300 Club

We did the 300 Club June draw early this month because it seemed a waste of an opportunity not to do it at the Sports Club BBQ on Saturday night given it was attended by both Bowls and Tennis Club members, many of whom have numbers.

For the very first time in the 200 now 300 Club’s six and a bit year history we had four prizes, one of £200 and 3 of £50.  Also for the first time, we did the draw outdoors!

Of the 300 numbers we have 24 not yet taken, so if you haven’t got a number and would like one please let Ian know.  The numbers chart is in the display unit in the clubhouse lobby if you want to see which numbers are available.

And so to the Draw, the first prize of £200 was won by the Tennis Club’s Giuseppi Fiorello.  Next up was £50 won by our good buddy Tony Adamson who sadly hasn’t been well enough to join us so far this summer, then £50 for recent arrival at Thame Bowls Club David White and finally Peter Hughes, who played his first Friday League game a couple of days ago, won the final £50 prize.

Congratulations to all winners and many thanks to everyone for your support.

It was also a joy to see so many tennis players be coached and have a go at bowls on the green for an hour after we had finished eating.  They genuinely seemed to enjoy having a go at bowling and some of them worryingly showed great promise!  

We had the 1st draw of the new expanded 300 Club on Friday night 26th May and Ray Plested was our 1st prize winner of £100 with his number 133.  2nd prize of £50 went to Byron when his number 149 popped up again (extraordinarily only 5 months after he won with the same number) and a 3rd prize of £25 went to Gini Williams who with 252 has one of the new numbers. 

At the time of writing we have 24 numbers of the extra 100 yet to have names against them. 

Our plan is to keep the same prizes that we’ve always had, but add a £50 prize each month plus a 4th prize every quarter month (June, Sept, Dec and March) of a variable amount depending on how many numbers have been taken up. 

Thanks to everyone who continues to support the 300 Club. 

The final draw of this 200 Club year was completed on Friday 28th and the first prize of £75 was won by our good friend Mike Ralls with his number 39.  The second prize of £25 was won by who I believe was the very first person to join the 200 Club way back in 2017, Mr Derek Goodyear, with his number 41.

Thanks to all Bowls Club members who have supported the 200 Club this past year.  I will be writing to all members again shortly about the new expanding May 2023 - April 2024 300 Club which I hope will be equally well supported.

In the year just gone the 200 Club has paid out a total of £2,250 in prizes and will be able to contribute a further £2,550 to Sports Club funds.  This money helps the Sports Club cover borrowing repayments on loans taken out to help build the new clubhouse.

So far the 200 Club has raised £14,700 in the 6 years it's been running, so a big thank you to Bowls Club members who have significantly helped make this happen.

Ian Rutherford

200 Club Administrator

At Club Night on 31st March Melv Warner's number came up on the raffle machine winning him £200 which, when I told him on 1st April, he thought was an April Fool's joke.  At least Melv has won something recently, which is sadly more than can be said for his beloved Oxford United who haven't won since January.

I'm delighted that the second prize of £50 went to the great man himself Mr Bill Giles.  Bill has generously subscribed to the 200 Club since the very beginning in May 2017, so it was a pleasure to hand over some money in his direction. 

Thanks everyone who is a member for supporting the 200 Club this past year and we will be writing in a few weeks' time about the new May 2023 - April 2024 200 Club year when we hope to learn that you will support us again.  

This month the draw was held at the club after a number of our members had helped with a tidy up after the hugely successful Quiz Night.

First out with a 1st prize of £100 was Frank Woolley, still present at the club and clearly delighted with his win.  Second prize of £25 went to Robin Jenner who had been at the Quiz Night but had left just before the draw was made.  Congratulations both.

Two more months to go before the end of this 200 Club's year and the March top prize will be £200!

This month's winners are well known to most if not all of you!  Maire Duncan won the first prize of £75 with her number 191 and Janine Dennington won £25 with her number 182.  Well done ladies. 

We will have £100 and £25 prizes next month so watch this space.

As your 200 Club Administrator chap was unable at the last minute to attend the Christmas Dinner last week, the Draw was done instead on the Friday evening just gone in front of a decent crowd. 

So it is pleasing to report that Gordon Taylor, our outgoing Bowls Club President, newly elected Deputy Chairman and now also stand-in Chairman of the Sports Club won the £500 200 Club Christmas Jackpot prize.  

The overworked Mr Taylor was not present, unlike our £100 Second Prize winner, Mr Byron Harvey, who had difficulty keeping a straight face for the rest of the evening. 

Well done to both worthy and very popular winners.

We drew this month's numbers at half time of the England v USA World Cup match shown on the big screen at the club, so at least we are able to say there was at least one winner on the evening! 

One of our more senior members Dave Powell won this month's first prize of £100 with his number 140 and 2nd prize of £25 went to Jeremy Munro of the tennis club with his number 35.

Next month's draw will take place at our Christmas Meal on 10th December when the prizes will be £500 and £100.  Be there or be square (that dates me a bit).

This month we did the draw at the end of one of our Friday Club Nights, which these days mainly involves short mat.  So a crowded room saw the 1st prize number 42 pop up and this belongs to our beloved former Treasurer's wife Beryl Wright.  Next up, the 2nd prize of £25 went to long time tennis club member Alan Cornish.

Congratulations as always goes to our winners.

Next month the prizes will be £100 and £25 and likely to be drawn during the England v USA football night that we will be having at the club.

The September Draw took place at our Bowls Presentation Night and the very first winner of the new Lightfoots Cup competition also won the £200 first prize, just before he emigrates to Scotland - I'm talking about Kevin Sharman of course who now has more than one reason to remember us by.  Second prize was won by Aidan Coles, a tennis member who has had a number in the draw since the very beginning in May 2017.  

Congratulations to both winners.

October prizes will be £75 and £25 before the prize amounts work their way up the scale towards the grand Christmas bumper prize.

A remarkable month when 2 of our small and elite group of Life Members won the prizes on offer.   The Draw took place after the Ladies v Gents match in front of a few of our sponsors and I am delighted to say that our long-time former Treasurer, coach and great supporter of our Club Keith Wright won the 1st prize of £100 and the 2nd prize of £25 went to our outstanding clubman and former Club Captain John Hurley.  Wonderful.    

The September prizes are £200 and £50 so keep your fingers crossed that your number comes up on 30th when all being well we will do the September Draw on that Friday evening.  

The July draw was held in front of a clubhouse full of bowls club members after the Friday League games on 29th July.  This month's £75 first prize was won by our brilliant Social Event Organiser Jo Green with her number 59 and Gerry Bryant, who witnessed his number 48 being drawn, and having already won a tenner in the raffle lucky fella, won the 2nd prize of £25.  Many congratulations to both winners.

The August draw will take place in the club on the 26th when the prizes will be £100 and £25. 

The June draw was held in the clubhouse after the Frday League games on 1st July.  The first prize of £200 was won by Ian Griffiths with his number 45 and Derek Goodyear, a generous supporter of the 200 Club since Day 1 in 2017, won the 2nd prize of £50.  Many congratulations to both winners.

Next month's draw will take place in the club on 29th July when the prizes will be £75 and £25. 

The £100 first prize of the first draw of the new 200 Club year was won by Jenny Lowe with her number 9 and our Men’s League Captain John Rawson celebrated our first league game of this season with a 5-1 win over Bicester, but then also won the second prize of £25 with his number 60!  Well done both. 

May I thank everyone who has subscribed with a number or numbers this year.  For a variety of reasons we had a turnover of nearly 20 numbers in the past month so I very much thank those who continue to support the Club and those who have most recently joined or subscribed to extra numbers to make sure we have a full house.

Ian

The final draw of this 200 Club year was completed on Friday 29th and the first prize of £75 was won by long time friend of the club Ken White.  The second prize of £25 was won by our exceptional President Gordon Taylor.

Thanks all Bowls Club members who have supported us this past year.  We have now written to all Bowls Club members about the new May 2022 - April 2023 200 Club year when we hope it will be well supported again.

In the year just gone the 200 Club has paid out a total of £2,250 in prizes and we've been able to contribute £2,550 to Sports Club funds.  This money  helps the Sports Club cover borrowing costs associated with the new clubhouse.

So far the 200 Club has raised £12,000 in the 5 years we've been running it, so a big thank you to Bowls Club members who have significantly helped make this happen.

Ian Rutherford

200 Club Administrator