30th April; Weekly news and match report

Open day fun in the sun

Alex and Kerry, who cycled from Haywood to join us

It was a beautiful warm and sunny day for our open day last weekend. Many of our members came along and helped to make the day a really successful one. With the bunting fluttering, a tableful of cakes looking inviting and the BBQ ready to fire up, we waited anxiously to see if all the advertising and promotion had worked and we would get some visitors!

By opening time, the green was already looking busy, with rollups under way. On the stroke of 11am our first new bowler arrived. 

After that, there was a steady stream of visitors throughout the day, with plenty of coaching and support available from members, as well as a great welcome to everyone who came through the doors.  It was a lovely atmosphere and there were many positive comments; 'it's such a beautiful setting' and ' it's just so friendly'.

We had some very enthusiastic - and good - new bowlers and are hoping that they will become new members.  They have been invited along for further sessions on Mondays from 5pm and we hope that they will be ready to play in the umbrella before too long.

Thanks to everyone who contributed; your help was really appreciated. 

As you can see from the photos of some of our members and visitors, everyone had a really good time.

Thanks to everyone who made cakes, Bob for manning the bar and special thanks to to Mike Dolling for sizzling the sausages! They went down a storm.

We all agreed he looked gorgeous in his checked pinny....

Mike, dressing for the occasion!

By Wendy and Kim

Triples and Pulled Pork BBQ, 30th May

Our next event is Triples Day, and a pulled pork BBQ for players and social members alike.

Click here to see details and RSVP, or scroll along to the events tab on the Spaces app. We need to know numbers, so please use the RSVP to let us know you are coming.

Alternatively, you can also let us know on the paper sheet in the clubhouse.

Did you sign up on the renewal form for Triples Day?

Check the list by clicking here this link.

Again, you can sign up on the sheet in the clubhouse, online via the match calendar here, or on Spaces.

Fundraising for the defib

Just to let you know, we are on our way to paying for the defib, with 8 members donating £30 each - thanks to you all; you know who you are. We need another 4 donations to cover the cost, if anyone else can help us out?

Confusing emails about selection this week

Lots of members struggled with this week's email confirming selection for the next few matches. Just to let you know, the links in the email were broken as changes were made in the back end of the system to;

1. Give Team sheets its own page on the website and app for clarity

2. To make sure we were optimising our use of emails, as we pay for a certain amount and get charged extra if we go over our allocation

This should now all be resolved, but by all means contact Kim if you have a problem next week.

Also, the selection emails are automatically sent prior to the team sheets being published manually. Please be patient on a Monday evening - maybe give it an hour after receiving your email, to allow them to be published?

This week's match report

Over 55s at home to Wedmore 23/04/26

We started our over 55's campaign last Wednesday in glorious weather, on a green that looked lush and green. It bowled very well indeed - we have to thank Paul Aldus and the green keepers for their hard work whilst we were home, out of the wet and cold.

The rink of the day was skippered by Lee Pheasant with a clear score difference of 6 shots, so well done to everyone on that rink. The overall result was not to our advantage as we only won on two rinks. The scores on the other rinks were quite close which was encouraging.

The scores were Banwell 92 shots Wedmore 101 shots. Points awarded were Banwell 4, Wedmore16.

Unfortunately, I have a grizzle, as a player didn't turn up which is really terrible as the whole team suffers. It could have resulted in having 10 points deducted for not fielding a full side. Luckily, Jim Purvis was there and agreed to stand in. Had that rink won, Wedmore could have claimed the game and ten shots.

So - please turn up to the matches have chosen and selected for. Sometimes circumstances change, meaning that you cannot play. If this happens, please contact me as soon as possible - I do understand.

Thanks to all who played especially Jim Purvis.

Allan Shattock

Over 55s Captain

Tony Hyde Memorial Shield 26/04/26

The first main inter-club competition got off to an early start on Sunday morning with a warm sun very quickly drying the overnight dew on the green, whilst internally a warm brew and assortment of biscuits gave nourishment to those who missed breakfast in their enthusiasm to get to the club on time. A total of eight teams took part this year, slightly down from the ten last year with an unusual number of

members being unavailable at the last minute. The number of changes in the three days leading up the actual event gave rise to the purchase of not one, but two bottles of Tipp-Ex!

Australian triples - or a version that Tony Hyde himself always wanted to play - ensured that each team member played lead, two and skip during each game over ten ends with two woods. That proved somewhat challenging for some members to remember, which only added to the good-natured banter between the teams during the day.

Two groups of four teams played a total of three games each, with the top team from each group qualifying for the final. In the early stages, it looked like the team led by Dave Williams in Group 2 would prevail, only to drop eight shots over the last two ends of his first game. In Group 1, the team led by John Wright got off to a flying start and looked very comfortable, only for the wheels to fall off in their final game.

President Barry, not kean to handover the shield to the winners!

An extraordinary result in their final game by the team of Will Everhard and Mac Kirby, led by Kim Wright and winning 19-0, saw them into the final on shot difference to play against the team of Janis Grant, Angela Merchant and Hilary Guckian. Played over ten ends in front of a good crowd who stayed on to watch proceedings, the end result was 18-6 for team Guckian, thanks to some excellent woods delivered by Janis and Angela when they were most needed.

The runners up

Thanks must go to Wendy for sorting the teas and cakes, to Bob Grant for the bar and also stepping in for Phil Villis who still can’t see a minimum jack without his glasses which have yet to arrive, and to Mike Turnbull for stepping in for Dave Allen. Last but not least, congratulations go to Will Everhard in making the final, albeit for the losing team, in his first outing of the season.

H F Guckian

Master of Ceremonies for the day

Ladies friendly at home to Winscombe, 28/04/26

The weather looked a bit grim as we arrived, with dark clouds and a cold wind forcing everyone into thick coats. With rain threatening, we took to the green with 4 triples - a very good turnout by the Banwell ladies - although we were grateful to Winscombe for lending us a player to play lead on rink 1.

Two thirds of the way through, it had been nip and tuck all the way on rinks 2, 3 and 4 whilst on rink 1, Sue Taylor's team of Trudi from Winscombe and Jenny trailed by a substantial 11 points.

Then the sun came out.

Maybe Wendy was unable to fulfill the request to 'make it bendy, Wendy!'; team Coleman, with Doreen and Angela Merchant, slipped behind at the end. After being just behind for the whole match, Kim's team of Janis and Debbie rallied on the last end and won by 2 points, as did skip Angela Bass with Martina and Sue Sims.

The rink of the day was rink 1. They made up an heroic 11 points over 3 ends, only to drop one on the final end to lose by 1 point.

In the end, the score was Winscombe 60, Banwell 59. A close match, and a very enjoyable afternoon had by all

Kim Wright

Captain of the Day