Bowls

This is a post aimed at local people because it concerns my local bowls club.  The rest of you can just move on but this is one reason that I began this blog.  Sometimes it is a great medium to get over a point of view.

In my local club we have a problem. We have a couple who are dedicated bowlers and this year they have contributed well on the green. One of them actually holds two positions within the club because he volunteered when nobody else wanted the jobs. 

He has actually done one job quite well although he refuses to go the extra mile when it is necessary.  Sometimes if you want to put a team out you have to appeal to people to put the club before their personal life. 

Bowls etiquette is also essential. If you lose you must be gracious. We are all competitive animals but you MUST always shake the hand of your opponent and offer to buy them a drink. That is bowls etiquette and if you don't understand that then find another pastime.

A summer in bowls can also be expensive. Nobody, particular a pensioner, wants to waste money but buying raffle tickets (you know a pound for a strip of five) is a responsibility because it supports the club. If you stand in front of the club as captain and then refuse to part with a pound then your priorities are all wrong.

We are all competing to attract players. Sometimes however, the reputation of the club is more important than the ability of some players. The people that I am talking about have already left two clubs in this area. Perhaps we should complete their hat trick?

I just wonder if there is one person who knows the situation who would disagree? I welcome comments.

Bowling

The bowling season opens for my home club tomorrow. The weather forecast seems favourable and once again old friends and opponents will emerge from their winter cocoons and challenge each other in a sport that is quintessentially English or even British.

This is, of course, not a sport which would interest the new 'incomers' but give it time. At the moment it is a private club which has not been breached by the 'alien' forces from abroad. I just wonder how soon it will take the first turban or burka to arrive on the green. Frankly we should not worry about it but privately we all know that a line must be drawn in the sand.

In the meantime however, we will once again enjoy our release from world politics. We will enjoy our summer evenings and afternoons free from the pressures of the politicians. But one day I fear that that they will find us and descend upon us and ruin our old age. Every bastion of our society has been ruined and destroyed. It will only take them time. In the meantime everyone have a really great season. The anticipation is wonderful!

Heart Attack!!

I have just arrived home after six days in a local hospital recovering from a heart attack! After my recent family bereavement it was the last thing anyone needed and of course it does affect all members of the family. Fortunately it was not a major attack (if one can put it that way) but of course it is a warning and needs to be taken seriously.

It did put me back in touch with the NHS once again and gave me an opportinity to observe at first hand how the modern NHS is coping with modern austerity measures. However I will leave that for another time.

To my bowls mates who were playing when I collapsed on the 18th end of the Loughborough and Distict league against Quorn I would like to issue a little reminder! Despite my heart attack we still won the game and after going to all that trouble I was dismayed to learn that you fit guys playing at Quorn both lost both your rinks!! Come on guys I can't do much more!

Finally thanks to Paul Chalmers who recognised the symptoms and phoned the paramedics despite my insane ramblings that I would play on! Thanks also to the team from Quorn for being so sporting and understanding...I owe you all a pint.

Bowls

This is the height of summer in the UK and for me and my friends it means lawn bowls. Bowls for people like me and my friends is ideal because it is social and gently physical. We can all bowl as long as we are fortunate enough to have a level of fitness and it is competitive. For example we have a number of people bowling who are recovering from heart attacks and some of them are really good.

It is also quite political. Most of us old codgers have a degree of experience to bring to the table particularly where meetings, speeches and protocol are concerned. For example in my particular club we have a selection committee who are more concerned about their own personal position than the club. They continually look after themselves and their mates rather than the development of the club. It is a real shame because the Captain is actually doing a good job. He doesn't appear to be able to curb the natural instincts of the other two members of the selection committee.

You will gather by now that I am using this blog to put forward a point of view because it is my blog and I am the sole arbiter. That is the beauty of a blog. Whilst I am at it ...we could do with some measure of control at our meetings! The President is in charge of the meeting not the Secretary!

And by the way the secretary is the best that we have had for many, many years!! Local issues are now over folks.

President's Day

On Sunday I host my first (and possibly last) President's Day for my local bowls club. It is really a big deal for me because I want to mark my Presidency with a touch of originality.

I have been supported by all of my friends and I hope that everyone will enjoy the day. It is the very end of the season and It has been a good and profitable season.
We have actually won nothing but the spirit in the club is fantastic. We have in the last few years recruited some bowlers who are potentially very good.

I believe that my club is on the brink of big things but we must just convince the bowlers. We have a takeover in the club and that is normal for a bowls club. We have younger people who are ambitious and talented. I will not preempt my AGM speech but there are talented people waiting in the wings and we must give them an opportunity.

The game of bowls is ideal for the elderly but it is also a medium for the past competitor. The person who reaches the age of forty and now realises that they need to rediscover their ambition.

I have surprises in store and I hope that it works!

The Royal Household Bowls Club

Today my bowls club hosted a prestigious fixture against the Royal Household Bowls Club from Windsor Great Park. We first applied for this fixture three years ago when we were celebrating our 60th anniversary. Since then we have been invited back twice more so today was our opportunity to reciprocate.

For my sins, I am this year, the President of my local club so it was very important to me personally that we had a really good day. The weather forecast was dire and we in the depths of Leicestershire have had some desperate weather in the past few weeks. Most of we bowlers have been drowned during the last few weeks and I must confess I expected the worst!

At precisely 2pm the rain arrived at and 2.15 it disappeared. From then on until 5pm we had a lovely afternoon and the atmosphere on the green was frankly second to none. These people who work for the royal family have a special presence. They know how to enjoy themselves!

Today was a lovely day! We all enjoyed ourselves and as such we have been promised a fixture next year. This is a real feather in our cap because many clubs request this fixture and cannot get near it. I joined my club probably ten years ago and I have seen the club through some difficult times. Recently we have had an influx of some new members who are already beginning to make their mark. The whole character of the club is changing.

It needs to change BUT there is potential in this club and I predict that we will shortly become a really successful club because there are people knocking at the door who can bowl my club into prominence. Today however, was my day as President and the whole club got behind me. I was really chuffed because we all support each other and today was our day. It was a real success.

Bowls

You know as I have become older I have got more resilient and it isn't very often that I get totally floored but yesterday evening I really got caught out. It was the AGM of my local bowls club and to cut a long story short I walked out at the end of the evening as the new President of the club.

Now I won't flatter myself that I deserved the honour more than any other member but for a variety of reasons others didn't want the job this year. I must admit that over the years the odd individual has suggested that I could do the job and yes I think that I can, but to be voted in has really boosted me at a time when I have been at a low ebb.

The other good thing is that my Vice President is also new to the job and I really like him as a person so I look forward to working with him.

When I joined the club I never thought that I would one day be President. My name will now go on the board for Presidents and it is nice to know that when I am long gone it will show that in the year 2009 I did my bit for the club. I am well chuffed!

Friends!

As I get older I begin to realise that one of the most important aspects of life is friendship. I am a lucky old man because I have a local set of friends at my bowls club who mean such a lot to me. Every Friday evening we meet and although it is so understated we mean such a lot to each other.

We all have ailments because old age is not for cissies but we battle on and support each other. I am further blessed because I have another set of friends who have a much deeper value as they go back to my youth. You see my new friends generally have all known each other for their entire lives. They know who is married to whom and who was involved with who forty/fifty years ago. I do not have that knowledge but I have another set of friends who remember my youth.

On Monday my longest standing friend is arriving in Loughborough and I am so looking forward to his visit. We first met in 1973 and we have shared so many personal experiences that we are soul mates. He now lives in Granada, Spain but previously he had a house in Sarasota Florida and I was privileged to visit him there with both my wife and son. Prior to that my wife and I visited him in Cyprus when he was a Major in the army.

No doubt we will once again drink too much but we will raise a glass to absent friends and I know that Mick (in particular) Dennis and all our old comrades will be remembered with much affection.

Meantime my new friends are all on a county bowls tour destined for the Isle of Wight and I know they will love it. They will love it because they are all with people that they love and good luck to them! Friendship is so important.

The Royal Household

Yesterday my bowls club travelled to Windsor Great Park for a fixture against the Royal Household Bowls Club. We originally asked for a game against them to celebrate our 60th anniversary and subsequently we have been asked back twice. We hire a coach and take family and friends to make a day of it.

Our hosts are a really friendly crowd and they talk openly about the Royal Family just as though they are also part of the family which in some ways I suppose they are. We lost the game by three shots which meant that they avenged their defeat last year so honours are now even again as we drew the first match.

I cannot remember in the previous years being so conscious of the noise level from low flying aircraft. Their green is directly under the flightpath of planes approaching Heathrow and they roar in every 28 seconds seemingly just above our heads! The home team don't even notice but I found the noise quite distracting.

We had a really great day and as we were on the rink next to the passing road we even caught a glimpse of the Queen driving past on her own.

I also think that bowls is a sport which brings out all the characteristics of our native bred population. It thrives, on competition, courtesy, sportsmanship and respect which made me think that even in these dark days the traditional English values shine through. It was a joy to have spent the day in such great company.

The Bowls Season

Our bowls season began today and some thirty or more bowlers gathered at a windswept green in Wymeswold, Leicestershire. The only reason that I recording this game is that I have rarely bowled in such cold weather. Granted this green is particularly exposed to the elements but all the same I am sure that we were all pleased when the proceedings ceased. Surely this cold country will warm up soon? I jolly well hope so because I don't want too many other days like this one!
PS and we lost!

A New Bowling Season

Yesterday evening I attended the pre-season meeting held by my lawn bowls club. It is at this time of year that we start to dream of the summer. People that you have not met all winter suddenly appear as if out of a cocoon and thoughts turn to long sunny days, pints of cold beer/lager, salads and meeting old friends from the opposition.

From the sidelines bowls appears to be quite a simple game but I have now been playing about seven years and I believe that only now am I beginning to get to grips with the game. No doubt the intricacies of the greens this year will once again prove me wrong. You see it isn't just each green that is different it is each rink on each green that differ and the really good players can read it almost immediately.

Last year we won our league and got promoted to the District Division One. This year we face the big boys. It could be an interesting year! I will keep you posted.