Year: 2024

Bustards v Highcliffe Leopards

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This match was postponed on Saturday due to the weather and rearranged for tonight. As the Leopards are chasing points to get ahead of their sister team Highcliffe Panthers, they were really keen to play.
Rink 1 – Tony, Paul and Geoff W37-6. OMG, what can you say? The boys won 13 ends which included a 4, 2×5 and an 8! Over the last 8 ends 24 shorts were won and only 2 lost. Another brilliant performance by the boys, who have only lost 2 games all season.
Rink 2 – Lewis, John and Ivan L18-19. After 8 ends we trailed 1-11, before we got on a roll and won 5 of the next 7 ends, to reduce the lead to 14-17. This included a 5 and a 4. After 17 ends the scores were tied at 18-18 and, frustratingly, on the last end we missed getting the winning shot by a couple of inches, losing 18-19. Take out a handful of lucky wicks and a stupid 6 on end 13 and we would have won this one. What a great comeback and team effort: so close!
Match score: Bustards 55 v 25 Leopards. Bustards 4 points, Leopards 2 points. They now trail the Panthers by 1 point and they meet in the last match of the season.
B&D match secretary Dave Witt managed to attend tonight’s match as my guest and he thoroughly enjoyed his first ever visit to Downton. Dave will be writing an article on Downton BC, which will feature in one of his regular B&D newsletters and on his Facebook page.
On Saturday we are away to the Bournemouth Beavers at the lovely Meyrick Park ground. Our team is unchanged.
Ivan Buss 27th August 2024.

Fwd: Downton v Sherfield English Friendly Home Match

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Hi Downton Bowls Players
Our return friendly match with Sherfield English will take place on Thursday 5th September starting at 2.30pm.  We will require six mixed triples teams and those members who cannot manage 18 ends will be able to share a game doing nine ends each. We will be providing afternoon tea after the match with sandwiches, cakes , tea and also a raffle. Therefore every player will be given a choice of either providing a cake ( shop bought or home made) making some sandwiches or providing a raffle prizes.
The raffle prizes can be inexpensive such as half dozen eggs, bag of oranges or apples, packet of biscuits, cans of lager or bottle of beer.
There will be no match fee as the profits from the raffle should cover this cost.
If you would like to play please reply to this email and state whether you would like to provide sandwiches, a cake cut into 8 slices or two small inexpensive raffle prizes .
Kind regards
Steve Allen

Fwd: HAROLD FORD TROPHY FINAL. Downton v Mere

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The final as held at Salisbury Bowl club on Friday 23 rd August at 11.15am.
The weather was ideal being neither too hot nor too cold. The wind died down over the day and the sky was cloudless. The two clubs in the final were Downton and Mere.
The game was good with some very close ends and the green consistent and running at a good pace. After 18 ends each, Mere ran out the winners with a total of 38 shots to Downton’s 23. The trophy was presented to the Winners by Joan Ford, Harold’s widow, who was delighted to be asked to do the honours .
The members of the two squads were
  • Les Mainwaring, Ron Heeson, and Chris Coombs with Richard Coombs, John Fitzgerald and Marie Wright for Mere.
  • Playing for Downton were Marie Clarke, Lewis Amber, Alan Waters, Steve Allen, Dawn Allen and Colin Morris.

The event was a great success and congratulations to Salisbury for running it. The league and cup have both been played out and much needed after the troubles of the last few years.

I hope you all have a good break at the end of the season and that we all meet and enjoy our bowls next summer.

New Forest Men Success

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After the short New Forest League men’s program finished at the end of July, the season continued with the League trophy events. The squad were narrowly beaten in the first round of The Ringwood Shield by Highcliffe. This defeat gave us the satisfaction of qualifying for the plate trophy, The Ivor Fourmy Trophy. This enabled us to defend the Trophy we won last year.
In the first round of the Home/ Away format we had a close match against Lymington, which we won by seven shots. In the next round, on 22nd August, the lads battled through the miserable weather to comfortably win against New Milton, with a shot difference at home of 30 in our favour and 20 away – total victory of 50 shots. Hooray, we are in the final on 14th September at Fordingbridge BC. playing either Highcliffe B or Lyndhurst A.
Regards, Alan

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.

Bournemouth Broncos v Bustards

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The Bustards travelled to the picturesque Meyrick Park ground on a perfect day for bowls, to take on bottom of the league Broncos. It should be noted that this is their development side. Both rinks were very quick & seemed to have a straight side & a swing side.
Rink 4 – Tony, Rod & Geoff W33-8. A 5 on the first end got us off to a good start & we were never behind. After a 2 & a 4 on ends 5 & 6 we led 11-6. After 3 lost ends, we won 8 of the last 10, which included a 6. Apart from a 2, the home side only scored a 1 on 6 other ends. Well done guys, another brilliant performance.
Rink 3 – Muriel, John & Ivan W27-7. Again, we were never behind. For some reason the home team insisted on playing down the straight side & after 7 ends they were losing 10-2. We also won 8 of the last 10 ends, which included 2×5. The home team scored 1×3, 1×2 & 2×1, as they persisted with the straight side. This was the perfect response to last week’s poor performance, very well done.
Match score Bustards 60 v 15 Broncos, easily our best performance of the season. Bustards 6 points, Broncos 0 points. We remain second in the league, now 13 points (& 127 shots) ahead of the Kingfishers, but we are 14 points (& 89 shots) behind the Dolphins, who won their game in hand 6-0. There are 5 matches left, so there are 30 points still on offer. We also play the Dolphins at home in the season finale, so it’s not over yet!
Next Saturday is a bye week. The week after, we are at home to Solar Electric. Today’s winning team will remain unchanged. This match starts at 10am & the bar will be open from midday. All spectators welcome.
Ivan Buss 27th July 2024.