I’d like to report a semi-final win.  Of course I would, but, alas,  it was close but no cigars or anything else for that matter!

We had a tight game with one or the other only scoring 1 shot each end for the first 2/3 of the match.   However, when you’re 12-7 up, it’s not a good idea to drop a 4.  Boo hoo.   Yasmina went ahead, leaving Dawn to play catch up.  Securing a couple of winning ends when Yas was holding match gave a bit of hope , then holding 2 which would have made the end score 18-20 would have been lovely.  It wasn’t to be and Yas drew a perfect bowl to win the match 21-16.

“Good game, good game”, as Bruce Forsyth would have said.  It was a good game and I wish Yas well in the Area 11 FInal in March.

Just a glimpse of this youngster’s bright future indoors and outdoors can be seen in the article below from the Surrey Advertisier in November 2021.  I wish her well in reaching the Nationals at Nottingham this year and the Commonwealth Games in 2026.  I, for one, have every faith in her abilities to attain her goal as do her very supportive family.

In my haste to get the post up yesterday before dashing off to work, I forgot to thank Jane behind the bar and Frances, Lucy, Brenda, Bob and the others who helped after the match on Sunday.   Apologies.

This week there are assorted club, county and national competition matches going on both at Cambridge Park and away venues.  Good luck to everyone playing.  Keep  us updated of how you get on.  Two singles competitions today – Andy H plays his county comp at Cambridge Park at 4.00 pm, while Dawn will have her work cut out against Yasmina Hazan at Egham.

For those of you who don’t receive Bowls International, I’ll try and remember to bring my copy to the club as there are ‘framed’ shots from teams at Potters including Joan, Bernard, Stella & Barry; Kevin, Scott, Ray & Carole; and Laurie, Ann, Sarah & Dee.   Lots of smiling happy faces!

We had a great afternoon with the London Welsh with the usual mixture of tip top shots and some that were to be consigned to the waste bin for ever!  We had a 3-1 rink win plus overall shots on the green.  London Welsh ran away with the raffle though Lucy did hold CP up with the final prize.

The dining room was buzzing with chatter and (luckily for Ange and me) the sound of cutlery against crockery as the plates were cleared.  Post match speeches were enlightening and amusing and Luigi was presented with the London Welsh Presidential Chain as he took on top responsibilities for the organisation.  Carole Atkinson is looking forward to receiving the chain from Luigi next season and becoming the first Lady President of London Welsh.  Luigi concluded the evening with a very fine rendition of We’ll Give a Welcome in the Hillside.  Video on our FB page – apologies you have to lie on your side to see it!

Further up the country Les Gillett and Paul Foster were battling it out on the Potters portable rink.  I didn’t see it all but trhe first set was obvioulsy close with Les winning 8-7 after the 11 ends.  Paul seemed more in charge of the second set winning it comfortably (bearing it mind it was a huge match), then it was all down to the tie break.  What an amazing three ends of bowls.  If  you haven’t got time to watch the whole match on YouTube, then fast forward to the tie break.  You could not guess who would come out on top as both players had amazing shots.

So, this week, we’re back to normal club, county and national competitions, leagues and the good old television schedule.  No more excessively square eyes!  Enjoy your week.

I hope some of you managed to watch yesterday’s matches from Potters.  The Paul Foster v Wayne Willgress game was brilliant!  Worthy of a final.  Wayne has vocal supporters and they certainly liven the arena up.  No chance of a snooze!

‘Tatty’ Marshall who had comfortably dispatched both Nick Brett and Greg Harlow was on the other side of the coin v Les ‘Razor’ Gillett.  Renowned for his accurate firing shots, they just weren’t going Tatty’s way, whizzing through bowls without touching anything.  If he’d aimed to get through those narrow gaps, I doubt he would have done it.

I think it is the first time Les has reached the World Indoor Bowls Open Final.  He won the Pairs in 2001 and again in 2017, so he has been in the top of World Bowls for many a year.  Maybe today will be his singles day?

If you’re not playing or spectating our match v London Welsh this afternoon, you should put your feet up to watch the Men’s Final.  Let’s hope both players play as well as the Daniel & Darren did in the U25 ‘s FInal last night.  Catch that on YouTube if you can.  Great stars of the future.

Back to CP and having beaten Kevin K, Andrea & Dawn in the quarter-final, Ann B, Ann H & Tony O’B went on to play Lucy, Alasdair & Dave P in the semi-final.  The latter triple came through and will face Ange, Scott & Peter T in the final in April.  They comfortably took a victory over Peter J, Dave W & Gordon.

It looks a bit warmer out there today.  I’ll find out shortly as I’m heading out to get the rice pudding on and make the rhubarb crumble for tonight’s match.  Ange is doing Chicken, Bacon & Leek Pie for the mains.  Just for the record, we have still retired from catering.  This is definitely a one off!

Raising a glass/mug/cup to those of our members in hospital, waiting for surgery or, unfortunately, having to isolate with covid or just generally under the weather.

Have a good Sunday.

Today sees the quarter-final and semi-finals of the Club Mixed Drawn Triples 2022.  Play starts at 9.30 for the quarter-final and 2.00 pm for the semi-finals.

Equally as exciting is the bowls from Potters with the semi-finals of the Under 25 Singles as well as the semi-finals of the Open Singles.  Watch on the BBC red button/BBC2/Facebook/YouTube.

I caught the Paul Foster/Michael Stepney quarter-final on catch up last night.  What a great game by Michael Stepney.  He was so close!  Did y ou ear that he lives in Elkin so it was a nigh on 600 mile drive to Potters and not much less for Paul Foster!

William Moulton playing this morning won the Under 25 in 2019.  When there was an inter-county double rink that Cambridge Park hosted later that year, William was on one of the playing sides.  A nice young man and a bloomin’ good bowler!

England and Scotland represented in all of today’s matches apart from young Lyndon Sham from Hong Kong.  We hope he and all the others play well.  Big games for all the players regardless of previous experiences in the World Bowls Tour.

Morning: (from 09:00am)

U25 Singles – William Moulton vs Daniel Pool (Semi-Final (U25SF1))
Lyndon Sham vs Darren Weir (Semi-Final (U25SF2))

Afternoon: (from 01:30pm)

Open Singles – Wayne Willgress vs Paul Foster MBE (5) (Semi-Final (SSF1))
Les Gillet (6) vs Alex Marshall MBE (15) (Semi-Final (SSF2))

Evening: (from 07:30pm)

U25 Singles – Winner U25SF1 vs Winner U25SF2 (? FINAL (7.30PM))

Actually to be more precisem the LONDON Welsh are coming!  A full 4 rink match all at Cambridge Park.  We are all really looking forward to the match.  Please come along and watch.  The bowls and banter across the teams will be in full swing and, if we’re lucky, we’ll get serenaded by Luigi after the match.

2.00 pm start and the bar will be open from 1.00 pm.

Great to have Jane back after being poorly and, hopefully, by next week we’ll have some others back including Jean & Norman showing off their tans!  The league matches wer a bit light this week but should be back up to full capacity next week.