Saturday 10th May.
Our annual Captain V President game this afternoon- moved back from week 1 to 3 weeks later to let the greens dry out ,the grass to be shorter and make it a less pushy afternoon. We had a pretty good turn out with 21 members signing on for the Spider game, and Janet Atkinson got closest to the jack , winning the bottle of Famous Grouse. We played on 3 rinks, a mixture of Triples and and a full rink. The quality of the bowling has improved over the last 10 days and there were some good individual performances- “unfortunately” the Presidents team claimed the victory ,winning by 2 points! John Geoghegan kindly donated the money received for the sale of his bowls, so all present had a drink on him. Thanks John! Erica Hallett put on a lovely buffet, paid for by our President, and we had a great sociable couple of hours. Unfortunately later on in the evening the local yoof decided it would be fun to turn on one of the hoses on A green, flooding the end of the green and surrounding area. Thanks Charles Lindsell and Jeff Ellison for coming back to the club and helping me sort the problem. The bravery award must go to the anonymous hospital lady who’d just finished her shift and waded in to turn the valve off.
Andy Slater’s first game of the season.
Thursday 8th May.
A Win at last! Today, against Lancing at home in the Tracey. We used B green this time- its definitely not playing as well as A with lots of moss and bald patches so some of us had a bit of a difficult day with the bowls not moving much off the bowling line. Still, a wins a win with 2 rinks winning and taking the two points for overall score. And we had a top rink won by Janet Atkinson, with Dave Sargent Maureen Jackson and Russ Jennings. Final Score 6-4 and 65-58.
Saturday 3rd May.
Another tough game for us. Away at Tarring Priory in the Stracey. We are still short of key players- notably 3’s and skips- last year 3’s were a problem but with several skips leaving or retiring we’ve struggled in our previous matches. Now, on our Ernie Boulton club night we’re moving players around so that they have a chance of playing in different positions- it will give the selectors more chance to see how much improvement people have made. Tarring’s greens were difficult to read, with loads of brown patches, caused by over watering apparently, and we lost on 4 rinks, with Russ Hallett coming closest to 2 points, losing on the last end. A 10-0 loss and going down 53-80.
Thursday 1st May.
The proper start of our 2025 Bowling Season- a Brodie match at home to Lancing. Unfortunately both teams struggled on the greens which had been cut this morning- they were very unpredictable- sometimes the bowls stayed straight and other ends they swung. We lost but by not much- only by a couple of points on each rink. Early days and we all know we’ll improve. 10-0 and 63-51.
Saturday 25th April.
Our first game of the season- a friendly against Pulborough- a good start as we managed to put out 5 triples. We were a bit concerned over our winter break that we had lost some of our better skips- we’ve struggled with 3’s for the previous seasons so lack of back end players could be a problem. Consequently we had 3 players who hadn’t skipped before and a couple of 3’s who hadn’t played in that position competitively. Pulborough had a strong side with several WSBL players, so a loss wasn’t unexpected- 3-2 and losing by 10 points. Two of our skips on their first outing won- Neil Baker and Russ Jennings- with Russ getting top rink. Well done! “A” green played extremely well and several Pulborough players complimented us, remembering what the greens were like in the previous years!
April 2025.
The first weekend in April saw our signing on day. We’ve had a few members not rejoin, some going to other clubs and some packing in completely due to age and ill health. We’ve picked up several new players who have all come from other clubs, and ended up with around 38 playing members. A bright start to the new season. We’ve had several work parties tidying up and cleaning, and Neil Baker and Eric Jackson have put a lot of work in on the greens and they’re looking spot on, certainly the best since our covid break. Our greens opened over the Easter weekend with a couple of club roll ups on the Friday and Saturday, and our first club evening on the following Tuesday- not a bad turnout for the start of the season. The only low points have been the funerals of Trev and Mickey- both were very well attended by past and current members, and the majority of our members were wearing our old club tops which I’m sure would have put a smile on both their faces. We have a new Competitions Secretary, with Dave Sargent stepping in after Dave Steff was unable to continue- John Williams will be Dave’s assistant and Dave Steff has agreed to help out if needed.
March 2025.
More really bad news. Mickey Page sadly passed away on 26th March in Worthing Hospital. As you are all probably aware Mickey had been unwell for a couple of years, but still managed to come along and support the club at our home matches and an occasional away game. He had been voted in as an Honorary Life Member for his service to the club and had held several positions in the club, the last being Competitions Secretary. For many years he organised the Ernie Boulton Tournament and along with Trevor, our Finals day. Mickey was always around to assist and offer advice to new members and will be remembered for his big smile.
February 2025.
More devastating news ,unfortunately, on the 20th February was that Trevor Gordine, our immediate past President had passed. He had been poorly for the last three years, with heart problems and complications from diabetes. He had been in and out of hospital since November 2023 and had a leg amputation in December 2024. He never fully recovered. Trev had been with Worthing for over 30 years and had served in many positions at the club, latterly as President and Secretary, and for years had run the Tuesday Ernie Boulton and club night. He was a great friend to many in the club and had introduced most of the current club members to the great game of bowling. He will be badly missed by all of us, as a great servant of the club.
January 2025.
We’ve had a bad start to our New Year with the news that Mick Darters (Chalky) had passed away. Mick, who was 79, had been ill for several years, but made a return to the club to play his final season in 2023. He will be remembered for his constant smile and sense of humour, as well as being a great lead, which was where his nickname came from.
Saturday 14th December.
Today was our AGM and election of club officers and officials for the 2025 season. The President, Club Captain, Secretary and Hon Treasurer were re-elected unopposed. Neil Baker, Simon Edwards and Ken McMasters stood down from being elected members, and Ian Slater ,Eric Jackson and Mick O Mahoney were elected in their place. Unfortunately Ian Slater has decided to leave the club, so Steve Murphy has taken his place.
Saturday 30th November.
This came around very quickly again! Our annual Presentation dinner, held again at Casa Ciro. Around 30 members and guests attended and judging by the smiles everyone enjoyed themselves. Here’s a few pics of the evening kindly supplied by Andy Slater. Thanks to Colin Green Dave Sargent and Dave Steff for doing the organisation.
Saturday 26th October.
Our first off season update and its six months until the beginning of the season!! Debbie has finally had her foot operation after a couple of cancellations and is now convalescing at their temporary accommodation in Hove, and Mick has put his pinnie on to cook their meals. The bar is now open most Saturdays -Wendy will put a WhatsApp message up to let members know the details. Ken Staton attended the WSBL AGM at Arundel and has reported that for 2025 league game will now be 18 ends, and the Clubs proposal for clubs to have to offer a weekend fixture for games was , as expected ,defeated. Some dates for the future- our Presentation meal is being held at Casa Ciro’s on Saturday 30th November and or AGM is on Saturday 14th December at our clubhouse. details to follow.
Sunday 29th September.
And the 2024 season is over! It more or less fizzled out over the last couple of weeks. Our last two games were cancelled- Billingshurst pulled out because they couldn’t raise a team who wanted to travel. and the Drive were concerned that our Greens would be too slippery to play on due to the never ending rain in the previous weeks. As it turned out, we had a lovely dry and warm afternoon, so those of us who turned up had a roll up and a beer. The next weekends were a mixed bag of rain and sun, but we managed a final flourish today with a reasonable turn out to play on our greens that played extremely well – we finally got there with a lot of work from Neil Baker and Kevin ! Overall we had a reasonable season – better in the Brodie where we finished 4th out of 9 with 9 wins, but it seemed getting 4 four more players for the Stracey was a bit of a challenge, only winning 5 out of 12. In the WSBL we won 6 and drew 1, out of 14 games, finishing 3rd from bottom- Storrington and Goring Manor were relegated and Maltravers and Marine Gardens were promoted from Division 3 to Division 2.
Sunday 15th September.
We’ve finally got here- the final Stracey game of the season. It’s been a busy week with our Finals weekend, 3 Brodie and Stracey games our Charity day, and today a Stracey against Maltravers. We’ve beaten Maltravers 3 times so far this season but this was probably a game too far- everyone seemed a little jaded and bowled out , but we still won on 2 rinks, Ian Slater skipping the top rink with Dave Sargent, Phyllis Hadley and Neil Baker, winning 20-12. A gold star 🌟 goes to Neil who spent Saturday and Sunday morning cutting and rolling B green- it was worth it because the rinks played extremely well. A final score of 6-4 and 75-78 – a loss, and we finished just off the bottom in the Stracey. Not our best season compared to last year when we finished runners up – drew 1, won 5, and lost 6 this year.
Saturday 14th September.
St Barnabas is the Captains nominated charity for 2024, and Saturday was our fundraising day for the charity. Turnout was a bit disappointing as we only had 17 members signed on. Nevertheless, we started with a game of Spider , won by Syd Foster who seemed happy with his bottle of whiskey, despite not touching the stuff. We managed to put together 2 rinks, for a couple of hours of bowls which was won by by some club members but no-one can quite remember who they were. Maureen Jackson and Debbie O Mahoney put together a lovely buffet, which all disappeared very quickly before the main event, the raffle. Congratulations to everyone who gifted the prizes, which for the main part was alcoholic, but we also had vouchers from several restaurants and pubs around the area. Our sponsors, HandBrew, donated a pin of Bird bitter, which with the sale of raffle tickets and an auction raised £500 for the charity. Thanks again to everyone who donated, bought tickets and helped with the food and bar.
Friday 13th September.
This was our third game this week, our penultimate Stracey game against Pavilion at home. We played on A green which wasn’t at its best- it looked good, but hadn’t been cut for a week and was back to being pushey and difficult to find any swing. On our away trip we were well beaten 10-0, and needed a big improvement to get a result- it ended with an anti-climax – after 21 ends it was a rare drawn game. We won one and drew one, but ended with 2 points for the highest score, helped by Simon Edwards rink with Kris Czarnecki, John Williams and Ron Bewley top rink total of 34-16. 5-5 and 81-74 , so a win of sorts !
Wednesday 11th September.
Our last Brodie of the season away at Marine Gardens. Shoreham competed for the first time this year and next season Steyning have been accepted into the competition so a long season will get longer with 10 clubs competing. On Marine Gardens visit to us in May we won 6-4 and we have had some excellent results against them in the last few years. As it was today- a chilly sunny day and the greens playing very well- we only lost on one rink by one point on the last end, with the other 3 rinks winning . Simon Edwards and Dave Sargent beating last year’s pairs competition winners, and Steve Murphy with Syd Foster and Ken Staton winning 27-8 to get top rink. An outstanding 8-2 76-51 victory putting us above Tarring Priory in the league and finishing in 4th place, winning 9 out of our 16 games.
Monday 9th September.
Back to reality this afternoon after a “lazy” weekend of finals and a few beers. Our penultimate Brodie game against Shoreham at Beach House that was played on a turned round B green, that still played reasonably well after a lot of wet use over the weekend. Interest in bowling seems to be dropping off towards the end of the season, so we had a few different players on the cards today. We only had one winning rink skipped by Janet Atkinson with Andrew Simmons and Syd Foster- bouncing back from her Championship Pairs loss to defeat a Shoreham triple including Dave and Marion Hoggen. The final result was a 7-3 65-62 defeat
Saturday 7th Sunday 8th September.
Our long anticipated Finals weekend- after a season of competition rounds interrupted by weather, illness and unavailability we finally got there. The weather for the weekend looked horrendous – the forecast changed hourly in the preceding days, but the overall theme was rain, and lots of it. As it turned out, it was better than expected- Saturday morning, drizzle and some light showers, that disappeared after lunch and then Sunday after a little drizzle, a lovely sunny afternoon. The previous days of rain affected the greens which were a bit pushey but had been cut the previous day, so they played reasonably well. On Sunday after our buffet lunch (supplied by Morrisons and was very good!) Russ Hallett and Simon Edwards competed for the Championship singles title, that Russ won after a hard fought game. 10 finals over the weekend with some new games to go on the honours board, which kept the weekend interesting and bodes well for next season. The weekend couldn’t have gone ahead without the members who set out the greens, cleaned the clubhouse worked the bar and laid out the food, so thanks to them and the others who joined in to make it a success.
Monday 2nd September
Rain threatened but apart from occasional light drizzle it didn’t come to anything. Our afternoon was spent in Lancing for a Brodie game- like a lot of clubs Lancing are struggling to get 12 players together and were still ringing around for the last couple on Monday morning. Our side is a bit more settled and we had a couple of extra names down as reserves- luxury! We had a reasonable successful day winning on 2 and losing on two. Peter Mantle with Mick O Mahoney and Andrew Simmons came out as the top rink with a great score of 29-7. Two high scoring rinks gave us the extra 2 points and we came out on top 6-4 and 81-53.
Sunday 1st September
Congratulations to Steve Murphy and Richard Maton on winning the Men’s Pairs at the Hastings Open Tournament. And to Richard and Sally being the runners up in the mixed pairs.
Saturday 31st August
We’re nearly at the end at the Brodie season with just a couple of games to go. Today we were at Pavilion on a very autumnal day- overcast and chilly at times. The greens looked and played very well, instead of the brown and lightning quick rinks from the previous years, but Pavilion got the best of them. We only won on one rink, skipped by Ian Slater with Dave Steff and Eric Jackson- the other rinks we only went down by a couple of points on each. Overall, 8-2 and 71-61.
The green rinks at Pavilion!
Wednesday 28th August.
Southwick visited this afternoon for a friendly- we took the opportunity to select players who haven’t played for a long time. Gemma Kerr played her first game and John Geoghegan put his name down for only the second time in 2024- we fully expected Southwick to field a strong side, but they came with some newer players so we were pretty equal on paper. On the green we were dominant though, and came away with a win on all rinks and a score of 84-50. Top rink was skipped by Chris Matthews, with Dave Sargent and Ken McMaster winning 27-7 and only losing on 4 ends. Some good individual performances all round- Gemma playing and winning in her first game and Russ Jennings stepping up and skipping with Janet Atkinson at 2 and Sharon Chapman leading.
Sunday 26th August.
A trip to Littlehampton this afternoon for a Brodie against Maltravers. A sunny afternoon for a change, although with a strong gusty south easterly wind- combined with the straight down the middle hand and extremely swinging on the other made for a difficult afternoon. Maltravers are obviously used to their rinks and were on the jack from the first end- we came back however with two good performances- Dave Sargent and Colin Green winning the pairs by one point and Janet Atkinson with Maureen Jackson and Russ Jennings winning their triple by 27-10. Our third game against Maltravers this season and 3 wins, this time 6-4 and 67-59. We play them again in our final Stracey of the season in a couple of weeks time at home. 4-0 ?
Saturday 25th August.
The end of a seemingly long season this afternoon in the WSBL. Our last game at Pulborough in the pouring rain- the fixture meant more to Pulborough than to us, as they are in contention for promotion and 5 points wouldn’t have been enough if we’d canceled. The rain varied from drizzle to heavy until the 15th end- then the sun came out and affected the playing surface yet again which changed on every end for the whole game. Our only winning rink was again skipped by Simon Edwards with Kris Czarnecki ,Russ Jennings and Ian Slater winning 22-25- we lost overall 2-8 and 63-88. Pulborough got the 7 points they needed for 2nd spot and possible promotion and we finished 6th ( or 3rd from bottom!). Overall, in the WSBL we won 6, drew one and lost 7 – last season we only won 3 and drew 2, so an improvement- well done to everyone who played in 2024.
Wednesday 21st August.
Our only Brodie game against Tarring Priory this season as the previous away game had been cancelled twice due to rain. We played on B green which is still lumpy and bumpy with large patches of brown, but surprisingly is playing reasonably true. A large crowd had gathered to watch the proceedings ( at least 10 people and a dog !) hoping to see some exhibition bowling. Unfortunately, most were disappointed, as we won on one, lost on two and drew on another, only winning in the pairs, with Simon Edwards renewing a rivalry with Chris Ide which goes back for many years and coming out on top 19-12 assisted by Dave Sargent. Overall we only lost by a very annoying one point, 63-64 and 3-7. As a complete change from the ladies doing the teas, Syd Foster and Ken Mcmasters stepped up and took over – well done lads- no cases of food poisoning have been reported.
Saturday 17th August.
Our penultimate WSBL match today against Bognor at Beach House. Bognor have been consistently good all season, and have only lost a couple of games- we’ve lost both matches against them 8-2 this year, and they are now top of the league and a couple of points away from promotion. It wasn’t a good day for us, and we had a tough time on all of the rinks, losing heavily on two, and only winning on one. A great result by Simon Edwards, Kris Czarnecki, Mick O Mahoney and Steve Murphy who was celebrating his 69th birthday- a 15-10 win against a very strong Bognor rink. Overall an 8-2 ,48-90 loss. Next Saturday is our final game of the WSBL against Pulborough- we’re safe in league 2 but it would be good to end with a result.
Saturday 10th August.
Goring Manor this afternoon, our third game against them in as many weeks. Goring are struggling at the moment with Covid, injuries and availability so getting 16 people on the green for a Stracey was a problem for them. We were down on three rinks until half time tea, and then luck began to go our way in the second half. Simon Edwards rink scored a five on the last end to win-, and Chris Matthews’ rink who were 13-6 down at half time, came back to get a 26-16 victory and top rink, with Dave Sargent, Sharon Chapman and Steve Murphy. The end result was a good 8-2 , 82-71 win – a hat trick for our last three games against Goring.
Wednesday 7th August.
Another trip away today- this time north of the Downs to Storrington in the WSBL. Storrington were promoted this year, and it looks like they’re going straight back down to Division 3- the problems of finding 4 more players for the higher league proved too much- much like our club that has problems getting 16 players for mid-week league games. We had to play on the end rinks today which wasn’t too good for us with the usual problems of straight and swingey hands. The middle rinks were good though and we won on both- the end rinks didn’t fare so well for us and we lost! Top rink was won by Ian Slater with Colin Green Syd Foster and Neil Baker with a creditable score of 32-16. Overall, 6-4 and 72-86 and only 2 more games to go.
Monday 5th August.
We had an away day trip to Maltravers in Littlehampton this afternoon for our Stracey fixture. As usual, Maltravers greens played pretty poorly. Almost completely straight on one hand and loads of swing on the other. Maltravers are obviously used to bowling straight up the middle of the rink and we all took a few ends to get used to the conditions. We got there by the end of the game and came out winning 8-2 and a close 79-77 score.
Saturday 3rd August.
A complete contrast to Wednesdays weather. Drizzle at times and cloudy- and cool. Our game this afternoon was against Goring Manor in the WSBL – Goring are second from bottom just above Storrington who are already relegated, and Goring could be following them if the league decide to send down 2 clubs. We were a bit stronger than Goring today and came out on top, winning 2 and getting the high score of 32-7 helped by Dave Sargent, Russ Jennings and Steve Murphy. Overall a 6-4 and a 81-66 victory. An odd occurrence in today’s game between Middleton and Petworth- called off due to an outbreak of Covid in Petworth, and Middleton awarded 10 points!
Wednesday 31st July.
A real scorcher today, probably the hottest this year, playing Lancing in the Stracey. Lancing’s green sits in a dip so we couldn’t get any advantage from a light breeze. The game swung, it seemed, at each end -at one point we were 3 rinks up, and then a couple of ends later we were 4 down. We ended losing on 3 rinks, with only Janet Atkinson winning with Kris Czarnecki, Mick O Mahoney and Maureen Jackson. 8-2. 65-79.
Monday 29th July.
Another home game this time against Goring Manor in the Brodie. Another day of extreme weather- very hot, with not even a little breeze. Goring turned up one short, but their Captain disputed the Brodie rules and wouldn’t budge, so we went ahead with the Bowls England version. We won anyway, with Dave Sargent and Colin Green on the winning rink in the pairs- I’m still waiting for the league secretary to decide on the disputed rink, but the score on the day was 6-4 and 70-51. The result was later amended in our favour- both teams points for the rink were removed and we were awarded the extra 2 points.
Saturday 27th July.
A home game today against Middleton in the WSBL. A month ago we played them on a Wednesday with a weak side due to players work commitments- today, we put out more or less the same team, but with a different result. Some Middleton players were complaining about our green which were a little pushy, but we’re used to them, so our home advantage came through for once. We came away with an unexpected 8-2, 97-67 win- we are now 26 points ahead of Goring Manor and Storrington in the league and with four games left we are safe in Division 2. Ted Poole skipped the top rink with Terry Molloy Mick O Mahoney and Colin Green winning 24-7.
Thursday 25th July
We were the only Stracey, Brodie and WSBL game that went ahead today. All of the other clubs must have looked out of the window and thought better of it. We gave it a go, but after 12 ends we’d had enough – Southwick’s Captain seemed happy to carry on though, probably hoping for more points. The end result was us losing 7-3 and 48-45, with Smurf skipping the only winning rink, with Kris Czarnecki and Eric Jackson picking up a lucky 7 on the last end ! There was hardly any beer sold as most preferring a hot drink!
Saturday 20th July.
Another WSBL game today travelling all of the way to Witterings- not a pleasant journey taking getting on for an hour and 20 minutes in the summer traffic. The greens looked and played well, without any brown patches showing through. Not a good result though- we went down 8-2 and 79-69. Our only winning rink was skipped by Russ Hallett Charles Lindsell Ken Staton and Ian Slater coming out 22-14 on top.
Thursday 18th July.
A hot and humid day today for our Brodie game against Marine Gardens. No selection problems today and we even had some reserves, and played with a reasonably strong team. B green hadn’t been cut this week, so with the rain earlier in the week left the rinks very pushy, but to our advantage. The end result was good for us, winning 6-4 and 65-48. Top rink today was skipped by Chris Matthews with Maureen Jackson, Phyllis Hadley and Colin Green, winning 27-10.
Wednesday 17th July.
We had been contacted by Nadia and Ness who run Creative Waves, responsible for running The Beach House bug garden, and currently occupying the West Pavillion. As part of the 100th year anniversary of Beach House Park they asked if we would be interested in organising an introduction to bowling morning for their volunteers. Over a dozen of their members turned up and we had a very entertaining morning teaching them the basics of bowling. Thanks to our members who turned up to make the morning a success.
Monday 15th July.
We had an evening game today against Southbourne in the County Abergavenny- one rink at home and one away. The heavens opened at both venues- the away 4 started late but managed to complete the match and only lost by a very creditable 7 points. At Beach House however the rain came a bit later ,was torrential and forced a postponement due to couple of inches of standing water. Southbourne returned the next evening to play the 16 remaining ends, and we only lost by 2 points at 20 ends. Southbourne now play Pavilion at Pavilion on Thursday night.
Friday 12th July.
We finally managed to get it together and play a game of bowls after a week of disruption. Tuesdays game against Tarring Priory was canceled due to heavy rain, and Wednesdays arranged friendly against The Drive was called off due to lack of interest – we only had 5 names on the card. Our game today was against Pavilion in the Brodie- last week’s game against them was a disaster for us,- we had to play a weakened team with players who were injured, and a member who decided to cry off at 1.00 because it looked like it may be raining. Today we got it together with a reasonably strong side, and came out on top, winning 9-1 and 91-48. A great result, with some excellent individual performances. Top rink was skipped by Chris Matthews with Dave Sargent and Colin Green, winning 13 ends and a score of 32-8.
Saturday 6th July.
A very quick return visit from Petworth in the WSBL this afternoon. We were obviously hoping for a very good result after last week’s bad loss, and we secured a win. It didn’t start well for Petworth, for, despite Mark their Captain speaking to every club member they still came to us one short. Our top rink today was again skipped by Andy Slater with Neil Baker, Smurf and back from his 3 months in Spain Kris Czarnecki. 6-4, and strangely a 81-81 draw!
Sunday 30th June.
WSBL away at Petworth on their artificial surface. A day best forgotten- the rinks started lightning fast, and then got quicker as they dried out. It was more like an indoor surface than outdoor, and as we don’t have any indoor players we were at a huge disadvantage. Everyone kept a smile on their face though, and kept bowling to the end. 10-0. 144-46. We’re now half through the WSBL league season and sit in fourth place, half way up the table. I think we should be reasonably happy with that, considering I’m still usually cobbling a team together the day before the game. We’ve stuck at it though, with some good performances from people who are in their first year of bowling.
Wednesday 26th June.
The hottest day of the bowls season so far this year, playing Middleton in the WSBL. All of the rinks, looked great with mostly green covering, but played pretty poorly, on one hand there was no swing at all, and on the other, lots of unpredictable swing. Middleton are obviously used to playing the rinks and came out on top, winning 8-2 and 94-69. Our only winning rink today was Andy Slater’s, with Neil Baker, Mark Stringer and Ken Staton.
Saturday 22nd June.
An afternoon of some great bowling against Witterings today, but the result didn’t really reflect the way we played with some good individual performances. Half way through, we were up on all rinks, and a long way in front on points but a couple of dropped 3’s and 4’s on the last few ends brought Witterings back in to the game- we ended up losing by one point and drawing the game. 5-5, 81-82.
Thursday 20th June.
Another muggy warm day for our Brodie game against Lancing. An ongoing theme against most of the team’s we’ve played this season is the difficulty Captains are having getting 12 or 16 names on the team sheet. As it was today with Lancing and ourselves- both of us shifting players around on the morning of the game. We played on A green which was pretty atrocious- lumps, bumps and patches of new growth, hence, no home advantage at all. Despite the bad surface, we came away with a 6-4 77-60 win, with Mick O Mahoney, John Williams and Colin Green having the top rink.
Tuesday 18th June.
New kit day! We’ve been using our old kits since we moved over from shirts and ties, so we felt it was time for a change. All of the new kit was supplied free of charge to members and paid for by club funds from a bequest by a member, Tommy Wright. It was a Stracey match today, against Tarring Priory, and for the first time this year it was actually a hot afternoon. Our greens played extremely well, even some Tarring players commented they were better than their home rinks. Overall, we had a good afternoon winning overall 6-4, 78-71. Top rink was skipped by Smurf, with John Williams Ken McMasters and Colin Green, winning 31-9. Big thanks today to Tash Baker who volunteered to do the tea’s, assisted by Deb O Mahoney. Cheers Ladies.
Sunday 16th June.
West Sussex Tourists visited today for their annual friendly at Beach House Park. Due to rink costs, they only provided us three rinks, but despite only twelve players, they provided a great opposition. After 21 ends we got a fair result- won one, lost one and drew one! Maureen provided some lovely home made cakes, and with Debbie “done” the tea’s. A great afternoon of social bowls with some like minded players. Russ Hallett skipped our winning rink, with Colin Green, Ken McMaster and Charles Lindsell.
Thursday 13th June.
Not a good afternoon- we were away against Southwick for our Brodie game. The rinks today were quick, which didn’t suit some of our players, but eventually everybody the hang of them :unfortunately Southwick having the home advantage got there a few ends before us. We had only one winning rink, skipped by Janet Atkinson, with Neil Baker and Chris Matthews, who nailed it on the last end. On a brighter note we just about cleaned up in the raffle 😁. A loss of 8-2, and 78-49.
Saturday 8th June.
Storrington were our visitors today for our WSBL game. We haven’t played against Storrington in a lot of years, so they were a bit of an unknown quantity. It didn’t start well for them as their Captain had forgotten to bring his team cards and two players. Been There! This is Storrington’s first year in WSBL 2 , and they were a bit out of their comfort zone having to find four more players for their fourth rink. We again were a bit short on putting out our strongest side, but everyone selected played really well and they were all scoring points and having bowls in the head. I thought that we would be stronger than the opposition, but ending up as 10-0 winners was totally unexpected, with a points score of 111-44. Top rink today was skipped by Simon Edwards, with Neil Baker Terry Molloy and Mick O Mahoney- a winning score of 38-9. Some more good news today is that Janet has received our new kit, and together with Deb have labeled everything up to be given out to our members. We have to make a decision now as to when our first game will be in our new kit.
Friday 7th June.
Today will probably be remembered as ditch day! The green at Goring Manor for our Brodie was very quick, and for the first quarter of the game both sides had trouble adjusting, so there were plenty of long jacks and heavy bowling. I managed to get a day off with a bad back, so with Debbie, Denise and Syd we were the fan club! Despite our support, unfortunately the home side got the hang of the rinks better than us and won on three rinks. 8-2. but we only lost by two points, 62-60. Simon Edwards, again won the top rink with Tina Redman and Mick O Mahoney. Thanks to Ian Slater for standing in as Captain of the Day- much appreciated!
Thursday 6th June.
This afternoon we played Lancing in the Stracey. Unfortunately the match started badly with Ted Pooles rink going out one short, due to someone not reading the team sheet and not turning up! Despite that hiccup, we had a reasonable afternoon – B green is still bumpy with a lot of players from both sides complaining how difficult they were, but we got a win. Teds rink, despite being one short, managed to win 9 ends and only lost by a few points. Overall, 6-4 and 82-77- top rink won by 29-10 and was skipped by Chris Matthews, helped by Ken McMaster Peter Mantle and Stephen Hunt. The common theme this year, chatting with other Captains and match secretaries is the difficulty in putting a side out and every club is struggling with lack of players. In the last couple of weeks we’ve had a few new players sign up, but it will be a month or so before they’ll be ready for a competitive game.
Tuesday 4th June.
An evening game today, away at Goring Manor in the WSBL. Conditions were a little unpleasant at times, with drizzle and a strong wind throughout the game, so the two Captains decided a no 3’s up, just to get it over with! Up until the last end we were up 10-0, but unfortunately one rink dropped a four, so we came out 8-2, 87-64 victor’s. A great result as we had some people coming into the side for the first time this year. We are now top of league 2 on points, but with a game in hand, so we probably won’t be top in a weeks time! Top rink today was skipped by Ian Godden, with Ron Bewley Mark Stringer and Andy Slater winning 27-13.
Saturday 1st June.
Our first home game in the WSBL against Pulborough today. Last season we won against them in a relegation match, but due to a league re-organisation they stayed in Division 2. We put out probably the strongest team that we could at the moment, and we came away with a great win. Simon Edwards skipped the top rink with Neil Baker Colin Green and Andy Slater winning 22-11. The Green played reasonably well and are certainly getting better every time we play. 8-2 77-67.
Our second game of the weekend was against Marine Gardens, and we came back down to earth with a bit of a bump. This was a different side to the one we beat a couple of weeks ago by 55 points, and today we only had one winning rink- Ian Slater with Phyllis Hadley Smurf and Neil Baker winning 25-11, losing 8-2.
Wednesday 29th May.
A home game today against Maltravers in the Brodie. Neil Baker and I tried our new roller out on Monday and rolled B green ( mostly Neil rolling , and me “supervising” 😄) consequently the rinks were playing better than they’ve been all season. The best result of the day was Dave Sargent and Colin Green in the pairs who came out as top rink, beating Maltravers 27-9. Both of our Triples won, and the only loss was Ted Poole’s rink , and that by only a couple of points. We came away 8-2 and 88-54- a great result and everyone enjoyed themselves. We had two new bowlers playing their first game for us today, Phyllis Hadley and Stephen Hunt who are both experienced bowlers and are a great addition to the club.
Sunday 26th May.
Two games this weekend, and the Bowls England open days, so a very busy weekend. On Saturday Goring Manor visited us for our Stracey game – a 10.00 kick off due to the afternoon’s FA cup final. The rinks were still pushy, and quite bumpy so accurate bowling was very difficult. At the end we went down 6-4 and 83-76. The top rink today was skipped by Janet Atkinson, with Neil Baker Maureen Jackson and Peter Mantle. Pete, unfortunately pulled a hamstring, so Simon Edwards stepped in and helped out. Sunday we made the trip over to Bognor for our PC Cup game. Team selection proved difficult with players dropping out due to sickness and unavailability, so it was pretty much a scratch side that played, with people playing in unfamiliar positions. Bognors greens were pretty much like ours, very pushy, some bumps and with a strong South Westerly blowing- not ideal when the greens are right on the seafront. The results were much like last week’s against them, and we lost 7-3, 114-64. Simon Edwards skipped the only winning rink, with Charles Lindsell Mark Stringer and Colin Green helping out . The Bowls England event went reasonably well, with, hopefully some success at recruitment. Sunday was busy, with hopefully a couple of people signing on the dotted line. Over the weekend Debbie put in a lot of time talking to and bowling with “potentials”, assisted at various times by Ken and Denise Staton John Williams Jeff Ellison,Maureen Jackson and Janet Atkinson. Thanks to all of our members who played and gave up their weekend to help out our club.
Thursday 22nd May.
Thursday was our first Brodie of the season away at Shoreham. This is Shoreham’s first year in the competition, and the previous friendlies have been close run games. We went with a bit of a scratch side with a couple of newish players, Terry Molloy and Jeff Ellison who both played their socks off. A couple of rinks were close, and we only lost on one. Mick O Mahoney skipped the top rink in a triple with Dave Sargent and Syd Foster. The final result was an 8-2 , 62-61 win. A great start to our Brodie season.
Tuesday 20th May.
We had two games last weekend. On Saturday against Marine Gardens in the Stracey, and on Sunday our first WSBL game against Bognor. Our game against Marine Gardens was reasonably successful coming out 6-4 winners, with Ian Godden Neil Baker Ron Bewley and Russ Jennings winning 57-3- they were 19 points up after 3 ends and scored two hotshot during the game. The final score ended at 112-59. On Sunday our first WSBL 2024 game didn’t go so well. Bognor having been relegated from Division 1 put out a strong side and we lost 8-2, with Ted Poole skipping the only winning rink. We meet them again next weekend in the PC cup, so hopefully the result will be different!
The big worry for all of the Adur and Worthing Bowls clubs at the moment is the news that Brighton and Hove council are withdrawing support for their Bowls clubs from next season, and we are all concerned that Worthing could be next. With that in mind, we’ve decided to be proactive and take on some more of our green maintenance- we’ve purchased some mowers and associated equipment from a local club, and a Sisis greens roller from Ilminster in Somerset- hopefully, if the council do make the decision to withdraw support we’re in a position to take on some of the work. Thanks to Neil Baker for his enthusiasm and future commitment to assist Kevin, our council greenkeeper in carrying out the work that needs doing to improve our greens.
Thursday 16th May.
Our game this Saturday was the National Top Club, against East Preston at home. The format was a rink, a triple, a pairs, a two wood singles and a four wood singles. It was a day of mixed fortunes – Dave Sargent winning the two wood singles and Russ Hallett the four wood singles- the rink and pairs were close games, but in the triples we lost quite heavily. Bad weather struck again for our Brodie against Tarring Priory on Thursday, with their Captain calling the game off late morning. Luckily we’ve managed to arrange another date in early July.
Monday 6th May.
Two games this weekend- on Saturday we played our first Stracey game of 2024 away, at Tarring Priory. For once, there wasn’t any rain, although the forecast was poor- the green played reasonably well, but quite pushey. Before the game started a minutes silence was held in memory of former Tarring player and Worthing Mayor Paul Baker, who passed away the previous week. The game didn’t go our way though, losing 6-4 , 79 points against 74. Top rink was Janet Atkinson, with Peter Mantle, Neil Baker and Chris Matthews coming out 27-11 winners. 
The next morning we played East Preston in the National Double 4’s at home. Sun was forecast but it rained! Unfortunately East Preston coped with the greens better than we did and won on both rinks, which had continually changing surfaces, as it rained and dried out .
Wednesday 1st May.
Unfortunately our first two opening games didn’t go quite as planned and were both weather affected. Our trip to Pulborough on Saturday went downhill almost immediately as on the 3rd end the light drizzle turned into a heavy shower and we were minutes away from calling the game off- but then the rain stopped, and started and stopped again. Unfortunately on the 15th end we gave up and returned to the clubhouse for tea and beer. We lost 4-1 with only Janet Atkinson Peter Mantle and Ron Bewley winning. Wednesday we were due to play Portslade at home in a friendly- the forecast promised a deluge around 2.00, so reluctantly the game was called off. Not a good decision as it turned out because we only had a couple of short showers. Sorry to everyone who was looking forward to our first home game, especially as Kevin had done an excellent job of preparing A green for the match.
Sin binned at Pulborough.
Sunday 21st April
We’re open!! We had 30 players turn out for the Captain v President game, plus a few spectators. Despite a cold northerly and most dressed in winter clothing we managed 14 ends and a game of spider as an opener. Smurf came out on top in the spider and walked away with a bottle of Famous Grouse. The greens were a deciding factor in our 14 ender- they looked good, but as usual for the beginning of the season they were very pushy, with hardly any swing. The Captains 4 rinks came out on top with Chris Matthews Tina Redman John Geoghegan and Ron Bewley winning the top rink. Thanks to everyone who turned up and helped set out the greens and get the clubhouse clean and tidy, and for everyone who turned up to play and spectate.
Kindly restored by Ian Slater
Friday 19th April
The 2024 season is here- tomorrow is our opening game – the annual Captain v Presidents match. The greens are looking good thanks to a lot of hard work by Kevin, our council greenkeeper and Neil Baker who’s having his own personal battle with the worms- I think he’s finally outsmarted them! The last 6 weeks have been pretty busy in the club- we’ve had a cleaning day to sort out the locker rooms toilets and bar area, as well as lots of weeding around the greens and clubhouse. Ian has finished decorating and the club is back to how it should be. Mick o’ Mahoney has manufactured a complete set of rink numbers and markers, that are looking really good. Thanks to everyone who has turned out and put a lot time into making everything ready for our first game. We held our signing on day on April 6th- and we’ve ended up with 50 members paying their money, including a couple of new players, so he have around 45 people available to play – not a bad result. Thursday the 18th saw our final match in the Worthing Indoor Outdoor league at Field Place- we provided 4 players for a “fun” afternoon of indoor bowling, followed by a cream tea provided by WIBC. Surprisingly, it was an enjoyable afternoon as the players from 6 clubs were mixed to make 3 rinks. Thanks to everyone who has played over the winter season, some willingly, some having their arms twisted by Dave and myself. For the record, we won one game, proving that we’re not an indoor bowling club. 😅
Monday 4th March.
We are now making preparations for the 2024 bowling season! The new 2024 committee have now got their feet under the table and are making some decisions for the new season. First of all, we are well on the way to designing a new playing kit. The old shirts have been looking a bit dated in the last couple of years, so Janet, Deb and myself (mostly Janet -thanks!!) have come up with some new ideas – the colours will remain the same but with a modern twist. The final design has now been approved by the committee, and we are looking to pay a lot of the cost with Tommy Wrights legacy. At the moment we are having the interior of the clubhouse re-decorated, with most of the honours boards being moved, and some new ones being manufactured by Ian Slater. Most of the old boards are now pretty much full up, so the opportunity was taken to paint the walls whilst the boards were being moved. In a couple of weekends on the 16th March we are holding a club cleaning day to ready the clubhouse for the new season- lets see some new faces this time, as well as the usual members. Finally, signing on day will be held on Saturday 6th April, and on the 20th April we will having our first game- the annual Captains V Presidents fixture
Sunday 31st December
We held our AGM on Saturday 9th December. Unfortunately Trevor was still in Sussex County, recovering from a major heart operation, so was unable to attend. Miraculously we managed to get it together and completed the meeting without any problems with 30 members attending. Thanks to all who helped out on the day, and the previous weeks, getting all of the information together to run the afternoon.
We now have a new Club President! Congratulations to Maureen Jackson who will undoubtably bring a lifetime of Bowling experience to the Club and committee. Another bit of good news is that Colin Green who initially agreed to be the Assistant Secretary has stepped up and taken on the full job with much relief by the rest of the committee. In the run up to Christmas the bar has been open every Saturday afternoon, putting much needed cash in the till- Richard organised another quiz just before New Year which was as successful as the previous one, this time with a couple of games of Playing Card bingo. The quiz was won by Chris Morrisey John Bailey Celia Yeoman Linny Matthews and Dave Sargent who managed to find himself on a team of 3 teachers. A couple of notable Birthdays this month – Colin Green and Pete Mantle turned 80- congratulations to them both. Happy New Year everybody!
Saturday 25th November
Despite being our closed season, things have been happening in November. We played our 2nd game in the Indoor/Outdoor league against Maltravers and we won- helped by the 4 points a player awarded to non indoor club players – at that point we were top of the league, but have since dropped down a couple of places. Our Presentation Evening was held at Casa Ciro on the 11th November- the evening was a brilliant success with excellent food and a great atmosphere. It was good to see some different names on the trophies- thanks to Dave Steff for organising the presentation and sorting out the trophies, ably assisted by Dave Sargent. A couple of Saturdays ago Richard organised a quiz afternoon and we had 16 people entering, with names drawn out of the hat to select the teams- we’re not sure who won, but everyone enjoyed themselves and we put some money over the bar. Some bad news unfortunately – Trevor was admitted into hospital with an infection, and is now in the Sussex County Hospital in Brighton awaiting an operation. Get well soon Trev- hope the op goes well.
A few photos from our Presentation Evening. Photos courtesy of Andy Slater.
The Ernie Boulton runners-up.
Dave Sargent. Jeff Ellison. Syd Foster. Maureen Jackson.
The Ernie Boulton Winners.
Ron Bewley. John Williams. Andy Simmons. Chris Matthews.
The Tommy Wright Champion. Richard Maton.
Drawn Pairs Runners up. Dave Steff and Dave Sargent..
Drawn Pairs Champions. Richard Maton and Ian Slater.
Wheeler Cup Champion. Chris Matthews.
Wheeler Cup runner up. John Williams.
Veterans Cup Winner. Peter Mantle.
Veterans Cup Runner up. Steve Murphy.
Handicap Singles. Richard Maton.
Handicap Singles. Runner Up. Dave Steff. 
Championship Pairs. Janet Atkinson and Peter Mantle.
Championship Pairs. Runners. Charles Lindsell and Dave Steff.
Norman King Winner. Simon Edwards
Norman King Runner up. Andy Slater.
Championship Singles Winner. Russ Hallett.
The clubs special award to Ken Staton for his assistance on Finals Day.
Sunday 29th October
Just a quick update to let people know what’s happening over the off season. The bar will now be open on every Saturday afternoon from around 13.00 until 17.00 ish. It’s best to contact Mick or myself to check exact time on the day. Richard has organised a bar quiz – date to be confirmed, but probably 18th November, all welcome, a pound a person to join in. We are putting a team out in the Worthing Indoor Outdoor League- our first game was against Lancing and we won 2 rinks out of 3 and have 4 points, which is probably what we scored all last season! If anybody wants to take part , whether you have played on carpet or not, contact Trevor. Our next game is against Maltravers on 9th November.
Friday 22nd September
Our last game of the season , a friendly against Billingshurst, had to be cancelled due to the atrocious weather, which seems to be the continuing theme of 2023. Of the 53 games that had been arranged 6 were rained off , cancelled or rebooked- overall, we won 29 games, lost 17, and drew 1. So not a bad season, and we were runners up in the Stracey, in our first year in the competition. The biggest disappointment of the year has got to have been the state of our greens- surely the worst we have played on all season and its only after our Finals day that they have played well. Thanks to everyone who put their names down to play , and to the members who week after week have set out the greens, helped with the tea’s and ran the bar. Roll on 2024!!
Saturday 16th September
Charity Day! This year our efforts are being put towards raising money for Headway, and the Captains nominated Charity, St Barnabas Hospice. The weather held out, and the Greenkeeper had finally made the greens playable, possibly a week too late! The first item on the agenda was the Spider, with a bottle of Scotch donated by Trevor -after several false starts the bottle was won by Steve Nullmeyers who donated it back to the raffle. Our roll up /Game was a tad chaotic with no-one understanding the rules, but had everyone laughing and enjoying themselves. The eventual winners were Janet, Deb and Sarge, who won a drink for understanding the rules better than everyone else! The highlight of the day was our Charity Raffle, with a diverse bunch of prizes ranging from a water melon, to some Tattoo vouchers! Some of the more expensive items were raffled off with us raising a total of £750 for our two charities. The afternoon ended with a ploughmans organised by Janet and Peter. Thanks to all of our members who helped organise, those who helped on the day and everyone who blagged prizes and bought tickets. a fun afternoon !!!
Wednesday 13th September
Our last game of the 2023 league season against Marine Gardens this afternoon. Our home game against them in July produced a 6-4 win, as it was today. The rinks today were pretty bad, despite paying their own contractor, they were probably the worst we had played on this season, including Beach House Park. Janet Atkinson again came away with top rink, with Dave Sargent and John Bailey – the other winning rink was skipped by Ted Poole with his comedy double act partner Trevor Gordine Deb O Mahoney and husband Mick. Our final points tally was 69-62, with our other triple and pairs only losing by a couple of points each. So that’s it for 2023 in the Brodie- won 6 and lost 6 with a draw and a rain stopped play, finishing third behind Southwick and Pavilion.
Tuesday 12th September
A friendly against Shoreham this afternoon at home, and the council finally got around to working on B green- with some new fox damage! We lost on 3 rinks and won on 2 with a score of 72-102. Top rink was skipped by our new Pairs champion Janet Atkinson with Chris Matthews and Reg Lawrence – winning 23-12.
Saturday 9th Sunday 10th September
Our finals weekend! All details are on the club competition page. A weekend enjoyed by all with some great bowling and some unexpected results. Thanks to all that participated and helped out on both days- a brilliant club effort.
Tuesday 5th September.
In the Stracey today Pavillion beat Lancing 8-2 which puts them 7 points ahead of us and consequently makes them the winners of this years competition. The good news is that we are confirmed as runners up! An altogether excellent result for our first year in this competition and many thanks to all of our players who participated in our games. You did us proud!
Monday 4th September.
Our game today was against Lancing- an away fixture, and our last one of the season in the Stracey. It was the hottest day of the summer so-far with the temperature hovering around 30C. which seemed to affect some players, but not others. It was a good result at the end winning the game 82-96 and 4-6. Such a good win that it put us at the top of the Stracey League by 2 points- Pavillion are just behind us with a game in hand, so its likely they’ll take the top spot by the end of the week. For our first season in the Stracey this has been an excellent year- well played Worthing!
Sunday 3rd September.
A sunny hot day today for a change, for our friendly against Lindfield. We managed to put out 5 triples, and even had reserves! It was a close result across 4 rinks, apart from Steve Murphy with Ken McMasters and John Williams who thrashed their opposition 32-5 and came out as top rink. On the other rinks we won 2 and lost 2, with an overall score of 90-59, and 3-2. Another win today was Neil Baker visiting Morrisons at the right time and coming away with 6 iced carrot cakes at 68p each instead of £2.25- after match tea’s sorted!
Wednesday 30th August.
Our return friendly against Southwick away this afternoon. Southwick are another Adur and Worthing council maintained green, and like us, have had problems with the maintenance this season, but they looked and played better than Beach House. This was a 4 triple fixture and we came away with a win – 69-56, and on top on 3 rinks. Peter Mantle won the pens today with Neil Baker and Colin Green scoring 23 points to 13.
Sunday 26th August.
This was supposed to be our penultimate game in the Stracey today against Maltravers. Unfortunately Maltravers couldn’t get a team together, citing the same reasons that a lot of Captains have expressed this year – players not wanting to play away games, don’t like the stress of competitions, not wanting to play every week etc etc. Anyway, the net result is that Maltravers conceded and we are awarded 10 points.
Saturday 25th August.
Three of us made the trip today to watch the two sides that will decide our fate in the WSBL Division 2 . Pulborough V Crablands. Pulborough needed 6 points to send us down to the 3rd division with Crablands already promoted. We arrived at Pulborough in the middle of a thunderstorm, with the clubs already agreeing to an 11 end game- so it was all over by 3.45. An 8-2 victory to Crablands and we’ve stayed up, finishing in 5th – Maltravers and Pulborough are demoted, and Crablands with Pagham go up. A not so good season for us in the WSBL- winning 4, losing 6 and 2 rained off – our best game, probably our mid week win against promoted Pagham and our low point was being beaten 8-2 by demoted Maltravers. Our immediate return to Division 1 wasn’t as easy as we thought- hopefully next season will be different, but we need a bit more commitment from bowlers to ensure we put out our strongest side.
Thursday 24th August.
This was our last match in the WSBL away at Middleton and a must win for us. Due to being a mid week game Richard couldn’t field the side he would have liked, so we went with a bit of a weakened team. Rain was forecast, and after 6 ends there was a big lightning storm with torrential rain, so we went off -10 minutes later the Captains and the Greenkeeper came to a decision and the match was called off. League rules prevailed, and we took 5 points each- which helped Middleton, but not Worthing. The deciding game of the season on Saturday is Pulborough v Crablands – Crablands are top of the league and Pulborough just off the bottom, so Pulborough need 6 to stay up. Edge of the seat Saturday afternoon then!!
Wednesday 23rd August.
Our game against Tarring Priory at home today was our penultimate one in the Brodie Tray. Our first Brodie of the season was against Tarring and we came away with a good win – like us, Tarring are struggling a little to put out a strong side even with a lot more signed up players , but today they got it together, coming out 6-4, 63-55 winners. We won on two, lost on two, but the overall score points went to Tarring. Our top rink today, the pairs, was won by Simon Edwards and Dave Sargent, coming out 18-6 victors. Our other winning rink was skipped by Janet Atkinson with Peter Mantle and Trevor Gordine. The ability of a lot clubs to put out a team was emphasised tonight, when I received a call from the Captain at Maltravers, calling off our Sundays Stracey game due to not enough players putting their name down, gifting us the game and 10 points.
Saturday 18th August.
Rain was forecast for our Stracey Match against Maltravers in Littlehampton this afternoon but never appeared. Despite heavy overnight rain, the green played very well, which is unusual for Maltravers. Overall it was a pretty good game for us, that went down to the wire on 2 of the rinks; one draw and one loss, but, we had two very good wins on the other rinks. Russ Hallett with Dave Sargent Ken McMasters and Trevor Gordine winning 28-11 and Janet Atkinson with Kris Czarnecki, Mickey Page and Chris Matthews winning 22-14. Scores on the doors were 87-73 and 7-3 – this puts us in second place with two to play and a game in hand to Tarring Priory who are 10 points behind. We still have a chance of staying up in the WSBL but we need a very good result for our last game away at Middleton.
Friday 17th August.
Congratulations to Richard Maton on winning the Hastings Open Tournament Singles Final.
Thursday 16th August.
Another 4 triple friendly this afternoon at Billingshurst, a favourite fixture with a lot of our players. The day didn’t start too well when we were suddenly one player short at 12.45- luckily Jeff Ellison responded to my WhatsApp immediately and was at the club within 10 minutes managing to avoid the housekeeping or shopping that was planned for him. Another slight problem was Colin Green leaving his bowls and shoes at home – Dave Sargent, ever prepared, managed to supply both! The rinks were a bit faster than we are used to, which caused come ditch problems in the first couple of ends, but we settled and ended up winning 73-58 – 2 wins and 2 losses. Top rink was skipped by Chris Matthews, with Syd foster and Colin Green backing him up, scoring 25-8. The other winning rink was led by Ted Poole with Ken McMasters and the replacement, Jeff Ellison who should really put his name down more often.
Tuesday 15th August.
On the road today over the downs to Steyning for a 4 triple friendly. Dave Sargent was Captain of the day for the second time this season, and he came away with a 74-48 victory, winning on one rink, drawing on 2 and losing on one. Ted Poole was skipping the winning rink, and came away with a pretty decisive 34-2 win, playing with the two Kens -McMasters and Poole. Special mentions today for Steve Mickella playing his first game, and to the Club Legend Mickey Page who volunteered to skip and helped to score a 7 on one end.
Saturday 12th August 2023.
Goring Manor away in the Stracey this afternoon. It was a surprise to find that the green had been turned to North South orientation, and instead of the usual straight/swingy rinks ,they played really well. Apart from one rink, where we went down heavily we had a result, coming out 6-4 winners, and losing by only 2 points overall. Ian Godden skipped the top rink today, with Mick O Mahoney, John Bailey and Andy Slater winning 27-15. Deb O Mahoney played her first game for a month, helping Simon Edwards Syd Foster and Chris Matthews to a 19-11 win. After a mid season period of losing a lot of games, we seem to be back on track now winning, our last seven league games and we are now second in both the Stracey and Brodie with only a couple of games to play in both competitions.
Wednesday 9th August 2023.
A mid-week fixture in the WSBL was big ask for us to put out our strongest side, but we ended up traveling to Pagham with a good team thanks to some players taking time off work. The greens today were pretty pushy, which is par for the course for Pagham, who put out a strong side, obviously used to the surface. We finished on top thanks to some great individual performances, winning 89-78 and 8-2. Top rink today was Richard Maton ,Andy Slater, Ron Bewley and Dave Sargent- our losing rink only lost by two points, which helped with our overall top score. With our result today Maltravers are definitely demoted but we’re not out of the danger zone yet for relegation, but todays result certainly helped out chances of staying up. Fingers crossed for our last game against Middleton on the 24th.
Sunday 6th August 2023.
At last an almost sunny day!! Our return match against Pavillion in the Brodie played on Green B, the better of our 2 greens at the moment, but still pretty poor. Away at Pavillion in June we went down 8-2 on really fast rinks- this time the result was reversed and we came out on top 8-2, and 72-51 victors. We won on 3 rinks and Janet Atkinson was again skipping on top rink with Dave Sargent and Colin Green, ending up 25-8 on top. A great result today, leaving us in equal first with Southwick, but they have a couple of games in hand so we won’t be there at the end of the week!
Saturday 5th August 2023.
Our bad luck with the weather continues! We had to cancel another game today, this time against Crablands in the WSBL. There isn’t an option to re-arrange a league match so we had to take 5 points each – maybe not a bad option for us as Crablands are flying high at the top of League 2. This season looks like its going to be a repeat of last season where other clubs results are going to decide our fate in Division 2. On a brighter note, the club was open for the afternoon and we had a great social using the food bought for the game as a ploughmans lunch.
Wednesday 2nd August 2023.
More bad weather today – we were supposed to play Lancing today in the Stracey, but the weather forecast was foul so the match was re-organised to September 4th.
Monday 31st July 2023.
Another wet and windy game today- this time at home against Goring Manor in the Brodie. There was a distinct feeling in the clubhouse before 2.00 that a lot of players on both sides didn’t want to play, so the two Captains decided we’d play 11 ends, and see if the weather improved. Unfortunately it got a lot worse – so we called it a day at 11. Despite the poor conditions B green played really well, not having been cut for a week, and we came out 8-2 winners, scoring 47 points to 39- a lot better than 5-5 if the game had been called off. Top rink today was Janet Atkinson, with Neil Baker and Dave Sargent who finished 15-3 on top.
Sunday 30th July 2023.
Todays match against Pulborough in the WSBL was a must win game for us and we managed to come away with a 97-72, 6-4 victory. Despite the rain for all of the afternoon, and the greens having been played on yesterday for their triples tournament, they played extremely well. On all of the rinks for the first six ends the home team pulled away, but we gradually came back into the game. Comeback of the day was on Russ Halletts rink, who with John Bailey, Chris Matthews and Simon Edwards fought back from 20-2 down after 12 ends to finish on a narrow loss of 24-20. Top rink today was Richard Maton, with Dave Sargent, Ian Slater and Alan Grief who came out 33-12 on top. Todays win helped us out – we are now three points ahead of Pulborough, but they have a game in hand. Next Saturdays game is at home against Crablands, who are currently top of Division 2, so it won’t be an easy day!
Ian Godden with his prize winning water melon!!
Thursday 27th July 2023.
Our friendly against Southwick was cancelled due to heavy overnight rain.
Sunday 23rd July 2023.
Another day with rain forecast , but this time it remained sunny thankfully. Our game this afternoon was our return home fixture against Goring Manor in the WSBL. This was another close game ,as was our away game earlier in the season. This time the scores were in our favour, but only on the points tally, coming out on top 84-67, thanks to Ian Godden, Charles Linsell, Dave Steff and Alan Grief winning 38-12. We ended up drawing the game 5-5 – we’ve now pulled away from Maltravers on points but remain second from bottom of the table.
Care in the community at work!
Saturday 22nd July 2023.
Rain stopped play! We made the journey to Maltravers in Littlehampton with rain threatened, expecting to play 11 ends before making a decision. Unfortunately, the forecast was for once, correct, and it teemed down- three ends was all it took to decide that biscuits and a cuppa were a far better option. 5 points for each club was agreed, and we made our way damp way home for a beer in our bar.
Thursday 20th July 2023.
This was our third game against Marine Gardens this season, having won the previous two in the Stracey Shield. A few heavy showers had left B green with a couple of worn rinks, so we moved to A which turned out to be more pushy than we were used to. It was a reasonably good afternoon for us with some very close finishes on all rinks, apart from Ted Poole, skipping the rink with Dave Sargent, Ken Mcmasters and John Bailey, who romped away 28-6 winners. Janet Atkinson and Colin Green had a great game in the singles, only losing in the last end by just one point. So a win for us coming out on top at 77-58 and 6-4. Todays result brought us up to third in the table behind Southwick and Marine Gardens with five games left – there’s still plenty to play for!
Tuesday 18th July 2023.
This afternoon we played our home friendly against Steyning on four triples. We had a last minute withdrawal due to illness, so it required a jiggle around of the rinks- Colin Green drew the short straw and played his first game as skip bowling extremely well. We finished the game with a 2-2 draw losing 53-59, which, with the players we had available was a reasonable result. Top rink today was skipped by Chris Matthews with Neil Baker and Reg Lawrence at 2 and 3. The other winning rink was Janet Atkinson, Ted Townsend and Maureen Jackson
Sunday 16th July 2023.
Today we welcomed The West Sussex Tourists to Beach House park for their annual visit with Dave Sargent taking on the job of Captain of the day. Again, as it was friendly we put out a side of a few experienced bowlers some intermediates and a couple of beginners. The Tourists always field a pretty experienced side who aren’t only here for the beer and cake, so it was great that we came away with a 73-68 overall win, with Dave Steff skipping the Top Rink together with Neil Baker and Ted Townsend, winning 24-9. Thanks to everyone who helped out with putting on two games over the weekend- it was a bit of an effort but we came away with two wins.
Saturday 15th July 2023.
A WSBL game at home today against Maltravers who inflicted an 8-2 defeat on us last Saturday, probably due to our being 5 regular players short. Today the tables were reversed , with Maltravers being a couple of regulars short, which made a difference as we came out on top with an 88-52, 8-2 win. It was very close to being a 10-0 result with Ted Pooles rink losing on the last end. Top rink today was Richard Maton, with Colin Green Ken McMasters and Smurf achieving an excellent 31-6 victory. This was our first win in the WSBL this season, and are now off the bottom of the table!
Wednesday 12th July 2023.
This was our first friendly in a month so we tried to field a team of bowlers who have only played a few games this year, and in Neil Baker, his first game. The match was against The Drive, from Hove, who normally play on carpet. We came out on top, winning 73-58, and 3-1. A good all round result for us playing against a very friendly team. Simon Edwards was back on form, winning top rink with Ron Bewley and Maureen Jackson.
Saturday 8th July 2023.
The weather didn’t look too good in the morning for our game this afternoon against Maltravers in the WSBL with heavy showers, thunder and lightning forecast. We went over to Littlehampton five regular players down, so it was a tough challenge to start with. Unfortunately for us the game went ahead, as Maltravers were way stronger than we expected, for a team at the bottom of the league. The rain mostly held off, apart from one five minute shower, and we were well beaten on three rinks with Russ Hallett, together with Colin Green, Ken Mc Masters and Chris Matthews being the only winning rink. The final score was 119-72, and 8-2. Our return fixture is next Saturday, which is a must win for us.
Wednesday 5th July 2023.
Today we played Southwick in the Brodie at home. Our away game at Southwick a month ago, we were beaten 8-2, and so it turned out today- 8-2 and 74-49. At least Ted Poole turned in a positive result with a close fought game, coming out 15-12 on top. Ted was with Colin Green, Ken Poole and Mick O Mahoney, with Colin having an particularly good game .
Sunday 2nd July 2023.
This was our 4th game in 5 days today, and everyone seemed to be a little “bowled out”. A return visit from Tarring Priory in the Brodie who we beat in the first leg 4-6. This time the scores were reversed losing 6-4. We played on A green, and the surface was atrocious- more brown than green with cracks appearing everywhere. The final score was 66-83, again winning on 2 and losing on 2. Top rinks were Ian Godden and Simon Edwards, both winning by just one point. Tina Redman Ken Poole and Steve Murphy with Ian, and Pete Mantle, John Williams and Janet Atkinson with Simon.
Saturday 1st July 2023.
A home game today in the WSBL against Pulborough. We struggled again to come up with a good result; our greens were fast with players on both sides struggling to get near the jack. We eventually fought out a 2-2 draw, losing on both points tally, 6-4, and 74-78. Not much in the final score and again we failed to pick up the extra 2 points. Simon lost his 5 game winning top rink streak , with Ted Poole coming out on top, with John Bailey, Mickey Page and Ian Slater alongside him.
Thursday 29th June 2023.
Another long trip away to Pavillion in the Stracey, and we have passed the half way point of fixtures for the season. Our game at home a couple of months we came away away with 7-3 win – this time unfortunately, we went down to an 8-2, 98-78 defeat on extremely fast greens. Our only winning rink, and consequently top rink, was again skipped by Simon Edwards, with Deb O Mahoney Mick Page and Chris Matthews backing him up. Pavillion provided an extremely good tea with excellent sausage rolls and some memorable fudge brownies.
Wednesday 28th June 2023.
Simon Edwards, for the fourth game running skipped the top rink, this time with Deb O Mahoney, Maureen Jackson and Peter Mantle. We played our away leg against Lancing in the Brodie Tray that ended in a 5-5 draw, but a 65-78 points win for us. Three of the rinks came down to the last end for a result, but unfortunately we only got a draw out of one and losing on two.
Saturday 25th June 2023.
Our first game away at Goring Manor who moved down from Division 1 with us last season. Selection is still proving a bit of a problem with several players unavailable, so it was a hard game to come up with a good result. Unfortunately we went down 6-4, 84-67, against a strong Goring side. Once again Simon Edwards came out as top rink winner, with Dave Sargent, Ken Poole, and Alan Grief backing him up.
Thursday 23rd June. 2023.
Lancing were back at Beach House today for our home Brodie match. Not a good result as we lost 4-6 and 61-65. Another close result losing by a couple of points. Janet Atkinson, John Bailey and Sid Foster were the top rink, with a special mention to Simon Edwards and Debbie O Mahoney who came up on top in the pairs, against a very strong Lancing pair who weren’t used to losing.
Sunday 18th June 2023
Not a good day at Beach House Park. The weather was atrocious and it rained on and off throughout the match. Up until the 12th end we were in front on three rinks, but the rain stopped and Pagham came back- the last 30 minutes the rain was torrential and they continued their fightback. The final result was 7-3 to Pagham, again we lost by only a couple of points at 80-77. Top rink today was Syd Foster, Ken Poole, Peter Mantle and Simon Edwards. I think a lot of players hadn’t checked the weather forecast before the match, turned up without jackets and consequently returned to the clubhouse dripping!
Thursday 15th June 2023.
Our first visit to Southwick in the Brodie, today and they look to be one of the stronger sides in the competition. We went down 90-44, 8-2, with only our rink winning, skipped by Trevor Gordine, with Nick Gordine, Mickey Page and Colin Green playing alongside him.
Sunday 11th June 2023.
Our third game in as many days today against Maltravers in the Brodie tray. This time the game ended very much in our favour. Despite a torrential rain shower ,every rink battled through to a 10-0 win, recording 74-47 points in the process. Top rink today was the triple of Deb O Mahoney, Alan Grief and Steve Murphy who came out 21-10 on top.
Saturday 10th June 2023.
This was the clubs first visit to Crablands in many years playing in the WSBL 2 today. It was a difficult game for us, as the greens were shockingly bad. We ended up losing 71-66 and another 6-4 points split. Andy Slater, standing in as Captain of the day had a good game though, being on the top rink together with John Bailey and Russ Jennings and Ted Poole at skip .The other winning rink was skipped by Ian Godden coming in at a close 15-14 victory.
Friday 9th June 2023.
Breezy sunny and hot at Field Place playing Goring Manor in the Brodie. Unfortunately we came out second best, losing 77-75 and 6-4. The top rink today a triple, won 26-15, skipped by Peter Mantle with Tina Redman leading and Mick O Mahoney at 2. Not the result we wanted but at least we picked up 4 points.
Sunday 4th June. 2023.
This was our third game this week and we were against Marine Gardens in the Stracy Shield at home. The greens are still playing a bit strange with a lot of brown patches making finding the weight and green difficult. We got the better of them though and came away winning on all rinks, and scoring a 10-0 106-50 win. Credit to everyone who played today with some excellent shots across all of the rinks. Top rink was Russ Hallett, playing alongside Mick o Mahoney, Russ Jennings and Alan Grief, finishing with an 29-7 score.
Saturday 3rd June. 2023
We played our first WSBL 2 game today against newly promoted Middleton, with an 11.00 start due to the Cup Final. Middleton bought a strong side with them and came out close winners 75-73, and 6-4. Richard Maton skipped the top rink again today, together with Dave Sargent John Bailey and Steve Murphy. At Middelton’s request we put out an extra rink, and our ladies agreed to the challenge. Thanks to Janet, Maureen Tina and Debbie, who looked like they enjoyed themselves despite losing.
Today, we had an early start, to unveil a plaque in memory of former member of Worthing Bowling club, Ted Hayward who died at the end of 2022. Ted won a gold medal in the World Bowls Championship in 1972, playing in the fours event and started playing for Worthing and Sussex in the late 80’s. The unveiling was attended by Ted’s wife, daughter and grandchildren and members of the bowls club who knew and played with Ted.
Thursday 1st June. 2023
We came down to earth with a bit a bump today at Pavillion. The weather was perfect, apart from a brisk breeze, and the green was fast but nowhere near as fast as Beach House has been. We went down 66-81, 2-8. Our score was helped by our top rink of Colin Green, Ken Stanton and Richard Maton, who won 27-11, including a brilliant 8 on the last end.
Saturday 27thMay 2023 –
A lovely day for a game of bowls- around 20C and a light breeze .Our opponents today were Goring Manor in the Stracey Shield, who are just behind us in the league. Yet another game where we came back from being down, to getting another win on rinks that kept changing throughout the afternoon. Final score came out at a close 73-69 and 7 points to 3. Top rink was again Ted Poole, this time alongside Peter Mantle, Ken McMasters and Alan Grief, playing his first game for Worthing for quite a few years. The win today puts us at the top of the Stracy league.
El Presidente and his lucky legs!
Thursday 25th May 2023-
Another day another match! This time a friendly away at Shoreham on 4 triples. We ended up with a 80-42, 3-1 win, which was especially satisfying, as we picked a team which included some first year beginners. Top rink today was Colin Green together with Trevor and Nick Gordine – Nick playing his first ever game- who ran away to a 29- 7 win.
Wednesday 24th May 2023 –
A great result in the Stracey Shield today against Pavillion. After 10 ends we looked like we were going down to an all round loss, but every rink fought back to a fantastic 85-78, 7-3 win against one of the stronger clubs in the league. A special mention to Trevor Gordine Syd Foster John Williams and Maureen Jackson who fought back from 19-3 down adding a couple of threes and a four, to only a narrow loss. Top rink was Dave Sargent, Ted Townsend, Mick O Mahoney and Ted Poole .
SATURDAY 20th May 2023 – A third away win on the trot today against Marine Gardens in the Stracey Shield. The greens were a bit difficult, not helped by a gusty northerly win. We came out on top winning 99-56, 8 points to 2. Our top rink was Dave Sargent Janet Atkinson, Ian Slater and Ian Godden. Ted Poole’s rink won on the last end with Deb O’ Mahoney’s perfect bowl onto the jack.
THURSDAY 18TH MAY 2023 – Another great result away at Tarring priory today, this time in the Brodie League. On a very well prepared green we won on three of the four rinks with an overall score of 73 – 55 and we picked up 8 of the 10 points available. Our top rink today was Peter Mantle and Janet Atkinson.
SATURDAY 13TH MAY 2023 – Having played our first Stracey Shield match of the season in pouring rain a few days ago, our second Stracey match this afternoon was played in warm sunshine away at Tarring BC. We won on 2 rinks and lost on the other 2 rinks but we came out on top by an overall score of 88 – 69 and therefore the points score was 6 – 4 in our favour. Our top rink today was Mick O’Mahoney, Russ Jennings, Chris Matthews and Russ Hallett.
THURSDAY 11TH MAY 2023 – Back to winning ways today in a home friendly against Portslade BC. The match format was 5 triples with Worthing winning 3 of them and by an overall score of 85 – 73. Our top rink today was Jeff Ellison, Mick O’Mahoney and Janet Atkinson.
WEDNESDAY 10TH MAY 2023 – A disappointing start for us in the Stracey Shield this afternoon as we lost 8 – 2 at home to Lancing BC. Playing conditions were difficult with 2 heavy showers during the match and Lancing clearly adapted to the conditions much better than we did. Our only winning rink today was Ken Poole, Mick O’Mahoney, Janet Atkinson and Simon Edwards.
SUNDAY 30TH APRIL 2023 – Congratulations on behalf of Worthing BC to Janet Atkinson who has successfully completed her coaching course.
As of today Janet is now officially a Level 1 Bowling Coach.
SATURDAY 29TH APRIL 2023 – Beautiful weather at Worthing for the first day of our open weekend and our friendly match with Pulborough.
With regard to the open day, we had a decent number of people showing interest in joining our club and well done to the Worthing BC members who took part in the day.
The Pulborough match was also successful with Worthing winning by a score of 85 – 75. Our top rink today was Ted Townsend, Mick Page and Mick O’Mahoney and Mick Page was replaced by Janet Atkinson part way through the match.
SATURDAY 15TH APRIL 2023 – Our first match of the 2023 season today was a friendly at Portslade on their relatively new artificial geeen. The match was played in a triples format across 5 rinks and was very close with Portslade winning 3-2 on rinks and by a total score of 79 – 72.
Congratulations to Chris Matthews who played his first match since becoming or club captain.
Our top rink today Russ Jennings, Mick Page and Richard Maton and our other winning rink was Deb O’Mahoney, Colin Green and appropriately Chris Matthews.
INDOOR OUTDOOR LEAGUE – Throughout the winter months we have been playing in the Indoor Outdoor League which is takes place at Field Place and is comprised of 8 of the local bowling clubs. Most of the other clubs tend to have many more regular indoor bowlers than we have so it’s quite a tough league for us to compete in. Despite this we had a very good finish in winning our final 2 matches against East Preston a few weeks ago and Marine Gardens yesterday.
Well done to everyone who played in any of the matches and thankfully it isn’t be too long now until we will be bowling outdoors again and hopefully with the sun on our backs!
WORTHING BC ADVERT – At the recent club committee meeting it was agreed that the advert for the club below will appear in the April edition of the Worthing Journal.
SATURDAY 12th NOVEMBER 2022 – A very enjoyable evening at the annual trophy dinner which took place at Palm Court. Many thanks to Mick Page who organised the competitions and trophies and to Peter Mantle and everybody else involved in organising the event.
TUESDAY 20th SEPTEMBER 2022 – We played our final match of the season this afternoon in a friendly at home against Billingshurst BC. The match format was triples across 4 rinks and we won 4 – 0.
Our top rink today was Dave Sargent, Colin Green & Simon Edwards and our other winning rinks were John Bailey, Chris Matthews & Dave Hoggen / Deb O’Mahoney, Ken MacMaster & Mick Page / Marion Hoggen, Mick O’Mahoney & Pete Mantle.
Our overall record for the season in matches against other clubs, including all league and friendly matches was 46 matches played, 22 wins, 20 losses and 4 draws. Not a bad record but hopefully we can improve on this next year.
SATURDAY 17th SEPTEMBER 2022 – Our annual charity day took place this afternoon and was a great success as we raised £500 for the Headway UK charity. Peter Mantle won the Spider and Janet Atkinson, Colin Green and Chris Matthews won the beer match.
Very well done to Chris Matthews and everybody else who helped to set the event up and a huge thank you to everybody who donated prizes and bought raffle tickets.
The highlight of the event has to be our resident photobomber Ian Godden winning Alcohol Free Beer and a box of truffles which apparently he had donated for the raffle!
THURSDAY 15th SEPTEMBER 2022 – We travelled over to Hove today for a friendly match at The Drive BC. They play on an artificial green which predictably took our team some time to get used to and we lost the match by 4.5 – 0.5. Our top rink who drew their game was Ken MacMaster, Russ Jennings & Marion Hoggen. Despite the heavy defeat we’ll all certainly look forward to going back there again because their members are very friendly and they have a great clubhouse.
WEDNESDAY 14th SEPTEMBER 2022 – We had a disappointing end to our good season in the Brodie League this afternoon. Our final fixture was away at Marine Gardens who won the match 8 – 2. Our top and only winning rink was Deb O’Mahoney, Mick O’Mahoney & Pete Mantle
TUESDAY 13th SEPTEMBER 2022 – We played a friendly match at home this afternoon against Shoreham BC. The match format was 5 triples of which we won 4 and Shoreham won 1 and the overall score was 100 – 66 in our favour. Our top rink was Dave Sargent, Syd Foster & Janet Atkinson and our other winning rinks were Russ Jennings, John Bailey & Marion Hoggen, Ken MacMaster, Maureen Jackson & Chris Matthews and Deb O’Mahoney, Colin Green & Dave Hoggen.
SUNDAY 11th SEPTEMBER 2022 – Day 2 of our club competition finals today. This morning in the Ernie Boulton competition, Dave Sargent, Russ Jennings, Dave Hoggen and Janet Atkinson beat Nick Gordine, Barney Rudge, Chris Matthews and Ian Slater with the match going to an extra end. Also this morning, in the Jay Cup Simon Edwards beat Russ Hallett with the match also going to an extra end and in the Pairs Championship, Charles Lindsell & Dave Steff beat Ian Godden & Richard Maton.
In this afternoon’s matches Richard Maton beat Garry Olver in the Championship Singles, Ian Godden beat Marion Hoggen in the Norman King competition and Tina Redman & Ian Slater beat Russ Jennings & John Bailey in the Wheeler Pairs. Congratulations to all today’s winners and runners up and many thanks to all who came along to watch the finals.
Finally, a huge thank you to all those who made the weekend run so smoothly. This includes Mick Page who organised the finals and baked some cakes, Charles Lindsell, Dave Steff, Dave Sargent and Ken MacMaster who arrived very early to set up the green, Deb & Mick O’Mahoney who did the food shopping and set up the magnificent buffet and last but certainly not least, Barney Rudge & Chris Matthews for looking after the bar. It was a thoroughly enjoyable weekend and the weather was beautiful.
SATURDAY 10th SEPTEMBER 2022 – Today was day 1 of our club competitions finals weekend. This morning in the Drawn Pairs, Ian Slater & Steve Murphy (Smurf) beat Deb O’Mahoney & Richard Maton and Pete Mantle beat John Bailey in the Veterans Cup. This afternoon in the Handicap Singles, Richard Maton beat Dave Hoggen and John Bailey beat Ian Slater in the Wheeler Singles. Congratulations to all today’s winners and runners up and it was fantastic to see so many of our members come along to watch the finals and drink the bar dry on what turned out to be a really enjoyable day for our wonderful club. Day 2 commences at 10am tomorrow.
THURSDAY 8th SEPTEMBER 2022 – Despite today’s wet weather, we were able to play our home Brodie League fixture against Worthing Pavilion this afternoon. We kept up our good form in the competition winning on three of the 4 rinks and the final score was 6 – 4 in our favour. Our top rink was John Bailey, Dave Hoggen & Richard Maton and our other winning rinks were Marion Hoggen, Barney Rudge & Simon Edwards and Deb O’Mahoney, Dave Sargent, Mick O’Mahoney & Mick Page.
WEDNESDAY 7th SEPTEMBER 2022 – Our good season in the Brodie League continued this afternoon with a 5 – 5 draw away at Lancing BC. With 2 matches still left to play, this result already guarantees that we will finish the season in second place. This is a very positive achievement for the club and well done to Marion and all our members who played in the Brodie this season. Today’s top rink was Dave Sargent, Tina Redman, Ian Slater and Ted Poole and our other winning rink was Ken Poole, Pete Mantle and Janet Atkinson.
SUNDAY 4th SEPTEMBER 2022 – We played a friendly match this afternoon at home against Lindfield with a format of 5 triples. We won on 2, lost on 2 and the other rink was a draw but we won on the overall score by 88 – 80. Our top rink was Dave Sargent, Ken MacMaster & Marion Hoggen and our other winning rink was Tina Redman, Colin Green & Dave Hoggen.
WEDNESDAY 31st AUGUST 2022 – We played a very enjoyable friendly match this afternoon away at Southwick BC. The match format was 6 Triples of which we won 3 and Southwick won the other 3. The overall score was 91 – 85 in Southwick’s favour. Our top rink today was Ken Poole, Marion Hoggen & Dave Hoggen and our other 2 winning rinks were Mike Butterfield, Chris Matthews & Simon Edwards and Colin Green, Dave Sargent & Janet Atkinson. Many thanks to all our members who played in today’s match. Having 18 of our bowlers signing up to play away from home in a midweek friendly demonstrates their great commitment to the club.
SATURDAY 27th AUGUST 2022 – Following Pavilion Bulls 6 -4 win against Goring this morning, we went into this afternoon’s final WSBL League fixture at Tarring Priory needing to win by at least 6 – 4 to guarantee us staying in division one for next season. Despite a battling performance against last year’s WSBL champions, we lost the match by a score of 6 – 4 and by an overall score of 76 -72, although one of our losing rinks went to the wire and could easily have swung the result in our favour. Our top rink today was Chris Matthews, Barney Rudge, Dave Hoggen and Simon Edwards and our other winning rink Charles Lindsell, Dave Sargent, Ian Slater and Russ Hallett.
THURSDAY 25th AUGUST 2022 – The order of play for our club competitions finals weekend was agreed today and the draw for the Ernie Boulton final was also made…Please see the details below and please note, bowlers in red text will use red stickers and bowlers in black text will use white stickers:
Saturday 10th September –
10.00am –
Drawn Pairs –
S. Murphy & I. Slater v R. Maton & D. O’Mahoney
Norman King – (Marker Simon Edwards)
M. Hoggen v I. Godden
Veterans Cup – (Marker Dave Steff)
P. Mantle v J. Bailey
2.30pm –
Handicap Singles – (Marker Charles Lindsell)
D. Hoggen v R. Maton
Wheeler Cup Pairs–
T. Redman & I. Slater v R. Jennings & J. Bailey
Sunday 11th September–
10.00am –
Ernie Boulton –
D.Hoggen (Skip), J.Atkinson, I.Slater & I.Rudge v
D.Sargent (Skip), C. Matthews, N.Gordine & R.Jennings
Championship Pairs –
C. Lindsell & D. Steff v R. Maton & I. Godden
Jay Cup – (Marker Deb O’Mahoney)
R. Hallett v S. Edwards
2.30pm –
Championship Singles – (Marker Andy Slater)
G. Olver v R. Maton
Wheeler Cup – (Marker Dave Hoggen)
I. Slater v J. Bailey
WEDNESDAY 24th AUGUST 2022 – The remaining semi finals for the club competitions were all completed today and the finalists for all of the competitions are as follows:
Championship Singles – Richard Maton v Gary Olver
Handicap Singles – Dave Hoggen v Richard Maton
Championship Pairs – Richard Maton & Ian Godden v Charles Lindsell & Dave Steff
Drawn Pairs – Steve Murphy & Ian Slater v Richard Maton & Deb O’Mahoney
Jay Cup – Russ Hallett v Simon Edwards
Norman King – Ian Godden v Marion Hoggen
Ernie Boulton Finalists – Dave Sargent, Dave Hoggen, Janet Atkinson, Ian Slater, Chris Matthews, Ian Rudge, Russ Jennings & Nick Gordine
Veterans Cup – John Bailey v Pete Mantle
Wheeler Cup – John Bailey v Ian Slater
Wheeler Drawn Pairs – Tina Redman & Ian Slater v Russ Jennings & John Bailey.
TUESDAY 23rd AUGUST 2022 – Our very good season in the Brodie league continued this afternoon in our away fixture at Tarring Priory where won the match by 9 – 1. Our top rink today was Pete Mantle, Dave Hoggen and Mick Page and our other winning rinks were Dave Sargent, Chris Matthews and Janet Atkinson and Deb O’Mahoney, Ken Poole, Mick O’Mahoney and Ted Poole. Well done also to John Bailey who helped to picked up a point playing in his first Brodie pairs match alongside our Brodie Captain Marion Hoggen.
SATURDAY 20th AUGUST 2022 – Another vital win for us this afternoon in the West Sussex Bowls League. We played at home against Chichester BC and we won the match by 7 – 3. Our top rink was Dave Steff, Ted Poole, Andy Slater and Richard Maton and our other winning rink was Charles Lindsell, Dave Sargent, Ian Slater and Russ Hallett. Today’s victory was our 3rd win in our last 4 matches and with one match left to play, it gives us a good chance of escaping relegation from division one of the WSBL.
THURSDAY 18th AUGUST 2022 – We had our second win on the road in the last 3 days in our friendly match away at Billingshurst BC this afternoon. The match format was triples played across 4 rinks, we won on three rinks and lost the other one and the overall score was 79 – 53 in our favour. Our top rink today was Ken MacMaster, Pete Mantle and Janet Atkinson. Our other two winning rinks were Marion Hoggen, Colin Green and Dave Hoggen and Ken Poole, Chris Matthews and Simon Edwards.
TUESDAY 16th AUGUST 2022 Congratulations to Mick O’Mahoney who captained Worthing BC for the first time in our friendly match at Steyning today. The match was played in a triples format across 4 rinks and we won the match convincingly by a score of 4 – 0. Well done to all our bowlers this afternoon and our top rink was Kris Czarnecka, Maureen Jackson and Pete Mantle.
SUNDAY 14th AUGUST 2022 – Following a positive start to the season in the WSBL, a mid season run of 5 defeats in a row means we are still bottom of the West Sussex Bowls league despite yesterday’s victory. With 2 matches left to play and only 4 points separating the bottom 4 teams, realistically any 2 from Pavilion Bulls, Goring, Norfolk and Worthing could be relegated at the end of the season.
Bulls remaining 2 matches are Norfolk away and Goring at home.
Goring’s remaining 2 matches are Chichester at home and Bulls away. Norfolk’s remaining 2 matches are Bulls at home and Pavilion Bears away. Our remaining 2 matches are Chichester at home and Tarring Priory away.
To end on a positive note, we have won 2 of our last 3 matches and if we bowl well in our last couple of games we still have a very good chance of escaping relegation. COME ON WORTHING BC!
SATURDAY 13th AUGUST 2022 – In the midst of the latest heatwave we played our home fixture in the West Sussex Bowls League against Goring Manor BC this afternoon. Well done to all our bowlers who braved the hot weather and helped us to win the match by 6 – 4 with an overall score of 76 – 69. Our top rink today was Chris Matthews, Mick O’Mahoney, Dave Hoggen and Simon Edwards and our other winning rink was Charles Lindsell, Steve Murphy, Mick Page and Russ Hallett.
SUNDAY 7th AUGUST 2022 – This morning on a fast as lightning green which was devoid of grass, we played away against Worthing Pavilion Bears in the West Sussex Bowls League. The Bears won the match 10 – 0.
THURSDAY 4th AUGUST 2022 – Our 5 match winning run in the Brodie League came to an end this afternoon at Maltravers BC who won the match by 8 – 2. Our top rink was Dave Sargent, Mick O’Mahoney, Barney Rudge and Peter Mantle.
SATURDAY 30th JULY 2022 – Following our recent poor run of results in the West Sussex Bowls League, it was a great feeling getting back to winning ways in our home fixture this afternoon against Norfolk BC. We won the match by 8 – 2 capped by a great comeback performance to win from 15 – 0 down on Ian Godden’s rink which also included Chris Matthews, Mick Page and Ted Poole. Our top rink today was Charles Lindsell, John Bailey, Steve Murphy and Simon Edwards. Kris Czarnecki, Ian Slater, Dave Hoggen and Richard Maton also won on their rink.
THURSDAY 28th JULY 2022 – Dave Sargent was our captain of the day for the first time in this afternoon’s friendly match at home against Southwick BC. The format was 4 triples of which we won three and Southwick won one. The overall score was 72 – 63 in Southwick’s favour. Our top rink was Syd Foster, Colin Green and Janet Atkinson.
SUNDAY 24th JULY 2022 – An enjoyable and very warm day today in the heart of Guildford town centre to play our return friendly match against Castle Green BC on an unusually lush green for the time of year. The format was 4 triples of which we won 2 and Castle Green won the other 2. Castle Green won on the overall score and our top rink was Charles Lindsell, Chris Matthews and Kris Czarnecki.
SATURDAY 23rd JULY 2022 – Unfortunately our bad run of results in the West Sussex Bowls league during the last month continued this afternoon with an 8 – 2 defeat at home against Worthing Pavilion Bulls. Our top rink today was Dave Sargent, Ian Slater, Mick Page and Richard Maton.
THURSDAY 21st JULY 2022 – Our excellent run of form in the Brodie league continued this afternoon with an 8 – 2 win at home against Marine Gardens. This victory takes us to the top of the league, it was our fifth win in succession during which time we have taken 44 points out of the 50 points available. Our top rink today was Peter Mantle, Chris Matthews, Dave Hoggen and Mick Page.
SUNDAY 17th JULY 2022 – We played at home against Southbourne BC in the West Sussex Bowls League this afternoon. After a good start in most rinks, our hopes of victory melted away in the sweltering heat generated by the current heatwave. We lost the match 8 – 2 and our top and only winning rink today was Dave Steff, John Bailey, Simon Edwards and Russ Hallet. On a more positive note, a big thank you to catering queen Kate and several of our other members who prepared and contributed food to make up a magnificent feast which was enjoyed by us all after the match.
SATURDAY 16th JULY 2022 – A great performance this afternoon in the Brodie league at home against Tarring Priory BC. We won the match 10 – 0 with an overall score of 101 – 47 and our top rink today was Peter Mantle and Richard Maton in the pairs match. This result means we have won our last 4 Brodie matches in a row and have amassed a total of 36 points from those matches. Congratulations to our club Vice Captain Marion who manages and captain’s our Brodie team and to all of our members who put their names down for the games. Fingers crossed we can keep up the momentum in the Brodie and hopefully take some of it into the WSBL as well.
WEDNESDAY 13th JULY 2022 – This afternoon we played a friendly match at home against The Drive BC from Hove. The match was played across 5 rinks in a triples format. We won on four of the rinks and lost on the other one and we won the match by an overall score of 97 – 73. Our top rink was Marion Hoggen, John Bailey and Mickey Page and many thanks as always to Kate for preparing the lovely post match snack.
SUNDAY 10th JULY 2022 – It was great fun traveling to Southbourne and back by train together as a team for today’s WSBL match with Southbourne and the post match hospitality provided by our hosts was a real treat. Unfortunately we struggled on the artificial green on a very hot day and we lost the match 10 – 0.
SATURDAY 9th JULY 2022 – We were due to play our home fixture against Goring Manor Hurricanes today in the Brodie league but as Goring are unable to field a team or reschedule the game, we will be awarded all 10 points for the match.
THURSDAY 7th JULY 2022 – We played in our 6th Brodie match of the season today at home against Maltravers BC and had a great result. We won the match 8 – 2 and this takes us up to 2nd place in the league. Our top rink today was Marion Hoggen, Barney Rudge and Ted Poole.
SUNDAY 3rd JULY 2022 – This afternoon we played a friendly match at home against the West Sussex Tourists. The match format was 4 triples of which we won 2 and the tourists won the other 2. We won the match by an overall score of 71 – 59 and our top rink today was Dave Sargent, Tina Redman and Ian Slater.
SATURDAY 2nd JULY 2022 – A trip to Littlehampton this afternoon for our away fixture against Norfolk BC in the West Sussex Bowls League. Norfolk won the match 8 – 2 and our top rink was Tom Parsons, Mick O’Mahoney, Mick Page and Ted Poole.
SUNDAY 26th JUNE 2022 – This morning we played away from home against Worthing Pavilion Bulls in the West Sussex Bowls League. We made a good start to the match but struggled in the latter stages when the green became very fast and we lost the match 9 – 1. Our top rink today was Dave Steff, Ian Rudge, Andy Slater and Ian Godden.
THURSDAY 23rd JUNE 2022 – Another very good 8 – 2 victory for Worthing BC today, this time in the Brodie league at home against Lancing BC. The result moves us up to 3rd place in the Brodie table and our top rink today was Dave Sargent, John Bailey and Mick Page. Thanks as always to our lovely Catering Manager Kate for preparing a great spread which we all enjoyed after the match.
SUNDAY 19TH JUNE 2022 – A cracking result for us today in the West Sussex Bowls League where we beat Worthing Pavilion Bears by 8 – 2 at Beach House Park to move up to 3rd place in the division 1 table. Our top rink today was Stuart Bryce, Russ Jennings, Steve Murphy (Smurf!) and Richard Maton.
SATURDAY 18TH JUNE 2022 – Today we had a great day out for our friendly match at Lindfield bowling club. The match format was 5 triples of which Lindfield won 3 and we won 2. Our top rink was Marion Hoggen, Colin Green and Dave Hoggen.
WEDNESDAY 15TH JUNE 2022 – This evening we played against Chichester in the second round of the Abergavenny competition where home and away matches are played simultaneously in a rinks format. We won the home match but lost the away match and were beaten narrowly on the overall score.
TUESDAY 14TH JUNE 2022 – A beautiful sunny day to play our fourth Brodie match of the season away at Worthing Pavilion. Sadly the result wasn’t beautiful as we lost 10 – 0!
SATURDAY 11TH JUNE 2022 – Today in our third West Sussex League match of the season we played away against Goring Manor. The final score was 8 – 2 to Goring and our top rink today was Stuart Bryce, Dave Hoggen, Andy Slater and Richard Maton.
FRIDAY 10TH JUNE 2022 – In our third Brodie League match of the season we played away against Goring Hurricanes today. Both clubs won on two rinks each but the final score was 6 – 4 to Goring as the overall total was 77 – 46 in their favour. Our top rink today was Deb O’Mahoney, Dave Hoggen and Mick Page.
WEDNESDAY 8TH JUNE 2022 – This evening we played Pagham BC in the Abergavenny competition. The format was rinks with matches played at home and away simultaneously and Worthing BC won by an overall score of 40 – 31.
SATURDAY 4TH JUNE 2022 – Two matches were played today at the same time. At home we played Marine Gardens in a friendly where the final score was 52 – 69 and our top rink was Colin, Mike B and Janet. Thanks very much as always to Kate Jennings for preparing delicious post match snacks.
We also played away at Chichester in the West Sussex Bowls League where the final score was 4 – 6 (71 – 87). Our top rink in this match was John, Mick, Trevor and Simon and 4 points from an away fixture in this league is certainly not a bad result for the club.
SATURDAY 28TH MAY 2022 – A brilliant start to our season in the 2022 West Sussex Bowls League! Worthing BC beat Tarring Priory BC by an overall score of 91 – 64 and in a comprehensive victory, Worthing won on all four rinks and pick up the maximum 10 points available from the match. Obviously there were a lot of great performances from our team in all 4 rinks and our top rink in this match was Dave Steff, Pete Mantle, Mick O’Mahoney and Trevor Gordine.
THURSDAY 26TH MAY 2022 – Today we played a friendly match away at Shoreham BC. The match format was four triples and Worthing and Shoreham won on two rinks each. Shoreham won on the overall score by 77 – 69. Our top rink today was Dave Sargent, Dave Hoggen and Janet Atkinson.
SATURDAY 21st MAY 2022 – We played a friendly match at Marine Gardens today where the format was five triples. Both clubs won on two rinks each, the other triple was drawn and Marine Gardens came out on top in the overall score by 81 – 72. Our top rink today was Deb, Barney and Mick P.
THURSDAY 19th MAY 2022 – A great result for Worthing BC in the Brodie League today. We played away at Goring Spitfires and won the match by 8 – 2. The aggregate score was 87 – 50 in our favour. It was sweet revenge as Goring Spitfires beat us 6 – 4 a couple of weeks ago in our home fixture against them. Our top rink today was Mick O, Kris and Janet.
SUNDAY 15th MAY 2022 – On a very wet morning, today we played away at Tarring Priory in the PC Cup. Tarring won the match winning on three of the four rinks. Our bowlers in the rink that we won were Mick O, Stu, Smurf and Simon.
SATURDAY 14th MAY 2022 – Our friendly match at home to Castle Green from Guildford today was played in a triples format across three rinks. We won the match 73-42 and our bowlers in the top rink were Colin Green, Dave Steff and Simon Edwards.
WEDNESDAY 11th MAY 2022 – Please note, two additional friendly matches have been added to our 2022 fixture list against The Drive who are based in Hove and play their home matches on an artificial green. We will play them at home on Wednesday 13th July and away on Thursday 15th September.
FRIDAY 6th MAY 2022 – Our first Brodie match of the season was played today at home to Goring Spitfires. Worthing and Goring won 2 rinks each but as the aggregate score was Worthing 73 Goring 75, Worthing received 4 points from the fixture and Goring Spitfires received 6 points. Well done to our 2 winning rinks today which were Marion, Mick O, Kris and Mick P in the rink match, and Dave S, Simon and Trevor in one of the triples.
Thanks very much from both teams to our lovely Catering Manager Kate for preparing the delicious buffet that we all enjoyed at the end of the match.
SATURDAY 30th APRIL 2022 – Worthing BC played a friendly match today away at Pulborough BC where the weather was sunny and warm. The match was played across 6 rinks in a triples format and Pulborough certainly made home advantage count in winning the match by 5 rinks to 1. Our winning triple at Pulborough was Deb O’Mahoney who played as lead, Chris Matthews who was the number 2 and Dave Hoggen who played as skip.
SATURDAY 23rd APRIL 2022 – The weather was beautiful for the annual President v Captain match which was played in a triples format across 4 rinks. Big thanks go out to Kate Jennings for preparing a lovely buffet which we all enjoyed after the match.
