Welcome to the Christmas edition of your Club Newsletter.
Late news – just missing the deadline for the November. Two of our young bowlers played for the Irish Under 18 Team at the BIIBC International Series at Aberdeen Bowling Club. We congratulate Reece Millar who won the Silver medal in the Singles, Jonathan Hedley also played with distinction. Both Reece and Jonathan are a credit to our Club.
During some recent heavy showers we have to report that some selfish folk decided to appropriate someone else’s umbrellas to return to their cars. They have not had the decency to return them either. Apologies to the legitimate owners.
11.30 Survey: the result was a 50/50 split in favour of splitting the Monday & Wednesday 11.30am leagues - too close to call, so there will be no changes to either league at this present time.
AIIB results: Fours - Roy Battersby, Clifford Craig and Michael Merritt – all their Fours won through ie. 3 out of four winners into the semis in Belfast on the 21st Jan; in the Singles John McCullough and Stephen Kirkwood are also through to the semis in Jan; we have representatives still to play in the Triples on January 8th, Pairs on 18th Dec, Junior Singles on December 10th, and Senior Fours on December 10th.Well done so far lads!
IWIBA results: Congratulations to Chloe Watson who qualified to represent Belfast in the Singles, and to Sandra Bailie who once again qualified in the Pairs, Triples and Fours. Good luck in the Irish Finals up in Ballybrakes.
Beginners: The Coaching for Beginners has concluded – another successful session. The traditional Beginners Pairs league will start on Monday 9th January.
Club Shop: look out for New Year offers in the Sale.
British Isles & Home Internationals: reminder for next March: there will be no leagues or casual bowling from Monday March 6thuntil Monday 20th. More details next month. I am still looking for volunteers in lots of capacities.
The Irish Ladies International team are playing a BIBC team here on Sunday 11th in the morning. I am pleased to announce that Belfast have 14 ladies on the Irish Ladies team. Well done gals!
The Irish men are here for a trial on Sunday January 15th. So far, we have 16 men on the trial team.
The AIIB Finals in 2017 will be played here on the 21st and 22nd January.
The IWIBA Finals will be played in Ballybrakes on January 14th and 15th.
Restaurant: if you have not yet booked your Xmas meal (short Mat club??) do so quickly. On Saturday 10th and Saturday 17th we have a late bar and live music, so get booking.
Alberta and her staff recently participated in Children in Need and raised over £616 – well done!. Congratulations to the raffle winners: B Cheyne, G Nesbitt, K Brown, and R Malcomson.
Miglio: Our rep from Miglio (jewellery etc) will be here again on Monday 12th December.
Short Mat: will be taking over the top green on Saturday January 7th.
Christmas dates: the stadium will be open Friday 23rd as normal, then closed Saturday 24th, Sunday 25th, Monday 26th and Tuesday 27th. We will be open again on Wednesday 28th through to Friday 30th as normal.
New Year: the stadium will be closed on Saturday 31st and Sunday 1st January. Open again on Monday 2nd January as normal.
Green Stretching: We have booked Dales in to stretch both greens on Tuesday 3rd January. The stadium will be closed for bowling from 1.30pm for the remainder of the day i.e. there will be NO Men’s Evening leagues on Tuesday 3rd January.
May I take this opportunity on behalf of our President and Chairman to wish all our members and visitors, a very merry Christmas and a warm and happy New Year.
Editor
Ken Armstrong