Downend Short Mat Bowls Club

With it being a bank holiday, we expected limited numbers today. We were wrong! Twenty two made their way to the Parish Hall this afternoon. Perhaps it was the opportunity to get in some practice before the start of the new league season on Friday that was the spur. Our first match is the Colts away to the Scallywags. It could go either way - watch this space....

On Friday afternoon we hosted a group of residents from Kingswood Court Care Home. They run carpet bowls sessions in their lounge and were keen to see how short mat bowls is played. We treated them to a demonstration match followed by an opportunity to have a try it for themselves. Everyone had a go and revealed some surprising talent especially Trish who had once been a member of Ardagh Bowling Club. It was then time for tea and some of Val’s wonderful home made cake. It was a really great afternoon and as enjoyable for us as hopefully it was for them.

The Reverse Pairs competition (skips lead) finally reached it's conclusion on Thursday. A close contest saw John and Val just edge in front of Terry and Julie to take the title. Well done to all the teams who took part.

The new heating system in the hall came up trumps today. Since it is based on air source heat pumps it was simply a matter of running it in reverse and the heaters turn into air conditioners! This afternoon with outside temperatures hovering around 36°, in the hall it was a very acceptable 21/22°. Even a Red Extreme Heat Warning won’t stop Downend S.M.B.C!!

With the league season over, it’s a great opportunity for some friendlies involving clubs we don’t normally play. So, today Downend visited Pucklechurch S.M.B.C. for a friendly “triples”. It turned out to be a very close game. On Mat 1, Downend fell behind at the start but managed to pull things back and went on to take the game by one point. Mat 2 saw Downend draw ahead to eventually win by three points. Unfortunately on Mat 3, the visitors let the game slip away from them and Pucklechurch took it by five points which meant they won the match by a single point 43-42, Well done Pucklechurch but Downend will certainly be looking to turn the result around in the return fixture in a couple of weeks time…

This afternoon, Mike, Pete and John received the League “Runner Up” cups on behalf of Downend Colts at the Bristol and District Bowls League AGM. An 'end of term' competition involving most of the league teams took place either side of the meeting. The Colts won all their three matches in the opening round but lost out to Wellsway by one shot in the semi final. It wasn’t all doom and gloom. Mike won three bottles of wine in the raffle!

It was the Avon S.M.B.A AGM today, down at the Bristol Bowls Centre. The AGM is always preceded by a random trilples event. It was good to see three of our members represented in the winner’s enclosure: Gill (left) was part of the team that won the cup and Tim and Tracey (right) won the plate. It’s good to see Downend keeping up those winning ways!

It wasn’t an easy match to watch in the Parish Hall this afternoon as the Mustangs took on Midsommer Norton in the penultimate game of their League season. On Mat 1, Val, Tim and Tracey took an early lead but allowed the visitors back in, so by the fourth end it was back to all square at 5 all. The Mustangs drew ahead but by end ten the visitors had again pulled it back to 10 – 10. Despite the Mustang’s valiant effort to pull clear, Midsomer Norton were not giving up and at end thirteen it was back to level pe***ng at 13 all. Fortunately, four shots to the Mustangs on end fourteen gave Midsomer Norton a mountain to climb. Their skip made a brave effort on the final end but they could only manage one shot so the Mustangs took the game 17 -14.
Over on Mat 2, Gill, Mike and Sid made a confident start and by end five appeared to be cruising with an 8 – 2 lead. However, by this time Midsommer Norton were beginning to read the mat better and by the ninth end, they had taken the lead. This recovery was short lived as they lost all the remaining six ends resulting in a 17 – 9 victory for Downend and a well-deserved five points.

This afternoon the Colts played away at Warmley in their final league match of the season. On Mat 1, Julie, Dave and John had a very close first three ends until, in end four, they gained a hot shot! This was followed by a five in end seven which put them in a commanding position from which they never really looked back and went to take the game 12 – 19. On Mat 2 Tim, Pete and Mike took an early lead but Warmley were not giving up and by end six they were two points ahead. However, the Colts fought back and after taking nine shots from the next three ends, Warmley were in trouble and never recovered. The final score: Warmley 10 Colts 17. So in the final league table, the Colts end up a couple of points behind Wellsway Hawks, the league winners, and a definite feeling of “what might have been”.