On Sunday 21^st May, we made our biannual visit to Milford for a four triples friendly. We won narrowly overall by 70 – 65, with our winning rinks being achieved by Sue R, Dave F and David E and Chris, Steve M and Richard. The other two rinks of Sally, Tony R and Debbie and Brian R, Michael P and John W were just edged out.

Thanks to Milford for their hospitality which we look forward to reciprocating when they visit Merrow next season. Report by Richard

It was lovely to see so many familiar faces from the indoor season when Merrow played against Wonersh on Saturday the 20th May. The result proved to be very close on all rinks, however Merrow had to accept a narrow defeat in the end.

Allen, Pauline and Trevor were Merrow’s only winning rink but Jo, Tony R and Sally tied on their rink. The overall result was 53-61, which rightly reflected a close game all round.

Thanks to Steve D and Paul P for the splendid tea, which with the heat and blue skies, conjured up a vision of a quintessential old English garden high tea. The atmosphere was very pleasant and the opposition said that they were already looking forward to their next visit! Report by John W

As part of the national Bowls’ Big Weekend, Merrow are holding an Open Day on Monday 29th May, 10am-4pm. Everyone is welcome, just bring trainers.

Skills
Everyone managed to score points in the second skills session with some tricky scenarios set up to test our ability to get the correct line and weight. Check out the table on the league tab and why not come and join us on a Monday afternoon and see how you fare in the challenges?

Friendlies
A fine and sunny afternoon made an enjoyable friendly bowls match at Mayford Hall on Wednesday 17th. Mayford Hall fielded a strong team and beat Merrow 72-55. Tony D, Joan and Helen got the best result for Merrow forcing a draw on the last end of a 15-15 rink. Report by Allen M

Merrow achieved two firsts in our friendly at Liphook on Saturday (13th), our first friendly win of the season and the first game to be played in sunshine!

In what is our most distant journey of the season Merrow were the eventual winners by 88 shots to 44. Comfortable wins were achieved on rinks 1 and 2 by Ian M, Tony D and Michael P, and Pauline H, Steve M and David E. Rink 5 was a tight affair with Jo J, Allen M and Debbie E losing by one shot, with rink 6 even closer where a draw was achieved by Trevor R, Dave F and Richard D.

A big thank you to our hosts at Liphook, who we will entertain later in the season. Report by Richard D

Oatlands Park Bowl’s club were obviously keen to play our mid week game (10th May) as some of their team turned up early at 1.30 pm, all very smart in their blazers and ties. They even offered to help prepare for the game but this was declined and we gave them a cup of tea instead.

I would like to thank Ken and Lesley for being the caterers that day and also to thank Ken for swishing all of the rinks.

The game proceeded in not too bad weather, just a couple of light showers, we stopped for tea and biscuits after 10 ends, short speeches were made and Oatlands Park thanked us for being a friendly and welcoming club.

The second half started in a jolly fashion but then on the 12/13th/14th end the heavens opened up with hailstones and thunder. As everyone was drenched the captains decided to call it a day.

We won on two of our rinks but lost on one rink. The total score was in favour of Oatlands Park who despite the weather thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon. We dried off in the bar with a drink. Report by Allen M

Merrow Village Bowls Club welcomes you to come and try bowling – just bring trainers, bowls provided

Our President David Foster officially opened the green on Sunday 16^th April with a short welcome to new and returning members along with several spectators. After he put up the traditional couple of woods, those who are not still playing indoors joined in with (competitive!) 6 end triples games.  

It was lovely to be able to catch up and we all enjoyed delicious cakes and tea in the very welcome spring sunshine.

It took just an hour and a half to get the ditch boards, posts and sheds painted in the glorious sunshine on Friday morning. Twenty-three members joined the working parties to get the painting done, clear out and spring clean the clubhouse and plant up and weed the beds and borders. It just goes to show that  ‘many hands make light work’.

Well done to everyone especially the refreshment providers. We enjoyed our tea and coffee in the sunshine with some Easter goodies baked by Pauline.

The green is being officially opened next Sunday (16^th April) at 2pm, so come along for a short bowl and to catch up with everyone at the start of the season. You never know there may even be cake to enjoy too.

What we hope to be the first of many annual indoor matches against Castle Green took place at Wey Valley on Sunday 19^th March.

On the day Merrow had the stronger team, winning on all rinks with a final score of 121 – 65. To be fair to Castle Green, who only had six indoor players whilst Merrow had only two players who do not play indoors,  if we applied a handicap of 5 points per outdoor player this would give a much closer score of 121-115.

We all thoroughly enjoyed the whole afternoon together, which concluded with a delicious meal.

Castle Green have promised revenge next year and Laurie Briggs, their captain, is already organising a rematch.

Indoor Season Match Report Burpham v Merrow 19^th Feb
Our winter season of indoor matches continued with an enjoyable afternoon Mixed Triples match with Merrow taking on a strong Burpham team at Wey Valley. At the tea break Merrow were up on three rinks but the final score was 75-126. Well done to all our bowlers and a special mention for our winning rinks Pauline, Tony and Steve M on rink 1 and Chris, David O and Trevor on rink 5. Sue R, Mike B and Barbara also had a very close game and just missed out in the end. I would like to thank all the Merrow bowlers for making the afternoon so enjoyable.
(Trevor)

Green and surrounds
Mike and Derek have been working on straightening and supporting the ditch boards. In the equipment shed there is a wondrous tool/jig that they have designed and built to help with their sterling efforts! Once the hedge has been trimmed in early March, we hope to be able to lift the surrounding levels of the banks to alleviate the current trip hazards especially under the trees and the side entry to the green.

It’s been cold and frosty but members of the club have still been very active since Christmas.

We joined Stoke Park for a skittles evening and held our own quiz in the Main Club. John and Sally were excellent Quiz Master and Marker with some challenging rounds which kept us on our toes. There were several rounds of ‘play your cards right’ as we were not convinced the pack had been thoroughly shuffled! Along with the raffle, over £100 was raised for club funds.

Green work is continuing when possible and we just managed to get the January tining done and fertilizer down before the latest cold snap. The green and surrounds are looking good in the winter sunshine.

Our scheduled indoor fixtures continued with a very close win against Camberley IBC over five triples. We needed the five shots from our losing rink to scrape an 87 – 86 victory. Paul, Trevor and Steve M, who finished playing last, were certainly feeling the scoreboard pressure!

Merrow have stars in the making not only on the bowls green but also in cake decorating! What a morning; we started with learning how to marzipan the cake (but missed out the bit about eating the trimmings if you were doing this at home) then making an icing bag and royal icing for sticking on or piping!

But then the fun began!!! Having seen all the finished cakes I was quite pleased I didn’t know how good they all were at this sort of thing, otherwise I might not have offered to help. We had some brilliant designs… one, the rocking robin for instance, was the tree going up the over the top of the cake. My demonstrated version looked more like a long slug and the robins a bit evil looking!

It was great fun to share my knowledge of cake decorating and to enthuse them all hopefully to do the same again next year. As well as being a very enjoyable morning we raised £55 for the club funds.

Happy Christmas to you all and if you do have your own Christmas cake, try eating it with a bit of stilton…its scrummy!

Barbara