Lindfield Bowling Club

Finals Day results

Harding and Willmott are 2024 Champions

Congratulations to Adam Harding and Sue Willmott on winning the men's and ladies' 2024 singles Championships.  Adam battled it out with first-time championship finalist Bill Colbourne on a tricky rink 3 but eventually his more consistent drawing weight saw him win 21-15, while Sue bowled well to beat Margaret Atkins on rink 4.

David Walker enjoyed two wins, claiming the men's Backbone and the Aussie Pairs with the effervescent Ian Wilson.  Chris Reynolds also enjoyed his time in the limelight, claiming the men's 2 Wood singles in a 21-20 win over Adam, then going on to skip his Mixed Triple to a convincing win against David Glossop's trio.

First-time finalist Colin Lewis teamed up with John Truran to narrowly win an epic men's pairs final against Steve Gorringe and Graham Dale, in a game lasting nearly 4 hours.  The ladies pairs saw a late change of fortune as Joy Mayall and Joan Hampton scored heavily in the closing ends to overtake Jenny Batchelor and Stella Sayers.

Paul Sandford and Peter Colbourne enjoyed two hard-fought singles finals, with Paul emerging as the victor in both, first in the men's Hundred Up (100-90) and then again the following day in the men's Handicap.

Carol Watson trumped Sue Willmott by the narrowest of margins in the ladies' Hundred Up (100-98) and credit goes to Sandra Mallows for putting Kath Honeysett under consistent pressure, to eventually prevail as winner of the Butfoy Hundred Up singles.

Many thanks to Competitions Secretaries Ian Watson and Pat Whetstone, and to the army of helpers who made this an excellent finals weekend. You did the club proud!

Finals Day Schedule

Order of play for both days

The running order for Sunday 25th August is as follows:

Note: Dress code for all bowlers and markers is whites and club shirts. Greys for doing the scoreboard.

Ladies Pairs success

Other competition updates

Carol Watson and Sue Willmott won their Ladies County Pairs Final on Saturday at Preston Bowls Club.  They now go on to Leamington to represent Sussex, and will also be representing Lindfield in the National Ladies Senior Pairs.  Well done to both of you, and best of luck at Leamington.

In the Men’s County Unbadged Single Area Final, John Turan beat Shaun Mays from Buxted Park, and is now in the Quarter Finals which are taking place on the 1st August at Worthing Pavillion at 6pm.  

Guy Thornely's mixed fours team will also be playing at Worthing Pavilion on the same evening, after Guy, Martin Pelosi, Margaret Atkins and Stella Sayers won their area final at Ringmer. We wish them the best of luck and any supporters are more than welcome to cheer them on.

Tony Allcock team make progress

Adam through to county singles final

Lindfield's men's county double rink ("Abergavenny") team won on Monday in the pouring rain against Buxted, and now face Uckfield on Thursday. 

Our "Tony Allcock" mixed double-rink won the Sussex area final last Sunday on a neutral green and now have to play Surrey next Sunday on another neutral green.  Due to recent changes to this competition you now have to progress to the last 8 (quarter-finals) in England in order to play at Leamington.

The teams are:
Lead: Jennie Sandford
Two:  Ralph Lonsdale
Three: Sue Willmott
Skip:  Paul Sandford

Lead:  Carol Watson
Two:  Margaret Atkins
Three:  Ian Watson
Skip:  Keith Holman

In the ladies' county competitions Carol Watson and Sue Willmott won their pairs semi-final last Saturday and now not only go through to the final, but as two pairs go through to the Nationals they will be up at Leamington in August.

Having missed nearly a month of the season with an ankle injury, Adam Harding continued his remarkable comeback by beating Neal Potter 21-20, to reach the final of the men's county singles!  Adam faces Michael Stone in what will doubtless be a challenging final. 

Congratulations to all of the players mentioned above, and best of luck for the next round of your various competitions.

Competition updates

Far too many games!

It's the peak of the busy season at LBC, with far too many games to keep up with, and this coming week sees the start of the Mid-Sussex, John Spriggs and Border League campaigns.  The club competitions are in full swing, as is the Nicholas Soames Aussie pairs league.  In the Men's National Double Fours there was the inevitable fratricidal encounter between our A and B teams, with Alan Gardiner's rink scoring a memorable 7-shot win against Keith Holman's rink, but some accurate shots in the closing ends from Guy Thornely saw his rink win by 10, to ease the "A" team into the next round.  The Men's Top Club result was all to familiar, with a convincing 4-1 defeat at West Hoathly.

Men's County Comps:

Adam Harding's triple lost in the area final on a rather challenging Mackie green, having previously enjoyed convincing wins against Preston and Woodingdean.  Adam himself had to miss all the games due to an injured foot, so Mark Broadway took his place for the first game, then Peter Colbourne subbed for Mark for the next two games. 

Ian Watson's four are through to the quarter-finals after good wins against Uckfield, West Hoathly and Guy Thornely's Lindfield quartet. Mark Broadway has replaced Adam.

The pairs start this week, with eight Lindfield teams competing.

Paul Sandford's Senior Fours team are through to the 3rd round.

Ladies' County Comps:

Joan Hampton's triple reached the quarter-final thanks to some inspired draw bowling from skip Margaret Atkins in the previous rounds.

Sue Willmott's four reached the quarter-final but came up against an in-form Polegrove team.

The pair skipped by Stella Sayers are still going in the Unbadged pairs.

Good luck to all the Lindfield teams who are still going or yet to play in their county competitions!

One month to go

New season starts on 20th April

The 2024 fixtures list is now on the website - thanks to Joy Mayall for inputting all that data (over 130 fixtures!) - you can now sign up to as many as you like, through the website.

Pre-season meetings

On Saturday 13th April there are two pre-season meetings, one at 10am and one at 12pm, both in the club house.  As with the last few years we've had to split this into two meetings because the club house simply could't accommodate our entire 130+ membership if everyone turned up!  The agendas will be identical so please attend the meeting that suits you best. For new members these are a great opportunity to meet people and find out how things work.  The club captains will give a pre-season briefing and the general committee will be there to answer any questions.

Kicking off the new season

The season starts properly a week later on Saturday 20th April, with our usual coffee morning, and a chance to get on the green and see how it plays after a winter of regular maintenance work from our new greenkeeper.  The following day on 21st April BowlsWear Direct will be here from 11am onwards with their mobile shop, it's a great opportunity to buy any kit you might need for the new season - trousers/skirts, jumpers, jackets, bowls, bags, chalk, measures etc - if there's anything you particularly want then call them on 01483 536337 to pre-order.

Later that day there's a club drive to get your arms swinging, and our schedule of friendly games starts as usual with the fixture against Handcross on April 24th. 

This season the green will be closed on the first Monday of every month, from 9am til 12pm, for extra maintenance work to be done.