Wednesday 28th May Border League Match away at Harleston Rec.

None of our six players had played at Harleston Rec., it is a lovely little ground tucked away beside the Leisure Centre.

We had had a little rain during the morning but this had cleared up by the afternoon. We even saw a few rays of sun!

David and Michelle and Tom & Terry stormed away to substantial leads on their rinks but Joe and Phil were having a much tighter game where the lead kept switching. They ended up three shots behind going into the last end and did well to pick up the three shots needed and manage to draw their game 14 - 14.

On the other two greens our opposition started to make some in roads into the leads that we had earlier established, but left it too late. so we ran out winners on these rinks: Tom & Terry won 16 - 6 and David & Michelle won 15 - 8.

So our best victory in this league so far 8 - 1 (45 - 28). This sees us pushing for top spot in the league with four wins out of four.

Tuesday 27th May UWL Match at home to Hoxne

On what had been a miserable day weather wise players arrived not sure whether or not we would play as the forecast was not great. About 30 minutes before we were due to start the heavens opened with a torrential downpour but it cleared in time for us to play. The rain pretty much kept away for the rest of the evening with a just a few spots that weren’t worth the trouble of donning waterproofs.

For the second game running our opponents arrived with one player short which gave us an advantage, but as it turned out this was the rink that ended up being the tightest.

The match started with all rinks being fairly even, but after about four ends Wortwell started to show their dominance on a heavy green which suited our players. On rinks one and two we started to pull away with some decisiveness ending up with scores of 27 - 10 and 21 - 9 respectively.

On the aforementioned rink three it was a lot tighter until the closing ends where Tom, Hazel and Danny came good with a 19 - 11 victory,

So our first 6 - 0 win of the season. Total shots were 67 - 30.

Wednesday 21st May Border League Match at Home to Dickleburgh

The rare sight of Gerald Smith playing in a Border League game was matched by the sudden appearance of Sheila being called as a replacement player for Dickleburgh who arrived for the match one player short.

An excellent afternoon’s play with a 7-2 victory (56-37). Well done all players.

Tuesday 20th May UWL Match away at Dickleburgh

A chilly evening found us at Dickleburgh, although we played them in the cup last season it has been a long time since we have played them in a league match. We went into the match against the team who presently sat at the top of the league, so for us new comers to the top division it was a daunting proposition.

On the middle rink our trio struggled to match the opposition all evening, however our other two rinks we had closer games.

Gerald, David and Sheila had on up and down match where the lead switched back and forth. With two ends still to play they were 16-9 down, but had a good last two ends to get up to 14 points, maybe if they’d had a couple more ends they might have turned the result around.

On the third rink Tom, Phil and Hazel were ahead for the whole match, and went in to the final end with a 16-11 lead. This final end made for an exciting finish to the game as Dickleburgh were holding four shots, with a measure for the fifth shot. Fortunately for us our nearest shot just beat Dickleburgh’s fifth wood giving us a narrow 16-15 win.

The final result was a 5-1 (56-39) defeat.

Wednesday 14th May Border League Match away at Fressingfield

Our second match in the Border League. Still trying to get used to the different tactics involved in Australian Pairs play.

First time for all of us playing at Fressingfield. Very well kept Green and a friendly atmosphere made for an enjoyable afternoon. A beautiful warm day in quiet surroundings didn’t do any harm either.

Michelle and David got off to a flying start and never looked troubled on their rink. They came away with a 24 – 7 win. Tom and Phil had an up and down match and arrived at the end of the tenth end with a narrow lead of 6 – 5, but they came good in the end finishing with a result of 16 – 6. Hazel and Danny were trying hard to keep in their game right to the end, but unfortunately went down 13 – 7 against a strong pairing.

So overall we came out winners 7 – 2 (47 – 26), two wins out of two in this league, so far.

Tuesday 13th May UWL match at home to Long Stratton

We finished second to Long Stratton in Division 2 last season so we were the two clubs that were together promoted to Division One. We were expecting a tough match which is exactly what we got.

Tom’s team on Rink 1 were always ahead of their opponents and finished worthy winners 17 – 9. Barry’s team were drawn against a very strong trio on Rink 2 and went down 32 – 7. The third match up on Rink 3 proved to be a much tighter affair. We went into the last end level at 17 – 17. The eighteenth end anded up being decided by a very close measure and we lost out by less than an inch to finish up losing 18 – 17.

The final result was a 5 – 1 defeat (59 – 14), but the result apart it was an enjoyable game played in a good spirit.

Monday 12th May UWL Cup match at home to Stradbroke & District

Good to meet up with Stradbroke & District who we left in Division Two this season following our promotion.

This first round cup match was played in a very friendly atmosphere.

All of our teams played very well, and we came away 69 – 29 winners having won on all three rinks. Cup matches are settled on total shots won.

So we have successfully navigated the first round, let’s see who we have to face in the second round.

Wednesday 7th May Border League match at home to Stradbroke White Hart

Our first match in this newly formed league saw both teams in learning phase getting used to the Australian Pairs rules. We were also getting used to playing the opposite way across the green to usual, which we have decided to do for this league to even out the wear and tear on the green.

The weather could have been kinder it was quite chilly, but fortunately the black rain clouds in the sky kept away from us. I should imagine that when we get to the height of Summer this will be a most pleasant way to spend a Wednesday afternoon.

The pattern of the match felt like a carry over from the previous evening with two matches being very tightly fought, these two games finished with 11-10 and 16-12 defeats. Michelle and David kept up their excellent performance of the previous evening to come out on top on their rink by a score of 26-6. This gave us an overall 5-4 (48-33) victory.

Tuesday 6th May UWL match at home to Scole

Back to our more usual weather with a decidedly chilly evening where pullovers and fleeces were much in evidence.

Two rinks were extremely tight with the lead changing several times during the evening, staying like that to the end of the games. We ended up losing narrowly on both rinks 14-16 and 15-17.

The other rink of Michelle, David and Phil got a grasp on their games from the beginning and by introducing the long cott later in the game, came out strong winners 36-10.

Our overall result was a 4-2 victory (65-43).

An enjoyable evening despite the weather. It was good to meet up with the members of Scole who were promoted to the First Division a couple of seasons ago. We look forward to playing them on their green later in the year.

Thursday 1st May - UWL Away Match against Connaught (Wensum)

Our first away match of the season gave us a pleasant evening with some shorts and shirt sleeves in evidence, very unusual for this stage of the season, so a very nice evening for a game of bowls.

The match started very evenly; after five ends all three rinks were level pegging. Two of our rinks with Skips Tom & Gerald continued with very close matches, finishing with a narrow loss 15 - 12 and a draw at 15 - 15. Our third rink struggled in the latter stages and unfortunately went down by 28 - 10.

Overall a loss of 5 1/2 to 1/2 (58 - 37), our worst result so far this year but considering we have just gained promotion and Wensum are presently top of the league this wasn’t too bad especially away from home. We’ll try and redeem ourselves at our place.

Tuesday 15th April - UWL Home Match against Stradbroke White Hart

Our second match of the season saw us welcome back our friends from Stradbroke White Hart.

It was nice to see old friends again, with friendly rivalry ahead. On a nice clear evening we set off on our quest to win a match in Division 1. We started well with all rinks winning the first three ends. It was a hard fought match with 2 rinks being very tight and the rink of Sheila Smith, Terry Broomfield and Gerald Smith having a good first half being well ahead with the other 2 rinks, being very close with one shot in it.

The second half was even more exciting with us fighting for every point, Gerald's rink did very well and kept moving ahead managing a win of 25 - 9 Then Tom Bell's rink came good winning the last 3 ends to get a result of 16 - 13. This left Barry's rink to get a clean sweep. Going into the last end they were one shot down but after the first few bowls were holding enough to get a win, with just the Skips to go it was the same after Barry's last bowl we were holding 4 then they had their last bowl which was a perfect shot taking the end with 1 shot, meaning a loss of 14 - 16. But all rinks did well to give us a win of 5-1 55 - 38.

Well done everybody lets go again.

Tuesday 15th April - UWL Home Match against Kenninghall Red Lion

Tuesday saw us open the summer season, we are now in Division 1 which will try our skills to the limit. Our first match gave us a chance to rekindle our friendship with Kenninghall Red Lion whom we haven't played for a few years now. It was nice to see old and new faces.

As usual for the first match of the season it was miserable and overcast with signs of rain. We started a little bit early to try and get all the ends in as it was getting dark early. We did not start very well it took us a few ends before we managed to get a score on the board but once we did we had to fight a deficit so catching up was the name of the game. At halfway we had done well being up on two rinks and down on one. With the weather and darkness closing in; we decided to play just 14 ends which was a shame as we were just coming into our own.

The final result was Wortwell 28 shots Kenninghall 37 with a result of 0-6 we were all pleased with this for our first match in Division 1 and the first match we have lost at home for three years, so well done to all the players.