Author: George Hitchmough

HESKETH ARMS NEWSLETTER – MARCH 2019

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

Many thanks to all those who attended the Club’s AGM, held on Monday 18th February at the Churchtown Conservative Club. We are grateful to the Conservative Club for allowing us to use their excellent facilities.

The meeting concluded with the announcement that Bill Nowell and Ray Sutton had been granted Honorary Life Membership of the Club in recognition of their longstanding and loyal service, both having been team captains and served on the Committee. Bill was Club President in 2013/2014 and Ray in 2015/2016. Congratulations to both on this well-deserved honour. 

GREEN OPENING

The green will be open to members from Saturday 30th March.

ROUND ROBINS

The first club event of the season will be a Round Robin, to be held on Sunday 31st March, starting at 2.00 pm.

The popular midweek Round Robins will commence on Tuesday 2^nd April. These events, hosted by Peter and Lynne Smith, will then take place every Tuesday and Friday throughout the season, commencing at 10.00 am. Please arrive in good time to allow the draw to take place. These friendly sessions are ideal for new and experienced bowlers alike and are an excellent way of meeting other club members.

SUBSCRIPTIONS

Members are reminded that subscriptions for the 2019 season are now due:-

Full Membership – £45.00 ; Social Membership – £25.00 ; Junior Membership – £17.50

Full Membership applies to those members playing for one or more of the league teams and includes the payment of league fees and cost of fixture books/cards.

Social Membership is available to members who wish to play on a casual basis.

Please forward payment to :- Mike Milne, 20 Coudray Road, Southport PR9 9NL

LEAGUE TEAMS

The Club will again be running eleven teams in various local leagues in 2019. If anyone is interested in joining a team, they should contact the captain of the team they would like to play for or any officer of the Club. The details of our league teams, along with the captains’ contact numbers are :-

LV LEAGUE

EAGLES (Premier) – Chris Harding 07761733024

HARRIERS (Premier) – Jason Chapman 07514595284

FALCONS (1st) – Jeff Brown 01704 214104

BURSCOUGH LEAGUE

VULTURES (1st) – Chris Harding 07761733024

OSPREYS (2nd) – Mark Rowlinson 07763176455

AUGHTON LEAGUE

KESTRELS (1st) – Malcolm Hodge 01704 545545

HAWKS (1st) – George Hitchmough 07977500131

SOUTHPORT PARKS LEAGUE

KITES (1st) – John Unsworth 07722884581

SOUTHPORT VETS LEAGUE

MERLINS (2nd) – George Hitchmough 07977500131

HOBBIES (2nd) – Roger Van Beever 01704 211978

MAGHULL LEAGUE

OWLS (3rd) – Sue Davies 07473767558

FORTHCOMING EVENTS

Sunday 31^st March –    Round Robin 2.00pm start

Sunday 14^th April –     Rose Bowl (Singles Handicap) 12 noon start

GREEN BOOKING

Please note that the green will unavailable for use by members on Sunday 7^th April, as it is being used to host the Southport Champions Trophy. Spectators will be welcome, play starts at 11.00am

THE AGM MEETING AGREED TO INCREASE SUBSCRIPTIONS FOR THE 2019 SEASON

FULL MEMBER £45.00

SOCIAL MEMBER £25.00

JUNIOR £17.50

SUBS ARE NOW DUE

GREEN OPENS SATURDAY 30^th MARCH 2019

ROUND ROBIN SUNDAY 31^st MARCH 2.00pm

Congratulations to Bill Nowell and Ray Sutton for being conferred as Honorary Life Members at the 2019 AGM

AGM Minutes

CLICK ON LINK

AGM Minutes 2019

 

AWARDS EVENING REPORT – 2018 SEASON

The Club’s seventh annual Awards Evening was held on Saturday at the Churchtown Conservative Club, when members celebrated a successful 2018 season. The evening was again compered by Club Chairman, Chris Harding, who congratulated all the members on another excellent season.

Awards were made to the winners and runners-up of the Club’s nine internal competitions and team merit winners, details of which have been reported during the course of the season and in the 2018 Season Review. These were followed by the Club’s special awards, presented to the Team of the Year and the Club Member of the Year. The team award was again keenly contested, which several of our teams enjoying successful campaigns. The Kites (Parks League), Vultures (Burscough League) and Hawks (Aughton League) all achieved either promotion or knockout cup success but the final choice was between the three teams that had finished as champions of their respective divisions. In the Southport LV League, the Club achieved a notable double, with the Harriers winning the 1st Division and the Eagles finishing as Premier Division champions, the first time this title had been won by the Hesketh Arms in over twenty years. Our third champions were the Owls, who under the captaincy of Sue Davies, won the league and cup double in the Maghull League 4th Division. As several members of the Committee are either captain of one of these teams or play for them, an independent panel was appointed and the 2018 Team of the Year was adjudged to be the Eagles in recognition of winning the LV League Premier Division. The trophy was accepted on the team’s behalf by Chris Harding, who has been captain of this team for nineteen consecutive seasons.

The final presentation of the evening is made to the Club Member Of The Year and this year it was deservedly awarded to George Hitchmough. George has been Club Secretary since 2011 and in addition to the usual duties involved in this role, George has set up and administered the Club’s website, overseen numerous maintenance projects at the green, organised the Club’s social and fundraising events and provided a vital link to the Conservative Club, which we use as the venue for our functions and meetings. George has also been a successful captain of two of our afternoon teams, the Hawks and the Merlins.

The Committee would like to thank the Churchtown Conservative Club for allowing us to use their excellent facilities once again. Thanks in particular to Gill for her hard work on the night and to Brian Whitley, who helped Gill behind the bar and with laying out the buffet.

Many thanks to Jason Chapman and Jon Roberts for their help selling the raffle tickets.

A special mention must go to George Hitchmough for co-ordinating the arrangements for the whole evening and to Sue Andersen, who helped George with the catering.

Finally, thank you to all those who supported the event by attending on the night and providing prizes for the raffle. Final proceeds came to £385.30, which will go towards Club funds.

HESKETH ARMS NEWSLETTER – january 2019

AWARDS EVENING

The Club’s annual Awards Evening will take place on Saturday, 2nd February at the Churchtown Conservative Club, starting at 7.30 pm. As well as presentations to the successful players from the 2018 season, there will be a buffet supper, quiz and raffle.

To order your ticket, priced at £5.00, please contact any club officer or your team captain. All proceeds from the night will go towards club funds.

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

Members are reminded that the Club’s Annual General Meeting will be held at the Churchtown Conservative Club on Monday 18th February, 7.30 pm start.

Any proposals should be with the Secretary before Thursday 17th January.

CLOSE SEASON WORK & MAINTENANCE

Although the green has been closed since the beginning of October, the Autumn and Winter months are still a busy time for the Club’s Committee, with essential works being carried out on and around the green.

Almost as soon as the green closes at the end of the season, Andrew Church and Lancashire Turf Supplies are given to access the green to enable them to carry out the annual maintenance work, with is crucial to us maintaining a good playing surface for our members. This was particularly important at the end of last season given the unprecedented weather conditions we had experienced during the summer. The Club is again indebted to our Honorary Vice-President, Mr. Bernard O’Malley, of Nationwide Produce, for his generous assistance in funding this work. Bernard has been a staunch supporter of our club for a number of years now and without his support we would not be enjoying the facilities we have today.

The Officers of the Club would like to thank Graham Meadow for his hard work in organising and co-ordinating various jobs around the green, including improved access to the club from the carpark, the replacement of boards around the edges of the green and surgery on several trees which were causing damage to the green.

CLUB COMPETITIONS

The Club will again run a varied programme of competitions and events during the 2019 season, starting with a Round Robin on Sunday, 31st March, 2.00 pm start.

A few changes to our internal competitions are planned this year, as a result of feedback received from members :-

Firstly, the Championship Cup and Ladies’ Championship have been brought forward to the beginning of June to avoid clashing with holidays and other events.

As we now run four club pairs, the Chairman’s Shield will be non-random this season, meaning that members can enter the competition with a partner of their choice.

The President’s Day will commence at the earlier time of 11.00 am due to the larger number of attendees at this event in recent seasons. This should result in an a more timely finish to the competition.

The dates so far set are as follows :-

Sunday 31st March Round Robin 2.00 pm start

Sunday 14th April Rose Bowl (singles handicap) 12.00 pm start

Saturday 11th May Spring Pairs (random doubles) 12.00 pm start

Sunday 2nd June Championship Cup (men’s singles) 12.00 pm start

& Ladies’ Championship (ladies’ singles)

Saturday 15th June Open Singles 10.00 am start

Sunday 30th June Vice Presidents Trophy (random doubles) 12.00 pm start

Saturday 13th July Chairman’s Shield (non-random doubles) 12.00 pm start

Sunday 21st July President’s Cup (singles handicap) 11.00 am start

August (TBC) Friendly v. Emmanuel B.C. TBC

August (TBC) Coronation Cup (singles handicap) 12.00 pm start

September (TBC) Open Doubles 10.00 am start

September (TBC) Last Chance Cup (random doubles) 12.00 pm start

Please Click on Link to view PDF

Seasonreview1018 _1

Congratulations to the Hesketh Kites team on winning the Parks League 2^nd Division cup

Well done to Captain John Unsworth and his team on beating Crowlands in a very close game.

HESKETH ARMS NEWSLETTER – OCTOBER 2018

GREEN CLOSURE AND MAINTENANCE

The green is now closed to allow for essential maintenance work to take place and will re-open next Spring in readiness for the 2019 season. Thanks are particularly due this year to Graham Meadow who has had to cope with unhelpful weather conditions both before and during the season. Bearing this in mind, the green has been in excellent condition and has provided a good, if at times challenging, surface to bowl on.

TUESDAY & FRIDAY ROUND ROBINS

Many thanks to Peter and Lynne Smith for again hosting and organising the popular Tuesday and Friday Round Robins throughout the 2018 season. Thanks also to anyone who helped in any way. The midweek Round Robins are an integral part of the Club’s programme and provide social bowling for new and experienced bowlers alike. The long spell of good weather this Summer has meant an increase in the number of members taking part and at the time of writing a total sum approaching £550.00 has been raised through these events, which is a very useful source of additional revenue for the Club.

LEAGUE SUCCESSES

2018 has been another successful year for our league teams. Congratulations to the captains and players of the following teams :-

Eagles – Southport LV League Premier Division Champions

Harriers – Southport LV League 1^st Division Champions

Owls – Maghull League 4^th Division Champions & 4^th Division KO Cup Winners

Vultures – Burscough & Lathom League 2^nd Division Runners-up & 2^nd Div. Cup Winners

SOUTHPORT FEDERATION

The Southport Federation ended the season by taking part in the Team Knockout Cup, which was hosted this year by Mid Cheshire. The Hesketh Arms was represented by Kez Adams, Chris Porter, Mark Wilde and Fergal Wright, with Mike Milne and Jon Roberts also in attendance to lend support.

The first game took place at Owley Wood in Weaverham, where the opponents were Leeds ‘A’, who had finished in 2^nd place in the National League 1^st Division. Despite some good performances, this game was lost 6-2 with Kez Adams winning the sweep with an excellent 21-10 win.

Defeat in the 1^st Round of the main competition saw the team go into the Supplementary, where they played Cheshire Parks at Davenham Bowling Club. This time it was Southport that ran out 6-2 winners, with wins for Fergal Wright (21-17), Kez Adams (21-14) and Chris Porter (21-18), putting the team into the Supplementary semi-finals.

The next game took place at Castle Private Bowling Club in Northwich and there was more tough opposition in the form of Airedale ‘A’, who have just achieved promotion to the top flight of the National League. Southport got off to a great start, however, with further wins for Fergal (21-3), Kez (21-14) and Chris (21-20). Unfortunately, the second half of the game saw the Airedale side fight back to draw match 4-4 and go through by a single chalk. Nevertheless, this was an excellent effort by the Southport players and bodes well for the 2019 season. 

CLUB COMPETITIONS

This season, the Club has again held a full programme of internal competitions for members, including two new events – the Ladies’ Championship and the Last Chance Cup. These were introduced following feedback received at the end of last season.

The competitions were again well-supported, despite at times some difficult weather conditions. In total, there were 217 entries and the Committee thank all those who took part for their continued support.

MEMBERSHIP

Interest in the Club has remained strong in 2018 and we have ended the season with 140 subscribing members. This is made up of 77 full members and 63 social / junior members.

FORTHCOMING EVENTS

The Awards Evening and Annual General Meeting will be held early in 2019. Members will be notified and details posted on our website when the dates have been confirmed.

LAST CHANCE CUP 2018

The Club’s programme of internal competitions was completed at the weekend when 28 members took part in the inaugural staging of the Last Chance Cup. This is an additional random pairs competition, introduced to conclude the season, as a result of requests from members.

It was fitting that this new event produced two first-time winners of Hesketh Arms competitions in Norma White and Wayne Graham, who had played well all afternoon in defeating Jason Chapman and Norman Simpson (21-6), Bill Bloor and Sue Wignall (21-14) and Terry Corfield and John Hughes (21-15) to reach the final. Their opponents in the decider were the strong pairing of Noel Morgans and Tony Wakefield who had a marathon battle in their semi-final before overcoming Jim Halsall and Lynne Smith 21-20.

In the final, Norma and Wayne got off to a flying start with a three at the first end and were never behind as they established a 20-13 lead. Despite a three for Noel and Tony at the 20th end to close the gap to 16-20, Norma and Wayne were able to score the single chalk required to become the first winners of the Last Chance Cup

The Plate competition for first round losers was won by Mike Milne and Bill Nowell with a 15-10 win in the final against Sue Andersen and Pat Miller.

THE GREEN WILL CLOSE FOR WINTER ON THE 2nd OF OCTOBER
WORKING PARTIES MAY BE REQUIRED DURING THE CLOSE SEASON.