News Archive

Are post-match meals becoming a thing of the past?

Something that seems to be gracing the agendas of many indoor & outdoor bowls clubs committees' is the issue of post-match meals. There are many who feel that it's an essential part of the bowls match, and probably rightly so, as it seems to further distance the game from the social aspect. Others feel that it just adds unnecessary additional hours to the overall day out - especially those with young families.

Captains, Team Managers and Selectors may then have the difficult choice of if there should or shouldn't be a post-match meal, and if players decide they do not wish to partake in the meal should they be selected over others who are willing to stop. They will obviously need to find the correct balance and take some even harder decision of strength of team and/or the revenue it would generate for the relevant Club.

Some Counties have already dispensed with the traditional sit down meal in favour of a less formal buffet, even receiving the President's words of wisdom before the game.

Increasing costs of providing meals (cold or hot) is also adding to the issue, especially if a husband & wife are involved. External caterers further adds to the expense, but if clubs are providing the meals themselves then volunteers are becoming increasingly difficult to find. The increasing health & hygiene regulations is a massive burden, with most clubs being unable to afford the extra expense of conforming. It's a fair bet that most clubs in the current condition would be closed down immediately if the local health inspector visited.

Already this tradition is being overlooked, such as for 2 rink Denny Cup games or Liberty/Middleton Cup matches where Counties travel very long distances, but certain commemorative matches or special events should still accept that a post-match meal is part of the day's proceedings.

Traditional should now be dispensed with and other factors should be considered. Plenty of 'food' for thought. Let me know your views....

National Individual Events

Lincolnshire County Teams

Our local players involvement at Worthing

Dawn bows out at Leamington

Lincolnshire were runners-up in the Amy Rose Bowl, a two rink inter-County competition for Under 31s, on Saturday 13 August.
 
Semi-final  -  Lincs 53-25 Warwicks
Final  -  Lincs 27-61 Surrey

The squad consisted of the following 9 players:

Annalisa Bellamy (Spalding Town), Emma Carr, Marie Woods, Amy Monkhouse.
Chantel Spencer (cousin of Martin), Natasha Townsend, Ruth Cullum, Dawn Soughton.

Reserve was Sam White.

Well done Ladies!

Spalding Ladies Exploits at Leamington

Lincolnshire won the Johns Trophy, a six rink inter-County competition, on Saturday 5 August.
Semi-final  -  Lincs 117-114 Hunts
Final  -  Lincs 112-98 Middlesex

More recently, the Lincolnshire 'juniors' were Runners-Up in the Amy Rose Bowl double rink event with wins over Bucks 53-32; Northants 37-31 and Warwicks 53-25. The Final result was Lincs 27 - 61 Surrey.

Sylvia Wade, Joan Balding, Dawn Soughton, Freeda Shaw and Annalisa Bellamy were all involved in the above events.

Well done Ladies!

A comment on our County Teams

This was especially apparent when looking at the team that played in the Midland Counties league match verses Leicestershire at Leicester B.C. on Saturday 29th July. Admittedly, this was the day before the EBA County Semi-Finals and important qualification games for the National Finals, but as one senior county player pointed out, only four regular/current county players were actually participating in these semi-finals the following day.

This begs the question as to where were all the 'regular' initially selected players. No fewer than 3 out of 4 section selectors played, the Team Manager and a couple of other Management Officials thrown in for good measures.

Similar circumstances occurred in the final two Newton games. Again, the last game was played within Essex which meant a significant round trip for many bowlers, but this also resulted in significant personnel changes.

What on earth is happening? Why aren't players committing themselves? Why aren't selectors of all codes giving the many younger talented players this county has the chance in preparation for forthcoming seasons - after all these are the future aren't they?

Maybe it should be time for Selection/Management changes in an effort to stem the flow away from actually 'competing' ??

It was overheard over this weekend that a senior, vastly experienced player, may well be interested in the Lincs EBA Team Managers position. Possibly this is they way forward and could just be the fresh injection of ideas this county needs. Why should we not be prepared to give these people a chance, not only to repay their county in giving even more of their time and effort for the sport they love, but to draw and listen on their ever growing wealth of knowledge and experience that will undoubtedly prove beneficial.

The end for Worthing?

Local players involvement on the County scene

Adam Warrington & Martyn Dolby (both Section 4) played with Gary Kitchen & Ian Nicholson but lost 18-28. The other rink skipped by Nigel Cordy also went down 12-18.

Again, Adam Warrington & Martyn Dolby involved, partnered by Gary Kitchen & Ian Nicholson but went down 18-22. Unfortunately the Team were always up against it without two of their key skips in Dion Auckland and Billy Jackson and lost overall 108-119 (3-19).

This now leaves Lincolnshire bottom of their group after two games with only 5 points out of a possible 44. 

Only pride to play for in the final group game on 8th July. Hopefully the Selection Committee might look forwards instead of back and try some new players and combinations ready for the future.

Four local players involved, Eamonn Cherry skipping his rink to a comfortable 36-23 win. Justyn Stanley, John Allen and Darren Adcock played together and just went down 23-31.

Unfortunately this was always going to be the crunch game and the Team made the 200+mile round trip for a 160-195 (2-20) defeat.

Almost the same team as the week before but this time Eamonn Cherry's rink just lost 24-31. The local rink of Justyn, John and Darren went down again 20-30.

A second consecutive defeat has just about put the defense of their title out of reach losing 148-169 (4-18).

Bowlers Operations

Paul Simpson

Billy Jackson

After many months of walking poorly due to in-growing toenails, it has now been determined by a private specialist, that ligament damage has occurred and the only way to resolve the problem satisfactorily will be to operate on each foot.

This is due to happen soon which will mean Paul will have approximately a 5 week recovery period for each foot. This will slightly impact the start of the indoor season but Paul is hopeful that he will be back in full swing by the end of October.

It has at last been determined that he has a fragment of bone loose in has knee which need to be removed.

Recovery periods are unknown but I'm sure, like Paul, Billy will be making every effort to be back by the start of the indoor season.

Richard Corsie to float his leisure firm

The start of the future for outdoor bowls or just unrealistic?

The group, based in Musselburgh near Edinburgh, deals in sports equipment, bowling surfaces and spas.

Could this be the future of outdoor bowls as it is also understood that a second club in the Lincoln area is following suit.

Ladies Under 31 Championships

Local Clubs involvement in the two EBA National Club

Local players involvement on the County scene

Section 4 has a rink involved which is John Allen, Ian Lawson, Simon Lilley and Martyn Dolby. Unfortunately, mainly due to very wet conditions, went down to a strong Neil Corbyn rink 13-22.

The team won overall 111-106 on shots and 16-6 on points.

As expected involved Adam Warrington, Martyn Dolby, Simon Lilley and John Allen, but due to a "breakdown in communication" and a rather strange selection decision Simon & John withdrew.

Martyn skipped his usual rink to a one shot win, but unfortunately the team went down 116-130 (6-16).

This was due to a combination of Adam & Martyn playing in the National County Top Two Fours the following day at Nuneaton and a small matter of the first England game in the FIFA World Cup 2006!

Due to one or two non-availabilities John Allen (Castle) and Justyn Stanley (Moulton) were brought into the team along with the original three local players from the first game. 

Justyn, John and Darren played as a rink and won by 7, Eamonn's rink drew and Chris's won. The team again won convincingly for a further 19 match points. 

All five local players have retained their places for this all important crunch game of the group with the winners usually going on to win the group and qualify for the National Final.

The current league standing is Suffolk played 2 won both with 40 points and Lincolnshire played 2 won both with 37 points. 

Father & Daughter to stop bowling???

David is still extremely busy within his professional life, still working full time at Premier Foods in Long Sutton and Partner in D & M Sports in Spalding (incorporating Specialist Bowls Suppliers Bowled Over), both of which take up all of his time working almost every hour god sends!

Gemma started work last year at one of the countries largest accountancy firms and is finding her professional and bowling careers difficult to juggle. Gemmas' achievements are outstanding, more recently they have encompassed a semi-final appearance in the Ladies World Match Play Singles at Potters and winning the Ladies World U-25 Singles Championship back in Nov 2005. The big prize of representing her Country at Senior level though unfortunately has never come knocking.

Local players involvement on the County scene

Section 4 has a rink involved which is John Allen, Ian Lawson (Spalding Town), Simon Lilley and Martyn Dolby.

As yet the first Middleton Cup game v. Derbyshire at Long Eaton on Sat 3rd June had not been confirmed but was expected to involve similar Section 4 players as 13th May.

Lincs EBA Selection Policy

Team Manager's Message:

In recent years, an early communication asking about availability  followed by advance notice of 

selected teams has still resulted in considerable withdrawals from Midland County Matches ( 12 in the last one! )

During the winter months, this situation has worsened with 10 - 16 withdrawals per match.  Remaining players 

have to be re-rinked and the original team sheets are rendered obsolete. A a result, a change in selection policy 

is being introduced. There will not be the usual 6 or 7 mail shots showing selected teams.

The team for the three round robin matches in the Middleton Cup has been selected. This team will also

play in the first Midland Counties match. Players required for the remaining Midland Counties matches 

will be contacted closer to the time. These matches will contain a blend of Middleton Cup players and those regarded 

by the  selectors as deserving recognition from their respective sections.

The " TOP FOUR " has become the " TOP TWO FOURS "  as the competition rules have been altered to double 

the numbers taking part - this selection will follow the first Middleton Cup match.

The " UNDER 25s TWO FOURS team has been selected.

Spalding IBC edge closer to Lincs League Div 1 title for the second successive year

Spalding traveled with an almost full team, and without losing a game to date, were hoping to put on a good show and returning with at least a couple of rink wins for 4pts. They actually won on 3 rinks and in the process beat Lincoln by a close 4 shot margin to return with 14pts. 

John Needham and Paul Simpson were the two losing skips, but Simon Lilley, Graham Smith and Kevin Ekins guided their rinks home to secure the points and a 95-91 win.

This now means, in their 6 games (out of 8), Spalding have scored 600 shots, conceded 500 and have 89pts with their closest rivals, which now look to be Sleaford (their last result unknown at time of writing) at least 46pts behind. Spalding have two home games left against Scunthorpe on Sun 12th March and Sleaford on Sat 25th March to complete their campaign. Sleaford have four games remaining, one of which is against Spalding.

Spalding & District Bowls League A.G.M.

• President - Ron Cherry (Spalding Town)

•  Chairman - Graham Chappell (Spalding Town)

• Secretary - Maxine Rawet (Carters Park)

• Vice Chairman - Dick Dunham (Carters Park)

• Registrations Secretary - Alan Biggadyke (Moulton)

• Treasurer/Competitions Secretary - Ray Smith (Castle)

• Bower Secretary - David Marriott (Castle)

• Auditor - Norman Crosby

• Management Committee - Whaplode Drove, Holbeach U.S., Bourne Town, Royal Mail Cart, Moulton Harrox

One bowl 'oh so costly!'

He eventually lost to Greg in the quarter-final at Potters Leisure Resort 4-12, 7-6, 1-2 after having almost three feet to draw the winning shot. Graham said "The bowl felt good as I let it go but it just kept running and went too far." This after taking some good wins along the way as in previous years beating Jonathon Ross and Robert Weale - both on tie breaks. He also said "I'm delighted to get the points I needed to stay in the Top 20 world rankings.....If someone had offered me that before the tournament I would have taken it."

During the first week of February the Welsh International Open took place where Graham started the tournament sitting in provisional 15th, but he would not be able to add to his total as he did not qualify for this event. Unfortunately all those around him in the rankings had qualified or since been invited into the event due to higher seeds withdrawing.

Ex-Lincolnshire favorite, Simon Skelton, lost his first game to a New Zealand qualifier but Les Gillett and World Pairs winner Billy Jackson both won theirs therefore leapfrogging Graham pushing him back into 17th position. He said "It's a good position to be in because if any of the top 16 players drop out [of an event] next season, I will go in."

Graham has also qualified recently in the National Champion of Champion singles - the last 16 to be held at Gunton Hall, Norfolk, over the weekend of March 17-19. Also, joined by club mates Martin Spencer and Paul Simpson, they have qualified for the National Triples to be held at Melton Mowbray between April 1-9.

Vandals dig up bowling green in latest attack

The problems were raised at a meeting of Holbeach Parish Council when a letter was received from the Club, in which the Secretary outlined some disturbing ongoing activities and called for gates to be erected.

Some Councilors have said the only way to obtain security would be to fence off the area, but this would only seem to give the youths a new challenge.

EBA Section 4 AGM Details

Club Championship entries also remain the same (18), with Ayscoughfee and Castle 'B' gaining promotion to Group 'A' and Long Sutton and Billingborough being relegated to Group 'B'.

The Triples league had a new addition with Spalding Town entering a 'B' team. This has meant that the Meeting decided to split the teams entered into two divisions. This has been determined by the finishing positions from 2005. Therefore, the top 7 teams will form Group 'A' (Holbeach U.S. 'A' & 'B', Ayscoughfee, Castle 'A', B.S.C., Long Sutton and Moulton Harrox) with the next 5 teams along with the new entry will form Group 'B' (Royal Mail Cart, Castle 'B', Spalding Town 'A' & 'B', Carters Park and Consti).

It was also agreed that these leagues should operate a promotion & relegation situation (2 up and 2 down) with the top team from each group playing off in a 'final' at the end of the season for the overall title.

Spalding & District Bowls League

Graham Smith edges to the World Singles Quarter-Final

It seemed to be a nervy encounter with both players knowing how important a further 10 ranking points would be -  Ross attempting to consolidate his position and Smith looking to break into the Top 16 - which would mean automatic qualification to the main four ranking tournaments of the year. Graham is now guaranteed at least 30 points which would give him at least 17th position, but this in itself means even if he didn't qualify through the playoffs, he would be first on the list to replace any of the Seeds who pulled out of an events' final stages.

The final end of the tie-break set went to a respotted jack and then still required a tense measure. Graham said: "I couldn't tell with the naked eye but the marker thought I might have it. I was rather happy to get it!" And the 34-year-old is beginning to get the same buzz he had on his memorable run to the semi-finals in 2004. He said: "I'm playing more consistently this year and feeling good."

The win over Weale was a rollercoaster of emotions for the Quadring father-of-one. From 5-5 in the first set Graham was "devastated" to lose heavily after dropping three shots and then four on the next end. It went to 5-5 again in the second set but the left-hander grabbed a vital single to force a best-of-three-ends tie-break.

The first two ends were shared and the tension mounted further on the final end when Weale nominated to kill the end and force the respot. 

The win earned 20 ranking points which will keep Graham in the world's top 20 and automatic qualification to Potters next year. His good form is despite having to adapt to unfamiliar bowls each time he plays at Potters.

His next game is played on Thursday 26th January at 10am against No.14 seed Greg Harlow for a place in the semi-final and probably a top 16 seed for Graham if he was to win.

Paul Simpson helps England retain the U25 Home International Series

When he arrived he discovered his skip, Simon Gilbert, was ill and had not traveled, so Paul moved down the order from number 3 to skip.

During the first game against Wales, Paul's rink got off to a shakey start and quickly found themselves 16-4 down after 8 ends. A big second-half revival saw them pull back for a 19-all draw and a team win of 88-73.
The second game against Ireland, Paul's rink was the only winning rink at 28-12, but his fellow Englishmen on the other three rinks kept things close and the team won again 84-72.
This meant in the final game against Scotland, England could lose by up to 14 shots to retain the title.
Having spent most of this game floating between 20-30 shots a drift from Scotland, Paul and the rest of England crept home by losing the game 58-71 (-13). Paul's rink unfortunately came off slightly worse for wear losing 7-23.

The final table had England and Scotland both winning 2 games but England's superior shot difference crowned them champions again. Well done Paul and England!!

Graham Smith caused Potters upset and edged into Last 16

In what was possibly the most thrilling game in the World Singles so far, Graham edged out Robert 5-12, 7-6, 2-1 to set up a last 16 tie with No.11 seed Jonathon Ross from Ireland.

The final end of the tie-break set went to a respotted jack and then still required a tense measure. Graham said: "I couldn't tell with the naked eye but the marker thought I might have it. I was rather happy to get it!" And the 34-year-old is beginning to get the same buzz he had on his memorable run to the semi-finals in 2004. He said: "I'm playing more consistently this year and feeling good."

The win over Weale was a rollercoaster of emotions for the Quadring father-of-one. From 5-5 in the first set Graham was "devastated" to lose heavily after dropping three shots and then four on the next end. It went to 5-5 again in the second set but the left-hander grabbed a vital single to force a best-of-three-ends tie-break.

The first two ends were shared and the tension mounted further on the final end when Weale nominated to kill the end and force the respot. 

The win earned 20 ranking points which will keep Graham in the world's top 20 and automatic qualification to Potters next year. His good form is despite having to adapt to unfamiliar bowls each time he plays at Potters.

On Tuesday (24th Jan) former Spalding IBC player Gemma Broadhurst takes on Jo Morris for a place in the final of the Ladies' Match Play tournament at Potters.

Ladies World Match Play Championship at Potters

She played Sarah Mackay from Boston in the first round winning comfortably 10-1, 8-6. Next was the formidable opponent of twice champion Carol Ashby in the quarter-final. Gemma was 5-7 and 8-9 down in the first set only to score a single on the final end to tie at 10-10. Trailing 0-4 in the second, Gemma powered back to lead 9-4, Ashby then pulled back a four going into the final set of the second set, only for Gemma to squeeze past the line scoring a single on the final end to win 10-10, 10-8.

Gemma now plays England compatriot Jo Morris on Tuesday 24th January. The other semi-final is between the holder England's Ellen Faulkner and Scotland's Caroline Brown.

Denny Plate

Both rinks at Boston, skipped by Club Captain Graham Smith and Simon Lilley went down heavily, far too many for the home rinks to cover. These were skipped by Paul Simpson who just lost (by 6) and Scott Dunham. Scott's rink has managed to win all four games played in this and the main Denny Cup event.

Boston have now also progressed into the quarter-final by beating South Shields comfortably. We wish them well.

In the main Denny Cup, Peterborough have also reached the quarter-final, but Lincoln, winners in 2004, lost to the might of Cumbria.

Graham Smith is back at Potters for the World Singles

Graham knows this is such an important competition in the way of ranking points. He currently (immediately before the start of the Potters event) has 52 points in provisional 17 position, one place higher than his official ranking.

Graham (34) was quoted as saying, "It's a massive tournament for me. I really need to get through a couple of rounds to earn 20 points. If I don't I'll plummet down the rankings."

The draw for the Quadring man couldn't have been much harder in the first round, verses talented qualifer and rising England star Chris Young, Surrey. If he wins he would face Wales' world number six Robert Weale - a former world champion. Graham said, "Chris is a very good player who came through the England junior levels and Robert's record speaks for itself - he's won everything - so it's going to be tough for me."

During last year's tournament Graham was laid low with a bug that swept through the camp. He managed to make a full recovery before losing to Stuart Airey in round two. This year the tournament is starting one week later and is also stretched over a longer period due to the BBC's coverage demands.

If Graham wins his first round he much wait eight days (Tuesday 17th January) befor playing Weale, but returning later doesn't think this will put at a disadvantage. He said, "It's only a couple of hours' travel for me and rink practice becomes a bit harder as the tournament progresses."

At a recent England trial, his second in successive years, he again unfortunately failed to gain selection. But he said, "I'm just hoping to get through a couple of rounds. If I were to make the last 16 or quarter-finals that would be great and anything else would be a bonus."

Cheering him on at Potters will be his wife, Gill, and daughter Bethany, with other family members, plus at least a coach load from Spalding IBC.

Paul Simpson representing England U25s in Ireland

Paul, now 24, returns to the squad in his last year under 25 after 3 years in the wilderness. Paul has been puzzled why he has had this 3 year lay-off after winning all his 11 matches during his last spell in the squad. "To this day I've got no idea why I was dropped but it's just nice to be back", he said. "To get back in for my final year feels pretty good. I played fairly well at the trial but I still didn't expect to be picked."

Follow Paul and the England Under 25 team here

Graham Smith's England Trial

He has been positioned at skip, with Danny Brown (Lincoln) lead, Neil Chandler No.2 and Dave Howes No.3 (both MidGlos). In the first session he will be playing against a rink skipped by Les Gillet, and in the second session against a rink containing Dion Auckland at No.3. 

We wish him all the very best in his quest for the famous 'blue blazer'.

Paul Simpson's England U-25 Team Exploits

In this he played No.3 with Matthew Marsden (Ely) at lead, Robert Tiller (Egham) at No.2 and Simon Gilbert (Avon Valley) at skip and won convincingly 29-17. The overall team result was 94-59 with England winning on all 4 rinks.

This proved to be enough for the England Selectors and Paul is now to continue in the same rink to represent England in the U-25 Series to be held in Ireland over the weekend of 14/15 January 2006. They first play Wales, then the hosts, Ireland, finishing with Scotland on the Sunday afternoon.

Denny Plate

In their first round they played Rugby - the home rinks skipped by P.Simpson and S.Dunham both won comfortably, with a good away performances with K.Ekins' rink drawing and S.Lilleys' rink winning by two, winning overall 101-68.

In their second round they played Coventry - again the home rinks, this time skipped by P.Simpson and K.Ekins, won with ease, but an extremely shakey start by S.Lilleys' rink put the overall result in doubt in the early stages. They made an aweful start on a very dodgy green and were 17-1 down after 8 ends. Thankfully G.Smiths' rink were in control of their rink throughout and mostly counteracted the bad start by their collegues. Somehow, S.Lilley and his rink of A.Sculthorpe, J.Needham and L.Tucker performed miracles and turned their rink around to only lose by 3 (19-22) helping the Team to an overall result of 92-70.

Spalding now play Boston in the last 32 on Saturday 17th December 2005 with a place in the last 16 verses South Shields up for grabs.

WORLD TITLE FOR EX-SPALDING IBC BOWLER

Gemma, now playing at Erewash following her recent move to Nottingham with work, was invited to represent England having finished runner-up in the English event along with Sian Gordon, the English and British Isles Under 25 Champion.

Gemma played five 'round robin' games in her group, against Malaysia, Canada, Jersey, Scotland and Wales and won all five games. She then played the Irish Champion in the semi-finals, winning in straight sets 10-2, 10-4 and the Scottish Champion in the final, winning 2-0 in the tie break.

Gemma's win retained the World Title for England, won in 2004 by Commonwealth Games Team Member, Amy Monkhouse.

Graham Smith off to the Scottish Masters

Attempt on Indoor Bowls Marathon World Record

Rumours have been heard that some local bowlers may be considering an atttempt later this year at the WORLD RECORD for the Indoor Bowls Marathon. Watch this space or the local press for further breaking news.

England sack manager after row over huddle

Hobart, who was "absolutely shattered" at the decision, believes that the criticism arose after he asked the senior team to get into a pre-match huddle before the start of their encounter with Scotland in the home international series in Belfast in March.

"I had used the ploy with some sucess in the junior series and felt it would have an impact on our players, who would then hit the ground running," Hobart said. "Andy (Thomson), the team captain, disagreed. He thought it would only psyche the opposition up and I have to admit I had a go at him over the issue."

Horobin, who declined to give any examples of Hobart's alleged shortcomings, said: "We are going to increase the responsibilities of the captain and other off-green tasks will be shared between members of the selection committee."

The spat between Hobart and Thomson in Belfast was kept secret at the time, but, in retrospect, it certainly added spice to their encounter in the final of the English indoor singles championship in Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, less than a month later, when Thomson defeated Hobart, 21-11.

Hobart will continue in his role of national selector and will continue to serve as a member of the EIBA executive.

PBA / WBT Qualifiers

Smith eyes world top 16 ranking

Castle B.C. Tournament

Was held on August Bank Holiday Saturday for the
Castle Trophy sponsored by Travis Perkins.

Winners were Shirley Moore, Shirley Allen and Sue Hoyes
of Goodfellowship B.C. and runners-up were David and
Richard Allen (son and husband of Shirley Allen) & Joe
Moore (husband of Shirley Moore) also from Goodfellowship.

Third place went to Carole Cliffe's rink from Stickney and forth place to Ken Exton's rink from Bourne.

The Booby Prize went to Jean Gray's rink from RMC/Ayscoughee who didn't win a game!

Prizes were presented by Mick Bloodworth of Travis Perkins.
Chairman and Organiser Ray Smith expressed the club's thanks
and appreciation for their support.

Mail Cart Tournament

Was again held early August for the Laurence Baxter Memorial Trophy.

Winners were from Donington, Peter Gorbutt, Roy Pitts and Aubrey Bristow.
Runners-up were John Allen, Simon Lilley and Paul Simpson. 3rd place Martin and Phil Spencer and Ken Cherry. 4th place Lorna Dewhurst, Marion Budworth and Allan Radford.

Lincolnshire EBF

Gemma Broadhurst

She recently won the National EWBF Under 25 title at Skegness beating the Lincs representative 21-11. This was to add to her runners-up spot gained in the National Indoor EWBA Under 25 Singles, which has led to here receiving an invitation to the World Indoor Bowls Councils' U-25 Singles Championships in Guernsey to be held 2-6 November as one of two representatives from England. Best of luck Gemma.

Spalding & District Bowls League

Graham Chappell is the new chairman following a recent emergency meeting. He has Carters Parks Dick Dunham as vice-chairman. Treasurer and Competitions Secretary remains as Castles Ray Smith and the Clubs on the Management Committee are Bourne Town, Royal Mail Cart, Holbeach U.S., Whaplode Drove and Moulton Harrox. The positions of Secretary and Registration/Fixture Secretary remain unfilled.

Also discussed at the emergency meeting, which came about after a league match postponement dispute between Moulton Harrox and Spalding Town, was ways of analysing the league rules. It was agreed that the Management Committee would follow this up.

County Games

Three Midland Counties games have now taken place with a splattering of Section 4 players involved. Results were as follows:

Sat 14th May - Warwickshire 17 v 5 Lincs at Nuneaton B.C.
Sat 28th May - Lincs 19 v 3 Nortants at Blackstones B.C.
Sat 11th June - Notts 17 v 5 Lincs at Notts H.Q.
Sat 16th July - Lincs 19 v 3 Derbys at Perrys B.C.
Sat 30th July - Lincs 16 v 6 Leics at Hykeham B.C.
Sat 6th Aug - Worces 16 v 6 Lincs at Worcester B.C.

The Under 25 Two Fours county side unfortunately lost out by just 2 shots (49-51) to Northunberland on Sun 15th May.

The Top Four team for Lincs v Lancashire on Sun 5th June at Selby B.C. has also just been announced and is Gary Kitchen (Foreshore), Colin Barks (St.Giles), Jeff Fleet (Clee) and Danny Brown (St.Giles). Again, all the best.

Top Four Result - Lincs 13 - 21 Lancs.

Middleton Cup result - Lincs 101 - 126 Cumbria. Martyn Dolby yet again skipped his rink (with Adam Warrington at Lead) to another superb 18-14 winning rink. Rink wins were shared at 3 a piece.

Lincs EWBF

Local ladies performed very well in the above Federations competitions, with a qualifier for the National Finals at Skegness in August.

Shirley Quinton (Moulton) - Over 60s Singles Winner and 2w Singles Runner-up (losing 21-20)

Maxine Coleman & Betty Deaton (Castle) - 2w Pairs Runners-up

Indoor

CORRECTION

As reported back in May, Graham Smith retained the County Singles title. This was actually his forth title (and not third), equalling that of Martin Pullin.

Moulton Harrox complained about the cancellation of the league fixture (as the Spalding & District league rules do not allow league match cancellations) and after a Management Meeting of the league Spalding Town have to play the game as per the fixture book.

Further developments will no doubt occur, but at the time of writing it was known that the leagues' Chairman and Fixture Secretary had resigned over the issue. A full report can be found in the Spalding Guardian on Thursday 28th July.

WORLD BODIES CLASH OVER LAWS

World Bowls and the World Indoor Bowls Council have, very publically, clashed over the control of indoor bowls on a worldwide basis which is doing little to enhance the image of our game.

World Bowls (Chief Executive Gary Smith), whose constitution includes the administration and governance of indoor bowls, as well as outdoor bowls, on a global basis, has withdrawn with immediate effect any agreement it has with the WIBC in relation to the ownership and copyright of the Laws of the Sport of Bowls. These have been produced on a joint basis until now with a forth edition planned for next year.

Please see Bowls International, July issue page 10, for the full report.

Unification

Following on from previous reports in Bowls International, the saga of unification continues...

Basically, the EBA and EWBA are in favour, the EWIBA are in favour in principle, but do not wish to continue without the support of the EIBA, who are against. That pretty much sums up the current situation.

It is the intention of the EIBA to seek the views of their membership of the next three months before making a final decision on whether to enable them to vote on the principle of unification. The federal or alliance system, where all groups retain independence, while coming together on common issues, such as sponsorship, marketing, child protection, coaching etc, is the favoured approach of the EIBA. This proposal has been dismissed by the other three associations (EBA, EWBA and EWIBA) and Sport England.

Please see Bowls International, July issue page 12, for the full report.

Taking this into account it was decided, with the agreement of the Spalding & District league, to cancel the two Division 1 games where these clubs were involved and play the tie on a Thursday night. Not only should that guarantee mutual availability (as they both would have been playing anyway), but also it was a fairly safe bet that no other individual competitions would be played on a league night.

Unfortunately, speaking from experience, as an 'arranger' of competitions/events, you just simply can't consider everything that is thought may be played everywhere in the region. As it happens, some players of both teams could be involved in a tournament in Skegness and two of the Castle players are playing the area semi-final of the EBA Pairs at Blackstones. Just because a Monday or Thursday are 'officially' league nights where most people are involved, that doesn't exclusively mean these days cannot (or should not) be offered as competition nights. Take clubs, like Blackstones or Goodfellowship, who don't play in the Spalding areas local leagues on one of these nights. They can quite legitimately offer these for competitions.

Also the venue where the game was due to be played was a bone of contention. It was decided, in a quest for a neutral green, to play the tie at Sleaford Road Boston (less than 15 miles away from Spalding). The Spalding Town representatives were not happy with having to travel this far and to play the game out of the Spalding section. Certain fractions have extremely short memories when they want to have. Last seasons (2004) area final of the same competition was even played out of the County let alone the section. It was contested between Castle and Holbeach U.S. and was played at Deepings B.A. who are affiliated to Northants EBF. Holbeach did not contest this and they had to travel far more than 15 miles! Even some EBF area finalists this year have already had to travel from Holbeach to Bourne without a murmur - and that is over 25 miles!!

After many arguments, and certain people’s integrity being brought into question, both Captains of the clubs involved have agreed to play the tie wherever the Area Secretary decided, as long as it was in the section. This then construed a further argument as the Castle Captain offered to play the tie at Spalding Town, giving them 'home' advantage. The Spalding Town Captain disagreed with this and said they would play the tie at the Castle - totally reversing the gesture.

It has now been decided to play the tie this Thursday (7th July) in Spalding at the Castle B.C. starting at 6:30pm.

I'm sure this could be a fiery encounter and I'm sure this will not be the end of things!! WATCH THIS SPACE...