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OCTOBER NEWSLETTER

HESKETH ARMS BOWLING CLUB 

NEWSLETTER  – OCTOBER 2021 

SOUTHPORT VETERANS’ LEAGUE 

Well done to the Merlins on winning the 2nd Division of the Southport Veterans’ League. They won 12 out of their 16 matches and finished five points clear of second placed Banks ‘B’. Congratulations to captain George Hitchmough and all the players in his team.  

ROUND ROBINS 

Many thanks to Peter and Lynne Smith and George for running the midweek round robins throughout the season. These events provide our members with an opportunity to meet up regularly and socialise with other members of the club. They are popular with new and experienced bowlers alike and bring in much needed additional revenue to help boost club funds. 

CLUB COMPETITIONS 

This year, we again organised a full programme of club competitions for members to take part in, which ran throughout the season, even adding an extra event for 2021. In addition to the five singles competitions already established, we held the inaugural Champion of Champions, when the competition and team merit winners from the previous season competed for the “Blowick Cup”. The first winner was Chris Porter, who completed a hat-trick of singles wins, also winning the Championship Cup and President’s Cup.  

We again held five doubles competitions which were a mixture of random and non-random pairs. Following the introduction of an evening doubles in 2020, we held this on a Saturday evening and it was very successful, attracting 14 pairs. Darren Edgerley proved to be the pairs specialist, winning a hat-trick of doubles titles with three different partners.  

In total, the internal competitions attracted 284 participants, an increase of 9% on last year. Three new winners were added to the Roll of Honour of Hesketh Arms’ club competition winners ; Len Southworth (Rose Bowl), Liam Gregson (Chairman’s Shield) and Roger Van Beever (Last Chance Cup).  

Thank you to all those who continue to support the club’s competitions. We look forward to another successful season in 2022. 

CHAMPION OF CHAMPIONS 2022 

We plan to hold the second staging of the Champion of Champions at the beginning of the 2022 season. All the club competition and merit winners from the 2021 season will be invited to take part. The qualifiers are as follows :- 

Kez Adams (Chairman’s Shield ; Vultures Merit)  

Sue Andersen (Ladies’ Championship ; Spring Pairs) 

John Baker (Eagles Merit) 

Dave Bedford (Hobbies Merit) 

Jeff Brown (Sparrowhawks Merit) 

Darren Edgerley (Spring Pairs ; Last Chance Cup ; Floodlit Trophy) 

Liam Gregson (Chairman’s Shield) 

Jim Halsall (Kites Merit ; Owls Merit) 

George Hitchmough (Sparrowhawks Mini-League Merit) 

Phil Kitchen (Falcons Merit) 

Mike Milne (Vice-Presidents Pairs) 

Chris Porter (Championship Cup ; President’s Cup ; Blowick Cup) 

Peter Smith (Ospreys Merit ; Owls Mini-League Merit ; Hawks Merit) 

Len Southworth (Rose Bowl) 

Brian Sutton (Kestrels Merit ; Merlins Merit) 

John Unsworth (Vice-Presidents Pairs) 

Roger Van Beever (Last Chance Cup) 

Fergal Wright (Coronation Cup ; Floodlit Trophy) 

MEMBERSHIP 

After an understandable drop in the Club’s membership in 2020 due to Covid-19, it was pleasing to see the number of paying members joining in 2021 exceed the pre-pandemic figure of 132 of 2019.  

Our total membership at the end of the 2021 season, including life and honorary members, stands at 140. This includes those who joined us after attending the very successful Bowls for Health scheme. We are pleased to welcome them to the Hesketh Arms and thank all those who helped organise and run the sessions.