 In England we do have the reputation of always talking about the weather, and this report is no exception! In common with many other summer sports, the bowling season has been plagued by the dreaded four letter word- Rain! Several matches have had to be postponed, re-arranged or cancelled all together.
However Sidmouth Bowling Club made the short trip to Ottery on Saturday 25th May and a full game was played, much to the annoyance of the weather gods! The final result was a close match between two well matched sides with Ottery just the winners by six shots, with one rink drawn. Gail Hawke was the skip of the top team, assisted by Fenella Griggs, Jane Bishop and Tony Luff. Over the last weekend the clubhouse and the green were opened to anyone who wanted to come along and try the game. On Friday the Ottery St Mary Venture Scouts were welcomed, and the young people seemed to enjoy trying out the game. Then on Sunday 26th, the club held is annual open day, and although the rain tried to disrupt the proceedings, quite a few people enjoyed their first experience of this great game. Eventually the persistent, heavy deluge caused the green to flood, so further action was stopped. Bowling is not a good sport when one has to use the Barnes Wallace method of delivering the ball, namely the bouncing bomb! We received quite a lot of interest from the open day and our chair, Carl Gilleard, will follow up with each of the attendees to try and tempt them back!
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 The rain came down in torrents was an old song sung by many children in Sunday School, and it certainly felt like that at the official start of the bowling season - the opening match had to be cancelled due to a water-logged green.
Eventually the rain subsided to allow the season to commence a week late on Sunday 21st April. It was so good after the winter break to be back on the green, renewing old friendships, allowing laughter to be heard, enjoying the good hearted banter, and finding that muscles that had not been exercised for six months, still existed. The catering team excelled themselves by providing high tea, and George Hutchinson, one of our members, kindly donated prizes to the winning team. The rain had stopped but there was still a cold breeze, necessitating most members to play in their fleeces. The selection of friendly matches started in earnest on Monday 22nd April when the visitors to Strawberry Lane were Severalls Jubilee Bowling Club, who came from Crewkerne. The long winter break did not greatly affect the Ottery players and despite the rain, Ottery ran out winners by 78 shots to 50, with one rink drawn. Obviously the advantage of playing on home turf! The top Ottery team was skippered by Tony Panzeri, and comprised Dot Luff, Carol Keating and Jill Pond. Ottery’s good start to the season continued, when Madeira were beaten away, followed by wins against Tiverton Boro and Phear Park. It is interesting to note that one of our newer members, Steve Bishop, featured in two of these matches and was in the top team on both occasions. Not to be outdone, former chair person Sharon Kenny did precisely the same! Westlecott Bowling club were the next visitors to Strawberry Lane. They are a touring team who have visited the club almost annually since the club started in 1990. It is always a pleasure to invite them to our ground and a suitably warm welcome was given to them. Thereafter a third team seemed to be playing havoc with the fixtures, as the rain created a soaking wet green.Rain stopped play! Finally Budleigh made the short trip to our ground and returned home victorious, winning by 80 shots to 66. |
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