Month: August 2024

2024 Gala Day

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Secretary’s report on Gala day on 18 August 2024
I arrived at Alderbury just after 9:00 am and found the club was open and several people were setting up for the day. With the first round of matches due to start at 10:00, players from the 19 entries arrived in good time and signed in. Unfortunately Amesbury was unable to send any entries due to a long standing friendly match.
The first round started promptly on time. The 35 minutes for each round was enough for all games to finish their four ends well within the time allocated. Timing was kept very efficiently all day by Nick Hanski .Four rounds were completed n the morning session after which the Spider was won by Jan Jarman of Alderbury bowls Club. The lunch break was a time to eat and drink and socialise with friends old and new. As in the past, some people brought their own packed lunches. However, Alderbury provided cakes and rolls with various fillings and tea and coffee and bar drinks. The raffle prizes were very reasonable. The winning raffle numbers were picked and the prizes were grateful collected.
Two further rounds were played after lunch and two teams had won all four matches – these were Mere and Alderbury, and they were now in the final. As the weather was still warm and sunny, over thirty players stayed and watched a good final with one team in front one end but the other team coming back to take the lead. After 6 ends, the score was 6-all but in the final two ends Alderbury used their local knowledge and ran out the winners.
The winning Alderbury team was Alison Cosens(lead) Roy Jury (2nd) and John Halski ( skip). The runners up from Mere were Marie Wright (lead) Shaun Tealey (2nd) and Les Manwaring ( skip).
The overriding feeling was that the day was a great success and matches were played in a friendly manner. May I congratulate the MTL clubs that supplied nineteen triple team entries. The green seemed to me to be good, at just the right speed for the day and certainly I heard no complaints.
The whole day was organised and very efficiently run by Alderbury and my thanks to the volunteer officers and club member for their contribution. The revenue generated from entrance fees, the spider and the raffle will boost the the MTL bank account by a healthy £293.
At the autumn meeting we will need to choose a host club to run the Gala Day but that is a few months away. In conclusion, I would like to thank all the players and volunteers who took part in the Gala Day.
Robert Hayes
MTL Secretary

Gala Day

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Hi Teams
Congratulations and Thank you all for participating in the MTL Gala Day.
The Final was between Mere and Alderbury and was won by Alderbury by one shot on the last end.  Downton Divas team of Alan, Marie and Lewis came third, Downton Dragons team of Steve, Dawn and Colin came joint fourth and Downton Dreamers team of Rod, Marg and Lynda came joint sixth out of nineteen triple teams from six different bowls clubs.
The Gala Day raised an impressive £293 for the Westbrook League.
Steve Allen

Bustards v Poole Park Gulls

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Another lovely day for bowls on a green that at least looked the part, against our good friends from Poole.
Rink 1 – Tony, Paul & Geoff W23-14. After losing the first end, we won 12 of the remaining 17 ends, which included 2×4 & 5×2. If we hadn’t lost a 5 on the last end, the score would have been even more emphatic. Well done guys, yet again another excellent performance.
Rink 2 – Muriel, John & Ivan L13-18. A 4 on end 8 for us tied the scores at 7-7 & we led 13-9 after 13 ends, then once again the wheels came off. We lost the last 5 ends losing 9 shots & lost the game 13-18. Indeed, we only won 7 ends in the entire match. Another frustrating, disappointing performance.
Match score Bustards 36 v 32 Gulls. Bustards 4 points, Gulls 2 points. As expected the Dolphins smashed the Kingfishers, so they now only need 2 points from 3 matches to win the league. One of these is against the Broncos, so many congratulations to them, very well played. More importantly, with the Seagulls failing to win, we are guaranteed to finish second. This is a magnificent achievement & congratulations to everyone who has played for us, especially the core six. You have been great & fully deserve your success.
Next Saturday we are at home again, hosting Highcliffe Panthers, who beat us earlier in the season. One change to our team, Lewis comes in for Muriel. The match starts at 10am & the bar will be open from midday. All spectators are very welcome.
Ivan Buss 17th August 2024.

Bustards v Solar Electric

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A dry, but very windy day on a damp, slow green made for tricky match conditions.
Rink 6 – Tony, Rod & Geoff W29-12. After losing a 4 on the first end, we won 11 of the remaining 17 ends, which included a 6, a 5 & 2×4. Their team included a sprightly lady of 90! Well done guys, another excellent performance.
Rink 4 – Muriel, John & Ivan W17-13. We won 12 of the first 15 ends to lead 17-4, then tried very hard to chuck it away with 2×4 & staring down the barrel on the last end, until we fortunately managed to keep it to 1, to win 17-13. Disappointing finish, but we’ll take the win.
Match score Bustards 46 v 25 SE. Bustards 6 points, SE 0 points. We remain second in the league & need two more wins from our last four games to guarantee promotion.
Next Saturday we are at home again, hosting Poole Park Gulls. Our team remains unchanged. The match starts at 10am & the bar will be open from midday. All spectators are very welcome.
Ivan Buss 10th August 2024.