Hesketh Arms Bowling Club

NEWS UPDATE

LADIES’ CHAMPIONSHIP – POSTPONED

PLEASE NOTE THAT THE LADIES’ CHAMPIONSHIP, SCHEDULED FOR THIS COMING SATURDAY, HAS REGRETTABLY HAD TO BE POSTPONED. THIS IS DUE TO THE DATE CLASHING WITH HOLIDAYS AND OTHER EVENTS. WE WILL TRY AND FIND A NEW DATE FOR THIS COMPETITION LATER IN THE SEASON AND APOLOGISE FOR ANY INCONVENIENCE CAUSED.

CHAMPIONSHIP CUP – MEN’S SINGLES

The next club competition will take place on Sunday, 23^rd June, when we will play for the Championship Cup. This is a men’s singles, played off scratch with no plate.

To enter, please register at the green by 11.45 am, in time for a prompt 12 noon start. 

SOUTHPORT FEDERATION

The Southport Federation team played their latest National League fixture on Sunday, when they took on Menai. Despite narrowly losing the home leg at Hesketh Bank, they won the overall match 19-13, the first time they have beaten their Welsh rivals. The winners at Hesketh Bank included Kez Adams and Chris Porter, both winning their games 21-15. The away travelled to Llanfairpwllgwyngyll on Anglesey and came away with an impressive 8 winners, which included Andy Draper (21-13) and Mike Milne (21-12).

The next Federation match will take place in July, when Southport take on Doncaster. Further details of the venue and team selections will be notified nearer the time.

NEWSLETTER – JUNE 2024

SOUTHPORT LV LEAGUE PRESIDENT’S DAY

Saturday saw the Club hosting the Southport LV League President’s Day and congratulations go to Steve McManus who won the competition, defeating Mike Whiteley from Tarleton Bowling Club in the final.

Many thanks to the Committee of the Hesketh Arms Bowling Club for their help and support in hosting the event and to our greenkeeper Andy Bate for preparing an excellent playing surface.

Thanks also to Lynne Smith who served tea and coffee during the day and to all those who helped with marking cards and measuring.

A special thank you must go to the Committee of the Churchtown Conservative Club for allowing us to use their facilities and especially to Eric Morris and Alan and Jill Lloyd for their work on the day.

Finally, well done to Gary Burgess, Emma Burgess and Mark Eustace on another well run and successful event.

SOUTHPORT LV LEAGUE PAIRS

Well done to Darren Edgerley and Steve McManus on reaching the final of the LV Pairs competition, losing out to Danny Harding and Chris Willan on finals day, which was held at Scarisbrick Bowling Club.

SOUTHPORT FEDERATION

Southport’s next National League fixture will take place this coming Sunday, 9th June when they take on Menai. The home leg is being held at Hesketh Bank Bowling Club and the Hesketh Arms will be represented by Kez Adams, Darren Edgerley, Chris Porter and Fergal Wright. Andy Draper and Mike Milne have been selected to play in the away leg. Play will start at 2.00 pm and spectators will be very welcome.

CLUB COMPETITIONS

The next internal competition will be the Ladies’ Championship, which will take place on Saturday 15th June, starting at 12.00 pm. To enter, please register at the green by 11.45 am.

Dates for further club competitions are as follows :-

Sunday 23rd June – Championship Cup – men’s singles, played of scratch with no plate.

Sunday 30th June – President’s Cup – singles handicap with plate.

Sunday 7th July – Chairman’s Shield – non-random doubles with no plate.

Sunday 28th July – Coronation Cup – singles handicap with plate.

To be confirmed – Vice-Presidents Pairs ; Floodlit Trophy ; Last Chance 

Our Ladies team “Hesketh Buzzards” are hosting a Pairs Competition for Lady bowlers from the Southport Ladies League.

The event will take place on Thursday the 20^th of June, commencing 10.30am.

The team are looking for volunteers to assist with serving Tea, Coffee and Cakes,

If you can assist please contract Debbie Barnes or Noreen Lewis

On Saturday 1^st June, the Club will be hosting the LV League President’s Day for 2024. The green will therefore be unavailable for members’ use until early evening.

The event will commence at 10.00 am and the competition will feature representatives from each club in the LV League. Spectators will be very welcome to come along and watch what should be an entertaining day of bowling. 

It would be appreciated if any of our members could help on the day with marking cards and measuring. There will also be a raffle and any donations of prizes would be gratefully received. 

Many thanks,

Mike Milne 

THE GREEN IS CLOSED SATURDAY AND SUNDAY 18^th and 19^th of May

We are having some electrical work carried out this weekend and need to close the green.

We feel this would be a good opportunity to tidy up the gardens and green surrounds,

We are requesting you give us a small amount of your time to help.

ROSE BOWLThe Club’s first internal singles competition of the season took place on Sunday and was won by Steve McManus, retaining the title he won last year.
Steve reached the final with comfortable wins against Peter Smith (21-14), Peter Croston (21-8) and Mark Rowlinson (21-12). His opponent in the final was Vultures team mate Mark Wilde, who had reached this stage by overcoming Alan Hatton (21-12), John Townsend (21-20) and in the semi-final, Kez Adams (21-15). As a previous winner, Steve had to concede a handicap of two but got off to a flying start in the final, winning the first seven ends to lead 10-4. Although Mark fought back with three twos in six ends, Steve was able to maintain his lead, eventually winning 21-13. Congratulations to both finalists on producing some excellent bowling throughout the competition. 

A Plate competition was held and this was won by Alan Hatton, with a 15-9 win in the final against Peter Smith. 

IMPORTANT NOTICE

Members are reminded that the Vice-Presidents Pairs, scheduled for this coming Saturday, has been postponed due to work being carried out at the Club. A new date will be arranged for later in the season. 

Green Update  10^th May

To The Hesketh Arms BC Committee and Members

I hope this update finds you all well and that you find them informative and useful in getting a understanding of what I am up to and why on the green.

Plenty of bowling has taken place since my last communication and from what I am hearing the green is playing well and we have had lots of positive praise from members and visitors alike. 

I have just returned from cutting the green and I feel its in a very good place. Grass species are good with a little bit of the nasty stuff (POA)still  about, I will attack this with the verticutter in the next 10 days. It had a feed 2 weeks ago with a magic mixture and the grass has responded well to it. Some of you may have noticed the green went black soon after I had sprayed it, this is down to the iron in the mixture and nothing to worry about, although I still have a little panic when I go back a day later and see it so dark….ill get use to it one day!!!

We had some tests done on the green yesterday (9^th May) and the results are promising, the green is no longer hydrophobic (repels water) which is great news. The results did also flag up that the moisture is a little lower than ideal but nothing to worry about… yet!!!! I have some videos on my phone of the hydrophobic test taking place so if anyone would like to see it just ask me if you see me .

So, the bare areas….after a meeting with the committee is was agreed I would take some more drastic steps, I would imagine bowlers are avoiding the two areas so starting this weekend I will be doing a soil transfer.  This will involve me taking cores out and replacing it with fresh new soil and also seed, the area will be levelled off and a germination sheet placed over the pegged now flush to the ground.  I will remove the sheet for league matches but if it could stay in place for leisure bowling that would be a great help.

Once again thanks for reading, I will do another update in a couple of weeks which will focus on watering and bowling greens and dispel some myths about watering and green pace!

Happy Bowling

Thanks, Andy

COMPETITION NEWS

BLOWICK CUP – CHAMPION OF CHAMPIONS

Congratulations to Brian Sutton on winning the Club’s Champion of Champions competition on Sunday, defeating Andy Draper 21-19 in a closely contested

final. 

The trophy awarded for this was originally played for at the old Blowick Hotel Bowling Club, so represents an interesting piece of Southport’s bowling history. The players invited to take part in the “Blowick Cup” are winners of our club competitions and team merits from the previous season. Brian had qualified by winning the Last Chance Cup and the team merit for the Kestrels, whilst Andy had also double qualified by winning the Vice-Presidents Pairs and Championship Cup. 
Many thanks to everyone who supported this event, including those who came along to watch and helped out with marking and measuring. 
ROSE BOWLThe next club competition will take place this coming Sunday, 12^th May, when we will be playing for the Rose Bowl. This is a singles handicap, open to all members of the club. There will be a plate competition for anyone who loses their first game, ensuring that everyone has the opportunity to play two games. 
To enter, please register at the green by 11.45 am, to enable us to make the draw in time for a prompt 12 noon start. VICE-PRESIDENTS PAIRS TROPHYPlease note that the Vice-Presidents Pairs competition, due to be played on Saturday 18^th May, has been postponed due to work being carried out at the club over the course of that weekend. This competition will be re-scheduled to be played in either August or September.

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY – CLUB COMPETITIONS 2024

Saturday 15th June – Ladies’ Championship – ladies’ singles – early stages to be played in a group format.

Sunday 23rd June – Championship Cup – men’s singles, played of scratch with no plate.

Sunday 30th June – President’s Cup – singles handicap with plate.

Sunday 7th July – Chairman’s Shield – non-random doubles with no plate.

Sunday 28th July – Coronation Cup – singles handicap with plate.

To be confirmed – Vice-President Pairs ; Floodlit Trophy ; Last Chance Cup

HESKETH ARMS BOWLING CLUB

NEWSLETTER – MAY 2024

CHAMPION OF CHAMPIONS 2024

The fourth staging of the Hesketh Arms’ Champion of Champions will take place this coming Sunday, 5^th May. For this event, all the club competition and merit winners from the previous season are invited to take part and the trophy presented to the winner is the “Blowick Cup”, which was previously played for at the old Blowick Hotel Bowling Club. Please register at the green by 11.45 am, for a 12.00 noon start.

The qualifiers for 2024 are as follows :-

Kez Adams – Spring Pairs ; Floodlit Trophy

Sue Andersen -Spring Pairs

Dave Bedford – Last Chance Cup

Bill Bloor – Falcons Merit ; Merlins Merit ; Hawks Merit

Andy Draper – Vice-Presidents Trophy ; Championship Cup

Darren Edgerley – President’s Cup ; Floodlit Trophy ; Coronation Cup ;

      Owls Merit ; Vultures Merit

Jim Halsall – Eagles Merit ; Kites Merit ; Ospreys Merit

Alan Hatton – Chairman’s Shield ; Sparrowhawks Merit

John Hughes – Hobbies Merit

Noreen Lewis – Ladies’ Championship ; Buzzards Merit

Steve McManus – Rose Bowl

Graham Meadow – Chairman’s Shield

Mike Milne – Blowick Cup

Brian Sutton – Last Chance Cup ; Kestrels Merit

Fergal Wright – Vice-Presidents Trophy

SOUTHPORT LV LEAGUE PAIRS COMPETITION

Entries are now being taken for the LV League Pairs competition. Qualifying rounds will take place on Tuesday 14^th May at various greens with a 6.30 pm start. The finals day is at Scarisbrick Bowling Club (Falkland Road) on Sunday 19^th May, starting at 1.00 pm. There is an entry fee of £6.00 per pair and if you wish to enter, please let us know as soon as possible.

CLUB MEMBER OF THE YEAR 2023

As he was unfortunately unable to attend the Club’s Awards Night in March, Jeff Brown was recently presented with his Club Member of the Year award for 2023 at the green by committee member and former President, Peter Smith.

OPEN DOUBLES – BERNARD O’MALLEY VICE-PRESIDENTS TROPHY 2024(sponsored by Birkdale Insurance Group)The Club’s annual Open Doubles competition took place on Saturday, when a full turnout of 32 pairs competed for the Bernard O’Malley Vice-Presidents Trophy. This is held to recognise the generous support given to the Club by Mr. O’Malley and Nationwide Produce over many years. The competition attracted a quality field, with pairs coming from Skelmersdale, Leyland, Preston, Liverpool, Wirral, Wigan and Pudsey to take part, as well as players from local clubs.
In the top half of the draw, Ray Bevington and Stuart Hodson from Garswood Hall reached the final, having survived a tough quarter-final match against Mark Holden and Steve McManus, winning 21-20 at the final end. Their opponents in the final were the Skem Park Rebels pairing of Ian Grady and Tim Hodge, who had overcome last year’s runners-up Alan Catterall and Danny Harding at the semi-final stage. The early stages of the final were closely contested, with the scoring being mainly in singles. After eleven ends, the pairing of Bevington and Hodson had built up a lead of 13-7 but at this point the game took a decisive turn as Grady and Hodge scored a three and a four in successive ends to take the lead at 14-13 and although Ray and Stuart counted a double to regain the lead, Ian and Tim won four of the next six ends to run out 21-18 winners. Congratulations to Ian and Tim on winning their first Hesketh Arms open title and to Ray and Stuart for producing some excellent performances throughout the day.

Many thanks to all the pairs who took part in this competition and to all those who came to watch and helped out with marking and measuring. We would also like to thank Gill for providing the sandwiches and Sue Davies for her hard work all day serving the refreshments. Also, thank you to our referee for the day, Keith Andrews, who helped with the smooth running of the  competition. Last but not least, thank you to Birkdale Insurance Group for sponsoring the competition.