Open Day

Our Open Day this year took place on Saturday 2nd May and, after an uncertain start weather wise, the skies cleared to leave us bathed in glorious sunshine until the end of the Open Day when it promptly rained!

We were delighted to welcome 58 potential new bowlers to our club. It was great to see the green filled with people of all ages enjoying their first taste of bowls in a relaxed and enjoyable environment.

Our visitors began their visit with a cordial welcome from our meet and greet team with tea, coffee and cake on offer and then proceeded to the green for a short session with our indefatigable coaching team who worked tirelessly throughout the day.  Skills sessions and a roll up followed with the visit being concluded with more tea and cake.

We look forward to welcoming a number of our visitors to the club in the coming weeks for further coaching and roll ups.

If you are reading this wondering what you missed, please feel free to visit us on club nights in the coming weeks when we will be pleased to show you the ropes.  You are very welcome on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 1800. Report by Ruth.

Match Reports

Shalford

We had our first weekday friendly of the season on Tuesday (21st April) against Shalford. We played on their all weather green, which is a great transition from indoor to outdoor grass – we all managed to bowl full length. A great afternoon, predominantly in sunshine, was had by all. We won 67 to 57, which doesn’t reflect some exceptionally tight rinks. Report by John P.

Albury

On Sunday 26th April we played our first weekend friendly match of the season against Albury Bowls Club. The green was beautifully prepared and played well thanks to the hard work of David, Debbie and all the green keeping team. We had a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon with much friendly rivalry – the final score ending in a 53 — 53 draw. A lovely start to our home outdoor season. Report by Pauline.

Merrow is open for bowling…

David F, our President, welcomed us to the new season and members had a short ten-end game to get their arms in before enjoying tea and cakes provided by Helen and Pauline. First club night is Thursday 16th April.

Well it’s certainly true that many hands make light work. If we hadn’t stopped for tea and cakes all the outdoor painting on Saturday (sheds, ditch boards, poster frame and electric fence posts) would have been completed in a record time.

Thank you to everyone who turned out to help. We managed to beat the weather and get the job done with no ned to resort to our back-up day.  Only the benches to oil now…

What a super turnout for the Games Evening on Sunday. Well done all – there was such a buzz and we raised £319. Thanks to all the helpers who hosted games, it made Barbara’s life a lot easier.

It was such a success that we are considering in the summer making Wednesday Canasta Night and the first and third Sunday Games Night.

Lots of work has been going on at Merrow to get the green and surrounds ready for our outdoor season starting in mid April.

Tony D organised a team to clear out the ditches, Mike and Derek have repaired or replaced some of the ditchboards, and Ken has worked his usual magic revamping the ditch markers, rink markers and numbers.

Off the green Barbara and team and Steve D have worked wonders on the bank and flowerbeds, clearing out, pruning and replanting. Each year the there is something new to see.

We have a work party organised for 28^th March to paint the sheds, ditchboards and outside woodwork and also to oil up the benches.

There is also a games evening organised for Sunday 29^th – a chance to get together socially just before the new season starts.

The once a year bowls match at Wey Valley was once again an enjoyable afternoon with our friends from Castle Green. Lawrie’s team beat Allen’s team in a game of two halves. Allen’s team were winning by a margin at half time but in the second half Lawrie’s team came back with a good win. Thank you to Mike and Julide for setting up the score board, Stephen D and David O for working the bar and Joan for sorting out the tables arrangement, as what should of been six turned into five tables. Luckily there was more than enough food and everyone went away happy and full.

Merrow Bowlers and supporters have been enjoying some indoor fixtures over the close season and are very glad to be out of the seemingly non-stop rain.

We played a five triples match against Camberley IBC. We had some very good luck on the captain’s rink to come out narrowly ahead with some excellent close heads and examples of fine draw bowling by both skips (Steve M for Merrow). In the end a good win for Merrow overall and some good company for the post-match drinks and nibbles. Thanks to Camberley for hosting us and making us so welcome.

Our annual indoor fixture against Burpham at Wey Valley proved as popular as ever and there were several spectators from both clubs watching a match that finished 3 rinks all with an overall win for Merrow. We enjoyed a drink after the match and a roast dinner. Thank you to both captains, Trevor and John, for organising the afternoon.

There is one more chance to join in with indoor bowling this year – open to all Merrow members – with Castle Green on 8^th March. Apply on BIAS or let Allen know if you would like to play.

It might be the close season but Merrow bowlers have been busy playing indoor fixtures against Auriol at King George Field (overall win) and Mole Valley (overall loss but Richard’s rink had a good result), working on the green and making preparations for Christmas.

This year Sarah showed us how to make willow weaving Christmas trees at Helen’s and the results were all fabulous.

Our fourth Christmas cake decorating session at Barbara and David’s shows how far we have come over the years with many of us making our own cakes, marzipanning and icing before the final decorating sessions. Thanks to Barbara’s help we all ended up with cakes to be proud of and enjoyed rock cakes, with an extra special Christmas touch, and mulled wine.

Barbara was worried when she realised the jumble sale would clash with national indoor competitions, which would mean she was down on volunteers, but there was no need to worry as everyone stepped up and did their bit. We had teams sorting and setting up on Friday and then a team of sellers and clearer-uppers on the day, which meant everything was sold or cleared away by 2pm. Thank you to everyone who donated, came to buy or helped in any way – we raised well over £1000 on the day, with extras to come from Sally’s sterling work selling on-line. The money raised will go towards replacing our ancient green-keeping equipment and maintaining the green and surrounds.