A reflection on our summer season
Two things stood out this season – first a positive one as our Men’s KLV squad put in another sterling effort to compete with some of east Berkshire’s big clubs. and finished their campaign in a creditable 4th spot in the top flight of Division 1 East. This was one better than last year!
The second was a negative as unfortunately, we had to withdraw from the Chiltern & Thames mixed triples league due to our depleted number of lady players which meant we could not fulfil the requirement.
However, two of our opponents, Burnham and Flackwell Heath, kindly offered to play the schedule games as friendlies, which offered the chance to visit different clubs than previous.
Regards our Friendlies, we won several more games than we lost – so all in all, a satisfying competitive season.
And with our special club tournament days bringing our players together in a socially competitive environment, members have had an enjoyable year.
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Colin the Hood cleans up with a fine competition treble
Highlight of the house competitions this year was a superb treble from Colin Hood, who found a rich vein of form to win the Men’s Singles Cup / the Men’s League / and the Pairs Cup (partnered with Mike McLachlan).
It was a close call in the Men’s Singles where, in a tantalising match vs Andy Doughton, Colin captured the title with the very last wood on the final end to win 18-17.
In the League final, played off by the winners of the two divisions, Colin won through against Mike McLachlan
18-10.
Then Colin, with Mike as his partner this time, secured the Pairs Cup when finishing strongly to overcome Martin Wilson & Colin Oram 18-5.
Memorial Pairs Trophy
Our major in-house tournament, the Memorial Pairs Trophy, this year had to be moved from its normal summer spot and took place in late October – and unfortunately played in rather damp conditions.
Credit to our Wraysbury players who battled through the rainy weather to produce some competitive bowling. This year there were nine pairs competing, and as usual were divided into two groups with the top two of each playing in the final.
This year’s victorious pair were Trevor Woodham & Martin Wilson (a winner of this last year) who beat
Tony Britton & Howard Brooks 13-0 to secure the trophy.
The scoreline, however, does not do justice to some solid bowling from Tony & Howard, who often surrounded the jack but were thwarted time and again.
(Memorial Day finalists - winners Trevor & Martin seen on the right)
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This year’s Pairs League day was held on Sunday, Oct 6, where nine teams took part in a two-division round robin contest with the two top teams battling it out in the final.
Taking the trophy this year were Howard Brooks & Paul Lester who beat Alastair Gibson & Angela Teale 9-2
in a closely contested final. Both pairs earned their place by winning all their matches in their division.
Alastair & Angela took an early advantage, winning the first two ends – but by only one shot. The third end saw a turnaround as Howard & Paul won it by three shots to take the lead, which they never surrendered.
It could have been different though, as on the last two ends Alastair & Angela were holding a good number round the jack.
However, skip Howard produced brilliant accuracy to take out the jack on both occasions to secure the Pairs League championship for him and Paul.
The summer season got under way with the annual Inter Club Day, with members taking to the rinks with 5 teams of four representing various Wraysbury village clubs, played in a round robin format.
It was a competitive social affair as usual, with the winning team (representing the Bowls Club) of Bev & Dave Laye, Howard Brooks and Colin Hood just getting the honours on a points countback over
runners-up Andy Doughton, Tony Britton, Trevor Woodham and Mike McLachlan (Country & Western).
Both had the same number of points from their series of matches but the Bowls Club team had the best shots total to collect their wine prizes to celebrate.
Early Friendlies hit by rain
Our competitive season began with four scheduled friendlies – but three were rain affected..
Our usual opener at Chess Vale was interrupted by hail and thunder - but lightning struck twice for us as we followed up last year’s win with an 89-79 victory, although the hosts won 3-2 rinks..
Our home match against Staines was shortened by rain and the visitors took the match 26-14.
Then the visit to Stanwell was called off duty to their waterlogged green but our next game at Fordbridge Park brought a second defeat at 49-39 although it was a fairly close affair, 2 rinks to 1.
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The sun shone brilliantly on Wraysbury Bowls Club as the 25th anniversary was celebrated on Sunday, Sept 3, 2023, with the annual Ladies v Gents match in the morning followed by a champagne & buffet lunch then some fun games on the green.
The lunch was attended by a good contingent of current players and past members and friends of the club….. and importantly some who were at the club in its early days - Nancy Fuller, Avril Pearce, Trevor Dobson and Margaret Perkins who, reprising her catering prowess from the early days, prepared a superb buffet spread. 
Club chairman Graham Sinclair, who himself played his part in the groundwork which allowed the rink area to be built back in 1998, gave the toast and spoke about the role that the late Bob Marshall played as a founding father and driving force in the club’s formation.
Graham highlighted the clubhouse which was named ‘the Marshall Pavilion’ when it opened in 1999 after being built by Glyn Larcombe using timbers to match the Windmill.
Glyn, who is now the club’s President, was there for the milestone day.
It was an enjoyable occasion and with the enthusiasm of the current committee and members, Wraysbury Bowls Club looks forward to many more years as a popular village amenity.
