Green Report – April 2024

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Pre season preparation for the surface of the Green has been badly affected by the weather, not just of late, but all through the winter months.

We have not been able to cut the saturated grass at regular intervals, the last time being well over a week ago. The grass height needs to be gradually reduced to a playing level, in the correct conditions this may be managed over a week.

If bowls were played on the ground at the moment then damage would be caused due to the softness; on top of this the speed would be intolerably slow. Taking all this into account, the Green team will try to have a reasonable playing surface by Tuesday 16th April, but there is no guarantee, particularly if we have any more wet weather.

We’ve therefore decided to move the opening Charity Fun Day on 16th April at 2pm.

Alan Waters, Greenkeeper.

Marie Clarke is now on the County Register

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Marie Clarke, from Downton Bowling Club has now earned enough points to be offered a place on the County Register.

You are awarded points as winner/runner up in club singles and for getting to certain rounds of county competitions.  If you get 6 points over a rolling 8 years, you qualify to go on the County Register.

Well done Marie! 

2024 Bowls Season – Social Bowling in Downton

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Social Bowls is an important part of bowling at Downton. It helps new bowlers learn both the art and etiquette of playing bowls and builds confidence. This season we’re planning to change how our Social Bowling is organised. We will be holding two Social Bowling sessions a week:

  • A Social Bowling session on a Monday afternoon (excluding Bank holidays) starting at 2pm.
  • A Social Bowling session on a Friday evening from 6pm.

For Monday’ session, we are looking for volunteers (male and/or female) to run the session. This would involve arriving at the club a few minutes before 2pm to open up the clubhouse; put out the bowls equipment for a rink and then play a game. Afterwards, they will make the tea if needed and supervise the tidying up. If we get enough volunteers, you should only need to do this once in a season.

We will also be having Social Bowling on a Friday evening from 6pm. However we would recommend every member who has a mobile phone to subscribe to the Club’s WhatsApp group. You can then post a message on the Group saying you are going to play on a particular Friday and other players can respond saying they would like to join you. We will make tea and biscuits available on these days.

If you are willing to help the club and can volunteer for an afternoon on a Monday, please get in touch with Steve Allen by email or phone.

Thank you
Steve Allen

Christmas Coffee Morning Frivolity

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Our lovely ladies – Muriel, Rosemary and Anne – organised a lovely morning of coffee cake and laughs on 20th December. Christmas hats and jumpers abounded (some hats were sillier than others, as were those wearing them). Bingo warmed us up, followed by a bumper raffle. Thank you to all those who supported our Christmas event.

Alan Waters

Ivor Formy Final won by Downton Men

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Downton’s Men were run away victors in the New Forest League plate cup, The Ivor Formy Cup. The Final was held at the Downton Green, which may have given us a slight advantage over Fordingbridge B, our opponents. Many of the Fordingbridge squad, though, had experienced the Green in a friendly a few days before the Final.
Congratulations to the Downton team and the Downton Club who hosted the finals day for The New Forest League.
Alan Waters.

[competitions] Club Competitions

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  WINNERS AND RUNNERS- UP OF CLUB COMPETITIONS
Two Woods: Alan Waters – WINNER Cathy Dean – RUNNER UP
Novice Cup: Paul Fox – WINNER Peggy Maguire – RUNNER UP
Sets: Alan Waters – WINNER Rod Hall – RUNNER UP
Aussie Pairs: Alan Waters/Ivan Buss – WINNERS Nick Purkis/ Marie Clarke – RUNNERS UP
Triples: Marie Clarke/Nick Purkis/ Ivan Buss – WINNERS v Alan Foster/Tony Musselwhite/Alan Waters RUNNERS – UP
Ladies Pairs: Marie Clarke/Ann Noble – WINNERS Cathy Dean/Ann Galpin – RUNNERS UP
Men’s Pairs: Nick Purkis/Lewis Ambler – WINNERS Steve Allen/Paul Fox – RUNNERS UP
Ladies Singles: Marie Clarke – WINNER Cathy Dean – RUNNER UP
Men’s Singles: Alan Waters – WINNER John James – RUNNER UP
Champion of Champions WINNER – Marie Clarke RUP. – AlanWaters
Winner Marie who played Alan in the Champion of Champions.

Downton Win the Mixed Triples League

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 Match Report Downton for the first time in 38 years have won the Westbrook Mixed Triples League.The final match of the season took place at Downton Green on Wednesday afternoon 13th September 2023 against Amesbury Bowls Club. Downton needed to win on just one rink to secure victory.Amesbury fielded a very strong side as by winning this match they would be runners up in the league. Downton strongest rink comprised of Marie Clark, John James and Alan Waters had a comfortable win with 20 shots to 9 shots.Amesbury Captain Ali Noyes(also their Champion of Champions)and team fielded their best players against Marg Hall, Steve Allen and Nick Purkis and won very convincingly by 26 shots to 9 shots. The match now depended on the result on the 3rd rink .Ivan, Lynda and Colin made a great start and after nine ends were winning 11 shots to 1. But then Amesbury came back winning the next 5 ends. It all depended on the final end as to who would win this match. Luckily for us Colin and his team made four shots on the last end. This meant that we won the match by one shot and had 6 points to Amesbury 2. This result meant that Amesbury were unable to overtake Wilton currently in 2nd place and ended up in 3rd place in the league. My thanks go out not only to those who played in this match but also everyone else who played for the MTL especially Rod Hall, Dawn Allen and Simon and Marion Stacey and Jane Smith. Steve Allen
MTL Captain
Sent from my iPad

Downton Dragons Team

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The Dragons are winners in 2023
The Downton Dragons have won league 5A of the Bournemouth and District Morning Triples league and have been promoted to league 4. They will receive their trophy at the B&D Presentation Dinner.
The main Downton Dragons team is as follows: Steve Allen(Captain) Charles Burrows (Vice Captain) Neil Gillespie, Colin Morris, Cathy Burrows, Dawn Allen, Lynda Hale, John James and Nick Purkis. Simon Stacey and Geoff Warr also played one match for us.
Steve Allen
Downton Captain
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