Sunday 08/01/23 – Trevor Bishop Memorial Match.

“Trev’s Match”, the annual memorial match, in memory of Trevor Bishop, was played on Sun 08/01/23 and this saw a superb turnout of 48 players and 10 guests, all gather for a very social afternoon.  I’d like to think Trevor would have approved of how the afternoon panned out, confusion and all, (cries of “bugger the Boccia bowls format”, was heard on each rink, whilst trying to get a wood, behind the jack, to count, was something of a new concept, to a few players today!), as the “home” team, beat the “away” team, by 53 shots, (165 – 112), in a match that was split into two halves, with teams swapping rinks and Oppo, for each half.   Winners of the first half were Dave Bushell, Deidre Williams and Derrick Small, whilst Janice Hatcher, Henry Longhurst and Mick Day ran out winners of the second half.  This meant that the overall winners were Dave Bushell, Deidre Williams and Derrick Small, who went home with a lot of wine, whilst the overall runners up were, Gwyneth Charles, Sylvia Day and Mick T Smith.  Sympathy goes to the team skipped by Peter “Ten Pin” Edwards, suffice to say, the day didn’t go well for them, but they, like the majority of the others, still had a smile on their faces come the end and that is what it is all about!  The pre – match spider, saw 5 winners walk away with prizes ranging from a pineapple, to a melon, to beans, to prunes, to a Chrimbo pud.  So nothing like keeping the locals regular!  And the fruit draw for each table, saw PARIBC do its bit, to enhance the daily vitamin C intake of its members.  Who said we aren’t a caring Club?!

When Trevor Bishop was alive, he was very much a Club man at heart and putting the Club first was high on his agenda, with matters both on and perhaps even more so, off the green. As such, his good lady, Sue Smith, said she wanted something that would reflect this and felt it appropriate that there be a trophy to recognise and reward the contribution of a person and / or persons, for their hard work and efforts in ensuring that the Club continues to thrive and prosper, both on and off the green. Thus the “Trevor Bishop Memorial Trophy”, is an annual award for the Club member(s) of the year.  Each year’s recipient(s), to be decided by Sue and the Directors, (taking into account the views of the members) and the winner and / or winners name(s), will be engraved on the trophy for posterity. It may mean that the same person and / or persons, “win” the trophy for years in a row, which is not a problem, but equally it is not to be seen as, “something to be awarded, just because we have another trophy to give away”!  As per usual, Sue felt that Trev would be looking down, laughing along with all those at the match that had just gone and wondering what all the fuss was about, but be very proud that the members were continuing to support and push the Club forward, in the right direction. 

This year’s fully deserved winners of the trophy were, Dave Risbrigher and John Carr.  Dave has been heading up and leading the efforts, in the mammoth task of the re – decoration of the Club and all associated other jobs that come with this.  John, is the Club’s cleaner, but he has been assisting greatly, so it was felt that it was only right, that they share the trophy.  It was noted that many other members had also given up their time and been involved in helping in this huge job and these efforts, were duly noted and greatly appreciated, by both gents.  Pictures are shown below,

The post – match raffle organised by Sue Smith and Dot Elliott, ably assisted by Marc Carr and Dave Elliot, raised just under £350.00 and all this money would be going off to the Prostate Cancer charity, so thank you all for buying tickets and supporting this.  Sue then thanked all those who turned out and played and supported and also thanked all those who gave raffle prizes and bought tickets.  She really does appreciate the efforts that all the people go to, in support of this day, in making it a special one, in remembrance of Trevor. 

Off the green, it was nice to catch up with Lesley and Malcolm Clark, who came in to watch, for the first half of the afternoon, along with Irene Ashby.  We also had our usual 4 chatty lady guests present, who are there, week in, week out and also 3 of the husbands / partners, of some of our newer, lady bowlers.  They equally became chatty men and missed all of their good ladies magnificent efforts out on the green.  Huge thanks to Gemma and girls for the lovely meal and an equal amount of thanks, to Pam Fincher for coming in, quite literally at the last minute dot com, to do the bar, due to illness of the scheduled bar staff.

Kind regards, an ex – Club Captain and Club coach!

Page Last Updated on 10th Jan 2023