I hope you had a good Christmas. For some of our members, it was the first Christmas without a family member or close friend.  I hope you still enjoyed the day and shared happy memories of Christmases past.

Boxing Day as a child was a mixture of Painting-by-Numbers, a jigsaw, thank you letters and cold turkey with Branson Pickle (there are other varieties) for supper. I guess we went out at some point. I don’t remember that.

As a teenager, our church had the Boxing Day tradition of going down to one of the parks in Ealing and played hockey. Not everyone knew the rules and the curate was lethal but it was enjoyed by all. Competitive? Of course!
As an adult, it was a trip down to Kent to see my brother and family with Turkey Curry, playing ring-on-a-string, Fruits (sometimes Stations) where everyone was  given the name of a fruit, and we sat round in a circle with one person sitting in a stool in the middle, blindfolded. That person called out two fruits and those people had to change places without being caught by the person in the middle. Also we had a go at completing my brother’s jigsaw.
As an older adult, it’s definitely a walk at some point, starting the new jigsaw and not eating Bubble & Squeak nor going to the sales!

Does your family having Boxing Day traditions?

Alas, playing bowls won’t be on today’s agenda but it can be tomorrow, Wednesday 27th,  when the Club opens again.  Grab a friend, book a rink and catch up on the festivities whilst getting your arm back in swing. (The bar won’t be open this week.)

Check out the noticeboard for those club competition deadlines, contact your opponent, fix a date  also check out the noticeboard near the bar as there are sign up sheets for London Welsh on 21st January and a newly added fixture away v Camberley on 29th January

Mike and Bob are standing down as organisers of the annual tour to Potters in November, so if anyone would be interested in taking it on, please let Mike know. Deposits for 2024 need to be collected by February so an organiser is needed quite quickly.

Enjoy your Boxing Day whatever you do