Where the posts will be

Any future posts on bowling as a general subject will be found on my general blog
wontwall.blogspot.co.uk/

This blog will be used occasionally for LGBCC articles that are not covered elsewhere.

Season is on!

It's official...2015 season is under way.  We played Saturday and the first roll up, this morning (Monday) at 10.  Had 13 Saturday and 17 today. Need to see more of you.  There are some who consider they are serious players who don't practice half enough.  Don't assume you'll get picked this year...there is competition!

Nice to see new sets of bowls, too.  Some of our players who joined, last year have been investing over the Winter. Some nice play, too. I see a number of players who have what it takes to step up a level this Summer.

Good to see Julian, Reg and Ken W all looking well. Welcome back, guys!

It's looking good out there!

Hi All

Just over a month to go before we're back on the green.  Opening Day will be 25th April which will be a "friendly roll up" for all comers.

The first serious business won't be until May 16th when we play a friendly away against Redbourn.   We'll be looking for four mixed triples teams.

The first internal trophy will be Saturday 2nd May when we have the annual President vs Captain day (all welcome).  Most likely the games will be mixed triples but it depends on the turn out.

Open Days for potential new members are Saturday 10th May and Saturday 6th June from 10-4.

If you haven't tried the game out, you should come and give it a try. Bowls is not just for older folks!  It's a great tactical game, suitable for all ages.  Little Gaddesden is expanding its Junior section all the time and if we get enough recruits, this year, will start running trophy tournaments for that section, specifically.

So come and meet the friendly club....

Annual Dinnertime

The Annual Club Dinner took place yesterday at Ashridge Golf Club.  Great job by the staff, there, btw!  Dinner and service were excellent and nearly everyone stopped to say how much they had enjoyed themselves before leaving.

The annual trophy presentations took place and there'll be photos on the website soon.

And I got through my review of the season speech with only a slight pause to cut out a whole slice although a couple of jokes went with that.

Thanks to Geoff not only for being Master of Ceremonies but also for the very kind words he said about me before we closed.

Don't miss our upcoming events -
7th December - a stirrup cup of mulled wine and a mince pie as we go for a bit of Winter madness with Croquet on the Playing Fields!
10th December and 14th January - Soup and Socials at the Clubhouse from 12 noon

And a new event, 15th January 19:30, a quiz - come along as a team or join one when you arrive. Ploughmans and quiz (price tba).

Look forward to seeing you there!

Winter Bowling

For all you diehards who don't like to find something else to occupy your time over the long winter months, you can still join us and bowl!  Mondays 10-12 and by arrangement with Lesley & David, Tuesdays 19-21:00, similarly with Ted and co Thursday 10-12 there are sessions on run by club members at Dunstable Leisure Centre.

Contact me if you don't have the right telephone numbers.

So that's that one.

Also over the out season, we will be holding some events in the clubhouse including soup & socials and quizzes. There may be other events, too so watch out for newsletters and on line here, on the website and at the LGBCC site on Facebook.

I have some news on next season coming shortly.

Bread Pudding Cup

Vs Wing - 1st Leg

First Leg of the inaugaral Bread Pudding Trophy and we were away at Wing.  I had some concerns about the team I had been left to field but Wing has always been a friendly game and I hoped they would make allowances for a couple of players that I had put in against my better judgement. 

Sadly, it was not to be. Despite the experience of the two players making up one triple, the poor old chap I put in out of kindness struggled to reach the head and the opposition bowled long jacks to make it worse. They went down 39-8 and took the rest of us with them.  On the first two rinks, my three and my wife's three both won by 8.... but that 16 was just not enough. Overall, we were down 27 as the other rink, which had started so well sunk down - the other player(s) I was worried about also gave up the game.  That's been the pattern and there are a few I am watching who need to learn a couple of things.
- That when you are up, there are ways to keep the concentration going and defend your lead
- That you need to fight not give up and say it's just a bit of fun... it may be a fun pasttime but you're letting your team mates down if you don't rally when the going gets tough.

Mentality is so critical in sport. You have to know where to find reserves and how to re-start your game.   I don't accept playing is all.  We mostly play to win.  We should look to win at least as many as we lose.  It's not fun to keep losing and that small minority will have to make way, sadly, for folks who understand what being part of a team means.

We have 27 points to get back when the second leg comes around. Even at home, that's a tough call.  My error.  I thought it would be played out in a kinder atmosphere. It proves that you should always put the best side available on the day in, especially when there is a trophy at stake.

Midsummer

Midsummer looms, Wimbledon echoes to the sound of heavy forehands and powerful services, the strawberry plants are laden and England are struggling in the latest test series.  Here at the bowls club, we are getting ready for our second open day on Saturday 28th June.

It's going to be a busy week.  We had the WI on Thursday to add to our usual coaching session. This week we have county in on Wednesday, Scouts join the coaching on Thursday, the cricket club come and play on Friday and Saturday is an all day open club day to recruit new members.

So how is it going?  About as well as I expected but not as well as I hoped.   We have recruited new members but I wanted 20-25 and we have managed a little shy of the 20 so far. Of those, I'd say only 10 will make team bowlers. 

I wanted to win about half of our matches but we have lost all bar one so in the end, no better than previous seasons.  We have lost more closely but lost none the less.  We'll change that, soon.   I'm seeing good progress.  It's just a small number letting us down in more ways than one.

I wanted to have the vast majority of people motivated and pleased with the progress and we have made enormous progress given previous years - an average of 3 or less new members, two victories and little change vs this season, nearly 20 new members, a refurbished club with 4 trained coaches holding regular sessions and all the signs that we are going places.

Of course, that's not enough. The doubters and moaners want to know how we are affording it all, don't listen and don't want to know about the opportunities and although they are friendly enough to the new folks, they don't seem to register their existence - if you say a name of anyone who hasn't been there for years the answer is usually "I don't know him/her"   Why not come and join the coaching sessions, recruitment days, initiatives that we run?  That little core of older members don't want all that.....  Maybe they'd rather we went bankrupt and closed up than everything changed.  I can't wait to see what they say when they find they haven't been picked for games because the new folks have passed them by.  

The thing is, the new players are keen, see the purpose of coaching and have been introduced into the club in the right way.  Soon, we will have a new core,built around the new, younger committee with more people who want to help and want progress.

I feel sorry for those who just cannot see it in themselves to make a bit of effort to change and enjoy the new offerings.  I suppose they think themselves above needing coaching and think they have seen it all before.  Wrong on two counts. 

Little Gaddesden is going places.  We'll be more than just a friendly club, we'll be a club with a bit of verve and energy.  People are going to know our name.