart Anderson & Darren Burnett – lots of Scots and no Englishmen!  Our favourites – Greg Harlow & Nick Brett went out in the quarter-final.

Anyway, the Final will be on BBC 2 starting next Monday 15th January.  Hooray!

The Singles have started and it was interesting to read that “plasterer” Harry Goodwin, in his debut at the World Championships, put out “painter and decorator” Wayne Wilgress – last year’s finalist.  Maybe practical careers allow for a bit more time to play and practice than sitting in an office all day?!  They do have to earn a living.  Bowls doesn’t command the salaries or appearance fees of other sports.  Hmm, it’s more likely that you actually to have the single-mindedness, determination skill and dedication to improve, improve, improve to reach the top.  Harry’s grandad took him to the local bowls club when Harry was just 6 and he’s been playing ever since, a mere 19 years – probably a lot longer than most of us at Cambridge Park!

Harry won the Eiba Under 25 singles in 2023 amongst other indoor and outdoor titles in the last couple of years. He’s just 25 and one lad to follow.

On Wednesday afternoon, Egham’s Jon Wilson starts on his singles challenge v Jamie Chesney – not exactly an easy start to the championship but these are bowlers are at the peak of their indoor game and great to watch their skill on the difficult portable indoor rink.  No Vector VS or Lazer or other straight bowls on this green.  All the players are playing with stronger bias bowls, Henselite Tiger seem to be popular as are DP Professionals and Taylor Ace or Blaze.  Gym would like it!

I think the commentator said the rink was running at 17.4 for a full length jack.  That is over 2 seconds slower than Cambridge Park, which is one of the fastest in this area.  Our green is shorter than most though, so visitors have to learn to pull back so they are not constantly in the ditch, whilst we have to remember to give our bowls an extra shove (technical term!) to make the distance at Egham, Century, etc.

So line up for Wednesday 10th January:-

Thanks to David Hale for the update. The leagues start again on Monday 8th January. 

Our boys did really well yesterday but went down 64-80 to Sutton in the Denny Plate Regional Final.
Great effort chaps. That’s the best we’ve done for many years.

Then  mixed fortunes this morning as we won (we – as in Tina & Dawn) but we also lost ( the latter we being Jacqui & Teresa). It was a very close game with J&T needing 5 on the final end and holding 4, they very nearly got it! By a miracle, Dawn drew shot making it virtually impossible for Teresa to get both Tina’s closest as well as shot bowl out. Her drive took the jack back and they managed a 1. Very tight game and the Adrenalin was running high between all four players!

On the adjacent rink, there’s a club mixed pairs with Ann H & Peter J ahead of Pauline & Bill R after 14 ends.
Meanwhile on rink 1, there’s a club singles just starting. Good to see so many club comps getting under way with the 10th January deadline looming!

Just a quick update on National comps

On Wednesday Dawn lost her Two-Bowl Singles to Yaz from Egham – a pretty convincing win for Yaz. Dawn would have done a bit better if her bowls had decided to hit something instead of finding gaps!

On Thursday, Tina & Dawn took on Kylie & Doreen from Egham. After a tight start, The CP duo were 7-5 up then the following end Kylie drew in 4 good (well, brilliant) bowls and Egham picked up a 5 even though our bowls were in the vicinity ! The following end, Dawn’s running bowl clipped the edge of a short bowl and shot across the head missing everything except our nearest bowl. Another 5 dropped. Aargh!

The rest of the match was tight with one or other side scoring 1’s or the occasional 2 and Tina & Dawn went down 11-20.

The World Bowls Championships from Potters start today so we will be putting our homework in and gaining inspiration for the weekend.
Tina has her Over 60’s Singles v a Croydon opponent on Saturday afternoon and plays with Dawn again in the Over 60’s Pairs v Teresa & Jacqui on Sunday.
Meanwhile on Saturday the chaps are out in force for the Regional Final of the Denny Plate v Sutton. Two teams home, two away starting at 10:00. Supporters very welcome at both venues.

For the World Bowls, you can watch live streaming via the link on the World Bowls Facebook page – the official link.
I will give fuller details over the weekend for matches and viewing.

Sparked by a radio listener emailing the radio teatime show, this gave me the idea of looking at New Year’s Eve traditions.

The majority of us will be familiar with ‘First footing’ in Scotland – arriving at the hosts’s house with a lump of coal and a bottle of whisky, maybe also a coin and some salt.

How about Brazil, where they dress in white and have to jump seven waves?

Or Sicily where they eat lentils – which are supposed to resemble coins and guarantee prosperity in the coming year – or Norther Italy where rice is eaten for the same reason.

In Japan the bells are rung 108 times where each strike will remove 1 of the 108 earthly desires.

I haven’t checked this out from Steve G (who, by the way, wishes a happy 2024 to all our members) but in the Philippines, round items are important – 12 round fruits, 12 coins on the table and wearing polka dots … Steve??

Spaniards eat one grape on each strike of the clock and you need to make a wish whilst eating each grape.

In Ireland, they hit the wall with bread to knock all the evil spirits out of the house.

In Romania, they dress up as bears – sounds like fun and has memories of the 70’s/80’s when New Year’s Eve fancy dress parties were all the rage.

In Scandinavian countries, people jump off the furniture into the new year.

In Germany and Sweden (to be confirmed with daughter-in-law to be), they always watch the 1969 slapstick sketch of Dinner for One – The Countess & The Butler (available on YouTube) before a poetry reading, a choir singing and fireworks.

My first taste of an English New Year was being allowed to stay up and go outside where you would greet all your neighbours and see the new year in. Naively, I was expecting some visual scene and was very disappointed when everything looked the same 5 mins before midnight as 5 minutes afterwards but I did enjoy watching Kenneth McKellar on the television.  I’m sure Jools Hollands’ Hootenanny didn’t take over straight away – he probably wasn’t born when KMcK was doing his thing!

In more recent years, fireworks seem to be the Order of the Day for every occasion from Guy Fawkes to Diwali to Weddings, Birthdays as well as New Year’s Eve.

So, whether you’re dancing in front of the tv; up in the midst London action; or safely tucked up in bed, we wish you all a very happy and healthy 2024 and hope you will join us in raising a glass to those who have left us and those who we have yet to meet as well as our family and friends.

Once you’ve danced to the New Year’s Day waltzes, polkas and marches from Vienna, the festive celebrations will have passed and we will see you on the green soon.  Don’t forget the club comps.  10th January deadline is only 10 days away!

Quite a few of us met up with Ray Purdey and Pat at Potters at the end of November.
Sadly, his cancer brought his earthly life to a close last night, 2 days short of his 84th birthday.
Ray had been Indoor Fixture Secretary for many years, had been on the Board at Cambridge Park for nearly as many years and regularly playing for the indoor teams. He was also a lifelong member of Bishop Duppas outdoors and on their committees both for play and social events.

Ray & Pat Purdey with Jane, Trevor & Derek W – Winners of one of the Skittles Evening Events He entertained us on and off the green with his quick wit and banter.
We send our condolences to Pat and the other members of the family.