Steve Barry flung the curtains wide this morning, saw the blue skies and opened the window to breathe in the spring air.  Seeing his garden lawn green and the blossom adorning the trees, it brought thoughts of longer daylight hours and, just as important, outdoor bowls.    Hooray!

Steve is running the Friday Night Club Triples Leagues (thank you) and has put a sign up sheet on the noticeboard so when you are next down at the club, please add your name to the sheet.

The leagues start around the 2nd week in May (date not yet fixed) and games commence between 5:00-5:30 and have previously been 12 ends so you don’t end up playing with miners’ helmets on to see the bowls.

Each team will have a squad so signing up does not commit you to playing every Friday night for 4 months or so without a night off.

Check in with those that have played in the leagues before. It’s a really good evening of bowls and socialising afterwards with a drink or two.

There will be a pen right by the sign up sheet, so please put your name down.

Thanks.

On Monday, the Middlesex Men’s Triples got underway on Rink 1.  Kevin K, Alasdair & Shaf faced Ian D, Will & Andy H.  CP were guaranteed a winner in the next round but it’s tough when you’re playing your team mates.  It was a tight game all the way through with all six players putting up some terrific bowls edging each other out of the head to take shot.  21 ends is a long game now that we’ve all got used to 18 ends so it’s as much about keeping concentration as well as keeping the energy and drive up.  I left mid match but a report from Ian said that they picked up a 5 to put them 2 end and snatched a single on the final end to win by 3.  Well done all of you.  Keep that standard up for the Middlesex League match v Herga on Saturday!

Meanwhile, after a bit of a shuffle with rinks (National and county comps take precedence over roll ups), Teresa & Jacqui took on a pair from Paddington in the Ladies Pairs.  As everyone arrived for the league games, our girls were holding a comfortable lead then, whether it was people coming and going around or the green changing due a large number of bowlers putting the heat up, the Paddington pair suddenly found it and crept back up to 23-23!  All credit to them. Not being distracted by George’s “first-for-53-years” wrong bias across their rink (oops!), Jacqui & Teresa dug deep and picked up a 5 thereby putting the pressure back onto the Paddington girls. Another win on the 20th end secured victory by 9 shots.  Well done Jacqui & Teresa.  They know they are playing a pair from The Lawns next.

Once the girls had won, the league matches became more focussed and Peter T’s rink came back from 1-13 down to win 14-13 over Martello with the Coopers and Donohues.  A brilliant comeback in any type of game.  Meanwhile, addressing the anomalies of rink 2, Steve G’s team held onto a comfortable win v Bushbabies.  The final Monday night league winners will be down to the match between Martello and Rebelmasters.  Both teams are now polishing their bowls as keenly as Will (his are sooo shiny!) and ready to do battle.

Good luck to all league teams, some of which are playing their final matches this week.

Andy H had a good win v Malcolm in the Club Championships securing his place in the final v Peter J.  Jacqui & Ange battle it out on Friday to see who will face Teresa in the Ladies Final.

After a brilliant weekend of draw bowls, tap & lay bowls, trailing the jack, glides and wicks, full on firing and two wrong biases (Brian N & Richard D) by previously regular members of the CP Wrong Bias Club, we now have our finalists!

Gary, Peter M & Gordon secured their victory over Kevin K, Chris P & Richard D on the extra end.
On the other rink this afternoon, Peter J, Ian D & Steve G took the win over the Teddington Triple of Victor, Jonathan & Gerard.
An exciting final lies ahead on Finals Weekend of 6th/7th April.
Of course the competition would not work without any players but the organisation by Stella S, Dave R & Brian C not only doing all the draws, setting up the rinks and providing teas/coffees and homemade sandwich lunches over the weekend has been wonderful . They must be exhausted tonight!

Jane was on hand both days to open up, keep us hydrated with both soft and alcoholic beverages and lock up. Thank you.

Well done to all competitors and supporters/ spectators who made it a real club event.

The Board have produced a Spring Newsletter.  This is available via the link on the Members page for now.  It will give some insights to the Club since the new Board took over and as the Club moves forward in 2024.

A note from Stella:-

Puts your whites away, it’ll be ‘greys’ this weekend.

Play starts at 09:30 on both days.

Sandwich lunch is available at £5 per person and there is a sign up sheet on the Competitions Noticeboard.

There are a few tweaks to players within the teams, but the draw is as follows:-

We ended up playing 3 Triples & 1 Pair. We had given Teddington 3 of our players – Olive, Paul & Cliff, but Cliff was unwell so we planned on 2 Triples & 2 Pairs, but Dave Pitt turned up and agreed to play for Teddington. Having given Ann Bamber the afternoon off as she had played in the morning, she was quickly recruited again (thanks Ann) and had the pleasure of playing against the Triple with Dave in it. They unluckily lost but we won overall with the top Rink being Gym’s who won 28-6. With Gym were Jacqui & Brenda.

Thanks, Kevin.

Making up for the loss of the Middlesex Men’s Triples on Saturday v Century, Peter J, Peter T, this time with Kevin K & Steve G in the Fours had a cracking win yesterday morning v Century opponents who conceded after 14 ends as they were 3-26 down. Wow. Well done our chaps!  Good luck in the next round.

Good luck to everyone playing in the mixed friendly this afternoon.
match starts at 2:00 pm. Spectators welcome.