Thame Bowls Club Weekly Newsletter No 20
Tuesday 9th September against Bassetsbury Manor was a beautiful day for bowling, but the good news stops there for Thame. It was a very heavy defeat by 94 shots to 46. We had two close defeats, the best of the day, being the triple of June Greene, Phil Boyle and Roger Blackburn who only lost by 2 points, closely followed by Mike Zak, Frances Goodyear and John Holmes who only lost by 4 points. The match was played in a good atmosphere as Bassetsbury Manor could only field 4 triples, but they seemed to have brought all their best players. Captain Roger Blackburn.
The ladies' match against Wendover also on 9th September was the ladies' last game of the season. Owing to another mixed match on the same day we only managed to put out two triples and a pair. Every team started off really well and I thought that we may 'whitewash' them but ... the rain came. It was completely unforeseen with heavy thundery rain. We just sheltered under the trees but were soon back on the rinks. However, everything changed and one triple [Jan Baker, Marion Keale and Caroline Walker] had had a 12-1 lead and ended up losing 14-20. The pairs [Diane Mackriell and Jenny Reed] had a lead of 6-5 then lost 9-18. The other triple [Irene Park, Heather Hallchurch and Pauline Holmes] won 21-11. So, although we lost overall it was a close score 44-49. This season although we lost more matches overall, we were rarely 'whitewashed' and usually had at least one rink winning. Well done, ladies and thank you for your support. Captain Pauline Holmes.
On 13th September we played our final Saturday friendly and my sincere thanks to all our members who supported the Saturday matches throughout the summer said Captain Ken King. Our final match finished 67 Thame 84 Cheddington and the 5 rinks were Thame 1, Cheddington 3 with 1 drawn. Our winning rink was rink 4 Tony Battaglia, Jill Brooks, and Ray Plested, by 16 shots to 14. The draw was rink 2 who were 17 to 14 down at end 17 and took the last by 3 shots to level it up, so well done to Ian Griffiths, Barry Green and Deidre Page. The end of season stats for the Saturday matches are as follows: Played 13, Won 3, Lost 10, Rinks For 26 Drawn 1 Against 36, Shots For 887 Against 1066 Difference -179. Thanks again to everyone who supported me and the club.
Regards, Ken King.
On Sunday 14th September the game at Hazells was a very wet and miserable day. Although the light rain at the start was followed by a short period of dry weather, the game was finally abandoned after 9 ends due to torrential rain. The scores at the end were 31 to Hazells and 28 to Thame. As Thame normally play better in the second half of away matches, when we get used to the green, it might have been a very rare win. Top rink was played by Colin French, Dawn Lawley and John Wilkinson with 9 to Thame and 2 to Hazells. Followed closely by two draws Mike Zac, Roger Mackriell and Irene Park (6 all) with Ken Lewis, Jan Baker and Marion Keal (5 all). Many thanks to Jan Baker and Chris Shannon who stepped in at short notice. As this is the last Sunday game, I wish to thank all the people who turned out for me this season. Captain Roger Blackburn.
Also, on Sunday 15th September there was a great Thame success: - Five ladies, Heather Hallchurch, Philippa Feltham, Sandra French, Pauline Holmes and Deirdre Page took part in the Open Oxfordshire County competition, held at South Oxford, playing for the Blay Cup and the Blay Plate respectively. The format was two wood pairs, played over twelve ends. We were all paired with players from other County clubs, and everybody played two games. Deirdre had won both her matches in the morning and was entered for the Blay Cup. She won again in the semifinal and then in the final to win the trophy, along with her partner from the Shiplake club.
Our other four ladies had all won one game and lost one in the morning, but Heather and Pauline went through to their semifinal on shots won with their respective partners playing for the Blay Plate. They both ended up in the final in opposition to each other, Heather winning by one shot on the last end. Thanks to everyone and to Philippa and Sandra for being our stalwart supporters in the afternoon despite the awful weather.
15.9.2025
