Selection special edition and match report, 9th July
- Kim Wright
- 2 days ago
- 6 min read
This week, we have an insight into how our members are selected for matches. Have you ever wondered what separates the A team from the B team, or how the committee make sure the system is fair?
Read on to find out.
How does the selection committee work?
The selection committee meets every Monday evening to select the matches for following week or so. The current committee are club president Barry Taylor, fixtures secretary John Wright, over 55s captain Allan Shattock and Hilary Guckian, who organises our internal competitions and, as we don't currently have a club captain, is stand-in captain for the selection committee.
As you know we are a small club, with less than half the members of most of those around us. In spite of this, we do well fielding teams against the bigger clubs. However, the committee members spend hours encouraging members to sign up for matches, arranging, re-arranging and sometimes scrabbling about to make a full team.
How do they pick teams?
There is a long-established process for selecting players, which involves the use of a wooden tray with club members' names in - white for men, blue for ladies.
Members request to play online (on the website/app) or on paper in the clubhouse. Their names are taken from the box and laid on the table. This then is where the magic happens!
If there are enough names for the advertised matches, either on the noticeboard or online, the committee first selects the skips, followed by the leads for each rink. They then choose the twos and threes, creating a matrix for the group to discuss and agree.
Players are matched according to their skill in each position, with particular attention given to the leads and to combinations that work well within a rink or triple. The strongest players are not always grouped together; some of the most successful rinks are made up of players who simply gel as a team.
Once the committee has agreed the final selections, the names are entered onto data sheets and noticeboard sheets, and a Captain of the Day is chosen for each game.
The committee does not always get every combination right, so minor changes are often made for future games once the results are known. Because not everyone is available for every match, rinks and triples may also change simply due to player availability.
The draw for internal competitions is also a function of the selection committee and names are put in a bag and drawn by two members so that it is the luck of the draw as to who gets to play who. In the Triples, Rinks and Tony Hyde competitions, players are seeded by the committee and put into separate bags and drawn out each in turn by three of the four members.
As you can see, a record is kept of every game each member plays during the season. This is published at the end of the season so members can see how many games they played, when they played, and against whom. The current standings shown above are updated weekly.
How can I help things run smoothly?
In order to keep the extra work to a minimum for our dedicated selection committee, please can you make sure of the following:
Whether you sign up online or on paper, please make sure you do it at least 10 days in advance of the match to avoid being left out of selection
If you are not available, you can record this on the sheet in the clubhouse. If you haven't signed up online, it is assumed that you are not available
If you have not signed up for a match but there are not enough players, John, Hilary or Allan may contact you to ask if you can play
Once selection has taken place, it becomes very difficult to make changes, so please don't cancel unless there is a dire emergency. Don't forget to phone the captain of the day to let them know, if you have no choice but to cancel. Usually, members are good at this
We've had a couple of episodes recently of players selected but not turning up on match days, and not letting the captain of the day know. Unfortunately, if you do not arrive for a match, you are unlikely to be selected for the next one
If you sign up online (website or app), you will get an email reminder the day before, which is helpful for some people
Finally, grateful thanks go to our hard-working selection committee for their commitment to the club.
Hilary Guckian and Kim Wright
A big thank you from Angela
As you may know, last weekend Angela Bass abseiled down Musgrove Park Hospital in memory of her late husband, Banwell member and our friend Mike.
Angela says I would like to thank everyone for their very generous donations. I must admit the building was much higher than I anticipated 😜 around 120ft! Anyway I did it and my donations so far have just topped the £700 mark !
Here is Angie, about to launch herself from the top of the building, and celebrating the 78th birthday of the NHS with a sizeable donation on behalf of Mike.
There is still time to donate if anyone would like to, via Angela's Just Giving page..
Coming up!
Bingo
We are all looking forward to the bingo tomorrow evening, 10th July, 6.30pm for 7pm start. Snacks are available from the bar, and there are cash prizes to be won.
Please bring raffle prizes if you can.
See you there!
Post-menopause health - a talk by a local Physiotherapist
This women's event is on 24th July at 2pm, followed by a cream tea. Open to all - members, feel free to bring friends and neighbours for a fun and interesting afternoon.
Click here to find out more.
Trevor's famous quiz night!
This will be on 7th August. Look out for details coming up soon
This week's match report
Touring team at home, 02/07/26
This week, Ashstead bowls club from Surrey paid a visit to Banwell.
The weather was good, bowls was good but Banwell were too strong for the visiting team. They enjoyed the day - and their lunch - and said they would like to come and see us again in the future.
Mac Kirby
Captain of the day
Over 55’s at home to Ashcombe Knights 02/07/2026
In Captain Alan Shattock’s absence, I stepped in as captain as the team looked to
continue its strong run of form against Ashcombe Knights. The green was in
excellent condition and, despite the usual complaints from skips assigned to Rinks 1
and 6, the match was played in good humour.
Banwell secured an impressive result, winning on four rinks, drawing one and losing one. Paul Aldus won comfortably 28-4 on Rink 1; Phil Villis recorded a 20-13 win on Rink 6; Mal Laycock earned a solid 19-8 victory on Rink 3; and the captain added another strong win, 23-12 on Rink 4.
The normally reliable trio of Kedward, Clarke and Wright had an off day but rallied late to
draw 15-15, while Mac Kirby and his merry men endured a difficult afternoon on Rink
5.
Overall, it was a good result, and we now look forward to Victoria Vikings’ visit
later this week. Banwell 115 17 points, Ashcombe 71 3 points
H F Guckian
Captain of the Day
North 1A at home to Bristol B and 2B team at home to Winscombe B, 04/07/26
A warm sunny day greeted both Bristol B and Winscombe B teams to Banwell for a county league double header.
The A Team were taking on a good Bristol B side that were ahead of us going into the match; there were strong performances by all three teams, notably John Wright's rink who started strongly and powered to a 16 shot victory. Phil Villis's team won on the notoriously difficult rink 1, coming away 19-15 victors. Hilary Guckian's team very narrowly lost by only one shot.
We are now ahead of Bristol in the table in 4th place. Final Score 65-36 (10-2)
The B Team didn't fare so well on the day against neighbours Winscombe who always come looking for a win over us. Harry Woodard's rink lost by 8 shots, Mac Kirby's four also went down (by 7) and Gerry Bean's rink lost by 6.
The team remains just below mid table. Final score 46-67 to Winscombe (0-12)
John Wright
Captain of the day
Umbrella, 06/07/2026
The green was in full use prior to umbrella this week, with both coaching and competiton matches taking place. The weather was perfect, cooling slightly from the heat of the day.
We played two rinks of triples and one of pairs this week. On rink 2, Janis and Sue T faced Jenny and Martin in a pairs game. Janis and Sue scored a convincing win of 14-7.
On rinks 3 and 5, both triples matches were close, with skips Sue S and Bob leading their teams to glory by just 1 point:
Well done all!
Click here to see the latest results on the website, or scroll along to the Umbrella tab on the Spaces app.
Kim Wright
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