NEWS & RESULTS - week 6 (25/5 to 31/5)

Monday 25^th May and a very useful win at Thorndon. It was a shaky start for Laurie’s rink dropping two fours on the first two ends, and it was another 10 ends before they climbed back to 10-10. They then went on to win 21-16 - Ollie Alderton was none too pleased! The Captain’s rink was a different story, ploughing all the way into Keith Crabbe’s rink finishing with a 27-12 win. At 17 ends it looked on for a 7-0 win but the excitement was too much with Colin and David C’s rinks falling at the last fence. But a good result at 5-2.

 

Tuesday 26^th May and back to winning ways for the Afternoon team. After plenty of rain in the morning and the green not fit to be cut, this game was getting close to being called off, but by mid-day it was down to a drizzle and after an inspection it was agreed to play the game short ways. Good thinking, because it was extremely heavy - not good for us old dodderers! Anyway, it was a relatively easy game for us, coasting home to win by 20 shots.

 

Wednesday 27^th May, the Stow Triples team lost their first game of the season - ah! Once again Laurie was in the limelight with his rink coming from 10-15 down at 15 ends to finish with a sprint to the line with a 16-15 win. Alan C’s rink lost their way in the middle of the game and never recovered and David C’s rink avoided having their game analysed with Bob Chip conveniently hiding the scorecard. Colin’s rink scraped through with a 24-21 win giving the team a useful 2 points.

 

Results

 

Stow 2 Wood league.

Monday 25/5/09 away to Thorndon.

Thorndon 69 (2 points) - Thornham Magna 86 (5 points).

 

D Rookyard, M Norman, A Cogdell. 27-12.

I Doe, A Bailey, D Canfer. 21-22.

R Cole, M Crick, L Crick. 21-16.

A Roberts, P Cutting, C Emans. 17-19.

 

Afternoon League.

Tuesday 26/5/09 home to Haughley.

Thornham Magna 39 (7 points) - Haughley 19 (0 points).

 

G Keeley, B Hunt, A Roberts. 19-11.

D Miller, R Butcher, C Emans. 20-8.

 

Stow Triples League.

Wednesday 27/5/09 away to Walsham Le Willows.

Walsham Le Willows 83 (5 points) - Thornham Magna 65 (2 points).

 

D Cole, R Butcher, C Emans. 24-21.

M Cogdell, B Chipperfield, D Canfer. 14-26.

G Keeley, M Lummis, A Cogdell. 11-21.

D Miller, A Bailey, L Crick. 16-15.

 

　

NEWS & RESULTS - week 5 (18/5 to 24/5)

 

Monday 18^th May, prospects of a good week when we beat Woodfield at home. At 15 ends it looked like being a tight game with 2 rinks down, 2 winning and Thornham with their nose in front leading by 5 shots. However, with Laurie’s rink digging their heels in and winning by 9 shots and Colin’s rink finishing with a handsome 19 shot margin, the home team came away with 6 points and a shots score of 83-58.

 

Tuesday 19^th May was a different story with the Afternoon team losing their first game of the season at Stowupland by 23 shots to 38 (0-7). Although Colin’s rink felt they should have won, there were certainly no excuses on our rink being beaten by the better side. In fact, we did play very well, especially George and Brenda, but our opponents had other ideas by stealing the shots finishing justified winners. That evening, the Upper Waveney team also lost, this time at home to the Beeches 1-6, with three girls together taking the only point for Thornham.

 

Wednesday 20^th May and a day of mixed fortunes. In the afternoon Colin and Alan had to travel to Ixworth in defence of their Senior Pairs title against Errol Feavearyear and partner Aubrey. This was a game I had been dreading for a few weeks knowing Errol would be playing in a wheel chair, and I could imagine the headlines if we lost. Well we did lose and I still can’t believe it. It was a close game, and we had more than our share of chances, but Aubrey kept creeping through to steel the shots. Then we went into the last end 4 shots down and with only 4 woods between us that was a tall order. Errol bowled his first wood 2 yards short. I bowled my first wood and glanced off Errol’s finishing yard and a half short. Errol’s second wood finished alongside his first and my second was shorter still. What a disaster, in no way could we win now and I almost shook hands, but we walked up for the skips to bowl. Aubrey can’t miss with nearly two yards to play in but his first wood was narrow and he pushed my very short wood in for shot at one yard short - talk about a nervy end! Colin bowled in another shot giving us three shots. Aubrey’s last wood was so wide it was nearly off rink so all Colin had to do was get his last wood within 2 yards to force an extra end and guess what??? We lost by one shot. The good part about Wednesday was The Stow Triples team maintaining their unbeaten run, and whose rink should be the star performer, Colin’s rink. David Canfer’s rink came from 5 down to win 26-14, Laurie’s rink held on for a draw but Alan Cogdell’s rink struggled a little and lost 8-21.

 

Results

 

Stow 2 Wood league.

Monday 18/5/09 home to Woodfield.

Thornham Magna 83 (6 points) - Woodfield 58 (1 point).

R Cole, M Crick, L Crick. 21-12.

A Roberts, P Cutting, C Emans. 27-8.

I Doe, A Bailey, D Canfer. 21-12.

D Rookyard, M Norman, A Cogdell. 14-26.

 

Afternoon League.

Tuesday 19/5/09 away to Stowupland.

Stowupland 38 {7points) - Thornham Magna 23 (0 points).

G Keeley, B Hunt, A Roberts. 14-22.

M Cogdell, R Butcher, C Emans. 9-16.

 

Upper Waveney League.

Tuesday 19/5/09 home to Beeches.

Thornham Magna 62 (1point) - Beeches 74 (6points).

D Allum, E Green, B Whatling. 15-17.

M Cogdell, R Butcher, M Lummis. 17-13.

J Haynes, B Haynes, M Norman. 15-22.

T Moore, J Norman, B Chipperfield. 15-22.

 

Stow Triples League.

Wednesday 20/5/09 home to Bildeston.

Thornham Magna 69 (5 ½ points) - Bildeston 59 (1 ½ points).

G Keeley, A Bailey, D Canfer. 26-14.

M Cogdell, M Norman, L Crick. 15-15.

J Norman, P Cutting, A Cogdell. 8-21.

D Cole, R Butcher, C Emans. 20-9.

 

County Competitions.

 

Veterans

A Cogdell won 21-19.

A Roberts lost 13-21.

 

Mixed Triples.

D Rookyard, A Bailey, P Cutting won 19-9.

 

Men’s 2 Wood.

D Canfer lost 12-21.

 

Ladies 2 Wood.

A Bailey lost 18-21

 

Ladies 4 Wood.

A Bailey lost 16-21

 

Senior Pairs

A Roberts, C Emans lost 17-18.

 News and results - weeks 3 & 4- 4/5 to 17/5

Monday 4^th May and a great start to this session with a resounding win at home against Walsham Le Willows by 93 shots to 59 (7-0). But don’t let us get too excited as this was not their best team by any means with many of their start players missing. One reason of course is the illness of our old friend John Webb, making it also difficult for wife Ruth and son Jeremy to play. If you do happen to read this report I would like to take the opportunity to wish you John a speedy recovery and hope to see you and your family back on the green again very soon.

Tuesday 5^th May and another win for the Afternoon team beating Debenham at home by 42 shots to 24 (7-0). Sadly the Upper Waveney team lost again, this time at home to Wortham by 61 shots to 80 (1-6).

Wednesday 6^th May the Stow Triples team beat St Botolphs by a whopping 80 shots to 52 (6-1). In fact, it was nearly the full 7 point but for Mr Miller’s rink dropping 5 shots on the final end - come on now David! Anyway, well done!

Saturday 9^th May, in a similar way to last year, we had a committee meeting at the Chairman’s pad followed by a barbeque. What was different from last year was the meeting got very excitable, it was very cold and windy, the barbeque caught fire, it then ran out of gas, then after we filled ourselves with food and drink we had to dash indoors to thaw out over a cup of tea. Oh yes, the main topics for discussion were the lease and irrigation project, but I wont say anymore at this time.

11^th May and the Monday team are brought down to earth when they lost away at Bramford 2-5 (details carefully hidden by the Captain). It was a night to remember that was so cold and windy, a game that you tried to bowl between gusts of wind, and you kept your hands in your pockets when it wasn’t your turn to bowl. I must say I was very reluctant to take my hands out, even to shake hands at the end of the game, but my opposite number was a lady - and I didn’t want to embarrass her!

Less of this frivolity and on to Tuesday 12^th May when the Afternoon team beat Gipping Valley at home by 50 shots to 17. Both rinks did well, especially George, Brenda & Alan winning 30-8 gaining another useful 7 points.

On Wednesday 13^th May we had to put 2 teams out and it rained from the time we walked onto the green and throughout the rest of the evening. But well done to both teams with the Upper Waveney team winning their first game of the season by beating Mendlesham away in a cup match 44 shots to 41 and the Stow Triples team to have their third win by beating Thorndon 81 shots to 21 (7-0). I am not sure where that score was going but we stopped at 14 ends due to the rain.

Thursday 14^th May and another trip to Mendlesham for the Upper Waveney team resulting in yet another win for Thornham. This time it was a league match and not the easiest of greens to master, but our battling heroes improved on their 3 shots victory the night before by taking the game 76 shots to 58 and coming away with 5 point.

Friday 15^th May, Senior Cup night, can this be another road to the County Final like last year? Well, you have got to start somewhere, and where else could be more of a challenge for our first round than at St Botolphs where we had already lost once this season. The weather was a little better than it had been through the week and the green looked good, although that can be deceiving. When we stepped out onto the green I glanced along the rinks and there were several unfamiliar faces with a few of their stars missing - is this a good omen? Well, after 6 ends things weren’t going too well and we were 7 shots down already, with Laurie’s rink at 0-12 down and the other 3 rinks close. Then gradually the game started to change with Colin’s rink leading the charge and at 14 ends 3 rinks were down, David Canfer’s rink by 7 shots, Alan Cogdell’s rink by 3 shots and Laurie’s rink had clawed their way back to within 2 shots, but Colin’s rink had stormed ahead and were leading by 15 shots. So we were now in the lead by 3 shots - could we hold it? David’s rink came back to within 3 shots, Laurie finished a respectable 5 down, Alan’s rink climbed their way from 10-16 down to win 17-16 on the last end and Colin’s rink pulled further away to win 8-27 taking the game by 12 shots - well done Thornham Magna!

Results

Stow 2 wood League 

4/5/09 home to Walsham Le Willows

Thornham 93 (7 points) - WLW 59 (0 points)

A Bailey, I Doe, D Canfer. 18-17.

 D Rookyard, C Emans, A Cogdell. 21-14.

 D Cole, M Crick, L Crick. 25-17.

 A Roberts, P Cutting, M Norman. 29-11

11/5/09 away to Bramford.

Bramford 5 points - Thornham 2 points.

Afternoon League.

5/5/09 home to Debenham.

Thornham 42 (7 points) - Debenham 24 (o points).

G Keeley, B Hunt, A Roberts. 25-12.

 R Butcher, A Arnold, C Emans. 17-12.

12/5/09 home to Gipping Valley.

Thornham 50 (7points) - Gipping 17 (o points).

G Keeley, B Hunt, A Roberts. 30-8.

R Butcher, A Arnold, C Emans. 20-9.

Upper Waveney League

5/5/09 home to Wortham.

Thornham 61 (1 point) - Wortham 80 (6 points).

M Cogdell, R Terry, M Lummis 15-20.
Rita Butcher, E Green, B Wattling 13-25.
J Norman,T Moore,B Chipperfield 20-13.
J Haynes, B Haynes, M Norman 13-22.

13/5/09 away to Mendlesham (Cup game)

Mendlesham 41 shots - Thornham 44 shots ( Thornham through to next round)

M Cogdell, R Terry, M Lummis 14-5
J Haynes, B Haynes. M Norman 12-8
I Allum, E Green, B Watling 7-21
J Norman, T Moore, B Chipperfield 11-7

14/5/09 away to Mendlesham.

Mendlesham 58 (2 points) - Thornham 76 (5 points).
I Allum,E Green, B Watling 10-17
J Haynes,B Haynes,M Norman 29-9
M Cogdell,D Miller, M Lummis 18-21
T Moore,J Norman.B Chipperfield 19-11

Stow Wednesday League

6/5/09 away to St Botolphs.

St Botolphs 52 (1 point) Thornham 80 (6 points).

G Keeley, A Bailey, L Crick. 18-16.

M Crick, B Chipperfield, D Canfer. 20-11.

R Terry, A Arnold, D Miller. 16-19.

D Cole, R Butcher, C Emans. 26-6

13/5/09 home to Thorndon.

Thornham 81 (7 points) - Thorndon 21 (0 points).

D Cole, R Butcher, C Emans. 26-4.

G Keeley, M Crick, A Cogdell. 15-4.

A Roberts, A Arnold, D Canfer. 18-11.

D Miller, A Bailey, L Crick. 22-2.

 County competitions

Senior Cup

15/5/09 away to St Botolphs.

St Botolphs 65 shots - Thornham 77 shots. (Thornham through to next round).

D Miller. D Rookyard, A Cogdell. 17-16.

A Roberts, P Cutting, C Emans. 27-8.

A Bailey, I Doe, D Canfer. 15-18.

R Cole, M Ccick, L Crick. 18-23.

　Men’s 2 wood

D Cole 21-19. (win).

Men’s 4 wood

I Doe 21-19. (win).

Ladies 4 wood

A Bailey 21-16. (win)

Men’s Pairs

D Canfer/D Rookyard 13-18. (lost)

D Miller/D Cole 23-19. (win).

L Crick/I Doe 18-12. (win)

  Mixed pairs

M Lummis/P Cutting 16-14. (win)

R Butcher/C Emans 17-18. (lost)

Veteran Singles

A Cogdell 2121-19. (win).

 Champ’n of Champ,ns

NEWS & RESULTS - week 1 & 2  (19/4 to 3/5) 

Another great start to our bowling season with the opening days on Sunday 19^th April. Close to 40 members turned out on a lovely sunny afternoon to compete for the Richard St Pier Trophy. We had 24 actually playing showing some remarkably good bowling considering it being the first game of the season. The remainder, more than a dozen, decided to sit, relax and enjoy the atmosphere. As for the outright winner, much to his surprise was Dick Symondson in his first ever competitive game. In fact, not many members had actually met Dick before, as a beginner, he only ever appeared at Thursday morning roll-ups. Anyway, well done Dick. We finished the day off in the usually fashion with a very handsome spread.

It was a mixed fortunes for the league teams with the Tuesday Afternoon and the Wednesday teams winning their first games and the Monday and Upper Waveney teams losing theirs.

The Afternoon match was a funny old game with one rink losing by 13 shots after 7 ends and the other winning by a similar margin of 14 shots with only one shot in it at that stage. The game continued in that way for the rest of the match with the losing rink going down 7 shots to 24 and the winning rink surging through to a massive 39shots to 4 and winning the match at Combs 46-28.

The Monday team played at St Botolphs this week and at 18 ends looked favourites to win 6-1, but with one rink struggling throughout the match and two other rinks losing shots in the last few ends, the match suddenly turned around and finished 5-2 to St Botolphs.

In the Upper Waveney we met Long Stratton at home on 21^st April and lost 1½ to 5½, then on Tuesday we were away to Wortwell where we lost 7-0.

The Wednesday team started their season by playing Gipping at home and at half way through the game it looked to be a sorry old situation for Thornham. At 9 ends, 3 rinks were well down with David Canfer’s rink down by 5 shots, Alan Cogdell’s rink down by 12 shots, Laurie’s rink down by 7 shots and Colin’s rink up by 9 shots, a total of 15 shots down. Then miraculously, the whole team rallied round by pulling shots back with David’s rink leading the way by storming through to win by 20 shots, giving Thornham the match at 5-2.

21/4/09 home to Long Stratton.

    Thornham 1.½ point - Long Stratton 5.½ points.

5/5/09 away to Wortwell

    Wortwell 79shots( 7 points) - Thornham 42shots(0 points).

Stow 2 wood League

27/4/09 away to St Botolphs.

    St Botolphs 76shots(5 points) - Thornham 71shots(2 points).

P Cottee, D Rookyard, C Emans. 16-21.

A Roberts, J Norman, M Norman. 12-24.

D Miller, A Bailey, D Canfer. 20-19.

D Cole, M Crick, L Crick. 23-12.

Stow Afternoon League

28/4/09 away to Combs.

    Combs 28shots(2points) - Thornham 46shots(5points).

G Keeley, B Hunt, A Roberts. 39-4.

R Butcher, A Arnold, C Emans. 7-24.

Stow Wednesday League

29/5/09 home to Gipping.

    Thornham 80shots(5 points) - Gipping 60shots(2 point).

I Doe, B Chipperfield, D Canfer 29-9

D Cole, R Butcher, C Emans. 22-13.

G Keeley, A Arnold, A Cogdell. 13-21.

D Miller, A Bailey, L Crick. 16-17.

Start of season report - Saturday 14^th March 2009

36 days and counting down to what should be a very eventful season, starting as usual with our opening day on Sunday 19^th April when we all gather in a very informal way to play for the “Richard St Pier Trophy”, a trophy presented to the club by Judith St Pier on the death of Richard, a friend and fellow bowler.

This year marks the 40^th anniversary of the formation of the club originally known as the Gislingham Bowls Club, then sited at Oak Farm, before moving to Thornham in 1973.

I indicated that it should be an eventful season because there will be a few important happenings in addition to our regular programme like the renewal of our lease; hopefully, depending on the acceptance of a grant application, we can proceed with the installation of automatic irrigation; the staging of President’s Day, with Alan Cogdell as President of the Stowmarket League; and the staging of the Stowmarket competitions Final’s Day in September.

Then of course there are the many, many matches to compete in, amounting to around 50 league fixtures; several knockout cups including charity games; County competitions; League competition; a few weekend club functions; and most important, our club competitions with 9 trophies to play for; all of this to squeeze into 5 months!

So, good luck to all members, have an enjoyable season, win or lose, rain or shine, and watch this space from the end of April for my weekly report and results. Oh yes, and good luck to Alan Cogdell in performing his duties as President of the Stowmarket League for this year.

The following are the results of the draw for County competitions 2009 involving Thornham Magna members (first round only) Senior Cup - Thornham Magna away to either St Botolphs or Combs Ford -15^th May. 2 Bowl Singles - D Canfer at home to J Bugg (CF) - by 18^th May.

I Doe at home to S Brim low (St Bots) - by 18^th May. 4 Bowl Singles - I Doe at home to R Cole (WLW) - by 18^th May.

A Cogdell at home to J Cattermole (HPF) - by 18^th May.

D Canfer away to either A Jacobs (Stow) or B Caley (Wood) - by 8^th June. Men’s Pairs - D Rookyard + at home to B Hines + (CF) - by 18^th May.

R Cole + at home to E Hall + (Wood) - by 18^th May.

L Crick + at home to T Betts + (Rook) - by 18^th May.

A Cogdell + away to E Fearvearyear + (Ixw) - by 18^th May. Mixed Pairs - D Rook yard + at home to S Howell + (St Bots) by 18^th May.

P Cutting + at home to C Ives + (Thurs) - by 18^th May.

A Cogdell + away to F Spinks + (Tud) - by 18^th May. Senior Pairs - A Roberts + away to E Fearvearyear + (Ixw) - by 5^th June.

A Cogdell + away to T Offord + (HPF) - by 5^th June. 2 Bowl Rinks - P Cutting ++ at home to C Finbow ++ (Rook) - by 25^th May.

I Doe ++ away to A Bryant ++ (Pak) - by 25^th May. 3 Bowl Rinks - I Doe ++ away to R Scruby ++ (Bac) - by 25^th May.

P Cutting ++ away to J Gill ++ (HPF) - by 25^th May.

Veterans Singles - A Cogdell at home to E Fearvearyear (Ixw) - by 25^th May. A Roberts away to J Wells (R’gate) - by 25^th May.

Those reading this report who may be interested in taking up this wonderful sport, please give me, Alan Roberts, a ring on 01379783244.