Sat 01/04/23 – PARIBC Life President’s Trophy Match.

On Sat 01/04/23, in the annual PARIBC President’s match, the PARIBC Captain’s team, beat the PARIBC President’s team, by 32 shots, (403 – 371), in an 8 mixed rinks / triples, social meal match and the scores on the doors were as follows, with the Captain’s teams, (home), shown first:-

Rink 1 = Maurice Williams, Rosemary Longley, Mike Charles BEAT Gwyneth Charles, Brian Hill, Alex Routen = 39 – 29.

Rink 2 = Pat Longhurst, Dave Sutherland, Dave Cook, Mick T Smith BEAT Peter Edwards, Maureen Watson, Margaret Slipper, Henry Longhurst = 63 – 39.

Rink 3 = Tim Fletcher, Deidre Williams, Derrick Small BEAT Diane Horsington, Phil Cook, John Hunt = 41 – 40.

Rink 4 = Elaine Beard, Mavis Randall, Margaret King, Ray Ecclestone BEAT Shirley Milton, Sheila Matthews, Sandra Shepherd, Gunnar Hreisson = 59 – 43.

Rink 5 = Christine Heward, Jean Lacey, Roy Baston, Tom Heward LOST to Brian Gee, Linda Searle, Dot Gee, Patricia Wells = 43 – 58.

Rink 6 = Glynis Whatman, Dave Elliott, John Pursey, Karen Baker BEAT Chris Baker, Maureen Osborne, William Longley, Margaret Head = 58 – 46.

Rink 7 = Trevor Hill, Jan Cooper, Jim Coleman, Sue Smith LOST to Mike R Smith, Dave Birch, Sonia Bignell, Marc Carr = 44 – 66.

Rink 8 = Dave Price, Lindsay Floyd, Heather Allan, John Lake BEAT Dave Clare, Fred Linger, Lynn Korff, Dave Randall = 56 – 50.

The best laid plans and all that, were thrown out of the window, (and certainly no April Fool’s joke!), when we had 5 no shows on the day and no reason given for these 5 members failure to turn up, despite them subscribing to the day and they themselves, signing up to play, on the call up sheets.  Fully accept and understand that people go ill, or are taken sick, but please let the Club know.  To simply have people not turn up and equally have no info, as to why they are not coming, is not only deeply frustrating, to say the least, but is also costly to the Club, in terms of meal fees, etc., that the Club still has to pay to the caterers.  So with a bit of swapping around, we ended up with 6 rinks and 2 triples for the afternoon’s match and thanks to those who chopped and changed, at the last minute.  The usual, normal, 18 ends ensued, with an additional extra 2 ends added, to boost the scores and to also test the mathematical skills of each team, when it came to counting the shots up.  Needless to say, teams were using all their fingers and toes to do the adding up and still failing to come to a correct end total!  These additional shots also confused the electronic scoreboard totaliser, that broke down, but no worries, as our own electronics whizz and guru, Mick T Smith, stepped in to sort it out, as well as proving, (post – match), yet again, that his raffle machine does work…so it just be me then?!  Yes, it is!

The afternoon started with 58 bowlers, all hurling woods, (to their satisfaction, it must be added!), at a stranded Club captain, in the middle of the rink, all in the name of an “alternative spider”, with a difference!  The winners and ending up very fruity, were Jean Lacey and Brian Gee, whilst Gwyneth Charles took home the beans, as her effort managed to travel the massive distance, from the edge of the side ditch on rink 1, to the edge of rink 2…width wise!  Bowls aside, rink 1, saw Rosemary’s turn to recreate the Flanagan and Allen routine, up and down the rink with Maurice, (one for all you older readers there!), while rink 2 was all about who could outdo each other with wrong biases, (6 in total) and trying to persuade Pat to sign up for the ladies matches, as she IS good enough!  Rink 3 was all about Diane, (nice socks!), bowling superbly to whatever jack length was set, whist Deirdre regaled us with story after story, of her county / national raffle fiddles!  Rink 4 saw the 2 men dispatched to be skips, so the ladies could all have an afternoon of uninterrupted nattering in between bowls!  Rink 5 saw the other Patricia, (more stories of county / national bits, etc.,etc.), lead her team to victory in the battle of the spider winners, Jean and Brian.  Rink 6 saw the PARIBC hierarchy in tandem, up against the “voice” of PARIBC, Duracell has got nothing on her!  Rink 7 was the battle for bragging rights, for the whole of the summer, in the Sue / Marc household, whilst rink 8, was a very Civil (Service), affair, that saw Heather fall asleep on her feet, but at least we were spared the sound of John bursting into song!

Huge thanks to Gemma and girls in the kitchen for the lovely meal, to Katie Hider behind the bar, to Dave Sutherland for collecting the raffle dosh, to Mick T Smith for doing the raffle and to Sue Smith for taking all the pictures, (see below).  Thanks also to our 6 lady guests for their support and usual chatter, (and knitting!), throughout the afternoon and who all fully deserved their place, to be sitting regally at the top table, having it all to themselves, despite the many objections…all from the ladies themselves!  Thanks again to all who turned out and either played or supported, very much appreciated, in what was a superb Club day, PARIBC at its best…well nearly…and for making it a fitting day, in memory of Jim Masters.

Kind regards, an ex – Club Captain and coach.

Page Last Updated on 2nd Apr 2023