Welcome to the October edition of your Club News.
All leagues are up and running well I am glad to say. A big welcome to our new members. I trust you are enjoying your bowls. I hope you are all getting familiar with the new re-spotting rule!
I trust you have all paid your subscription by now – otherwise you will be paying more after October 10th!
I keep being asked how many members have left but we won’t know the figures until later in the season.
Reminders: our Short Mat colleagues are here for 2 days –Friday 17th and Saturday 18th of November, so we will not have any leagues on either of these days. These days are given over to the British Isles Championships, so the Club will be busy.
Another reminder to male members: uniform on weekday nights is STRICTLY whites and greys. No jeans allowed. Club jerseys can of course be worn.
Inter Club games: the first ladies match is against Co Antrim on Sunday October 15th at 10.00am. The first match on the male side for the Inter-Club series is, appropriately, here in the Club between our own Belfast 1 team against our Belfast 2 team on Sunday October 8th from 10.00am until 2pm. It should be interesting! Support for both games would be welcomed.
New Venture: we are planning to run a new rinks afternoon starting on Wednesday October 18th at 4pm. – open to new and old members and bowlers of all abilities.
Format: you arrive, register at the Office, and someone will be there to let you choose a disc and rink number. You then proceed to that rink, play bowls and make new friends. This will run for a number of weeks, depending on numbers participating. Dress is casual and the charge is £2 per person.
I have to remind people to please wipe their feet if they are coming into the Clubhouse on a wet day. You would do so in your own home.
Clarification on Subs: of course we would like you to name 6 members on your rink, but
you can also play 2 other subs who are not named on your rink list. These players can not skip the rink- only players named on the rink can. The unnamed subs also cannot play for you if they are named members of another rink in the same league.
Also, if you need to add or remove players from your rink, make sure they are amended on your league entry form in the Duty Office.
Charity Coffee Morning: The charity coffee/tea morning will be in aid of Tiny Life on Wednesday October 18th from 9.00 until 12.30, and President Liz Kinder is appealing for the usual good support.
Coaching: the season’s coaching in the Club begins on October 9th at 7.15pm. Please encourage all potential new members to join.
A new monthly news item will be: the number of cancelled games, postponed games, rearranged games : so that all members can see just how much it costs the Club to have cancelled games. This month’s figures since we opened are as follows:
35 games postponed (most will be replayed hopefully). If none of these games are played, the total amount of money the Club would lose would be £928. Each game (apart from the pairs) costs the Club £32, so please think carefully before you cancel a game and try to use subs as much as possible.
The PBA qualifiers for Potters in January were held recently and results were as follows:
Graham McKee beat Stuart Bennett in the Singles Final. The Pairs match was very close with Stuart Bennett and Mark McPeak edging out David Corkill and Robert Kirkwood.
Some Dos and Donts in the game :
Learn, and play by, the Laws of the Game.
Have your bowls ready to play when it is your turn.
Remain quiet and at least 5 feet behind the bowler on the mat.
Always be UP especially when the shot is against you. Compliment a good shot, either by an opponent or your own team and sympathise for a ‘bad break’ but don’t overdo either.
Win gracefully and lose graciously.
Do not ‘CALL’ bowls into, or out of the head -it is bad etiquette.
Do not drop, dump or bounce bowls onto the rink surface.
Do not under-rate an opponent. Finally: no alibis!
Editor
Ken Armstrong