Category Archives: General News

A very proud short mat team played a home game against Seend on Wednesday 23rd January and only lost by six shots, a great improvement on last time the teams met.The final score was Devizes 34 and Seend 39..

On Tuesday 5th February a two-rink team visited Urchfont for an away friendly and had an excellent night managing to win on both mats with a total score of Devizes 37 and Urchfont 27

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A big thanks and well done to all who took part

Terry Miles

The club is looking at the probability of holding a markers course during the 2019 season here at Devizes. With that in mind enquiries have been made regarding the minimum number required for a course to be viable and we are informed that the magic number is 30 for viability and max 32 for practicality.

The committee recognises that reaching that number is something of a tall order but Bowls Wiltshire indicate that they will advertise the event across Wiltshire with a view to topping up the numbers from other clubs. It would be great if we could reach 10 or more volunteers.

To those of you who were listed on the website as qualified please be aware that the three-year certification came to an end on the 31^st December 2018 so you are no longer qualified.

The course is a one-day event and costs approx. £10 per person. The bowls committee would consider canvasing the management committee with a view to seeking full refunds for all who volunteer to take this qualification.

If you wish to enrol or have any questions please refer them to our development officer Mike Mitcham ( email hidden; JavaScript is required ) or coaching co-ordinator Jenny Coates ( email hidden; JavaScript is required ).

On Tuesday evening Devizes short mat members took a team to play Bromham.

Whilst everyone enjoyed the evening it was a hard lesson in short mat bowling where in the end Devizes won 3 games to Bromhams 8 with an overall final score of 58 to Bromham and 36 to Devizes.

Perhaps we will have better luck next year commented Terry Miles, team leader, when we play Seend. Terry at the same time wished everyone a happy and wonderful Christmas and thanked all for their support in the short mat endeavours.

Thursday evening on the 29th November saw a taster night of short mat bowls for the PHAB club.

There were 27 in attendance with all levels of disability but everyone of the visitors had a go at bowling and thoroughly enjoyed themselves.This was supplemented by a much appreciated end of evening fish and chip supper. Many thanks go to those from the club who came along to help and grateful thanks were received from the PHAB club organisers who indicated that everyone had enjoyed the night so much they would love to be invited back again next year.

Terry Miles

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Charity Musical Hall – Wine, Woman (including some men) and Song

A fabulous musical supper, produced and presented by Nicola Sage, entertained a delighted audience of members and friends at our clubhouse last Sunday raising £645 for local charities, notably Caenhill Countryside Centre and Alzheimer’s Support.

There were shining performances given by the Mistral Ensemble, Devizes PSG choir, a starring role for the Widow Twanky hosting the music quiz and a story teller extraordinaire. All seamlessly timed around mulled wine and warm sausage rolls, with a supper interval courtesy of Jenny.

Team Osprey rallied to decorate the hall, provide waiter service and keep the evening running smoothly.

Our president Rosemary provided a seasonal reading, and closed proceedings at this special social occasion in the clubhouse.

Chris Holt

The new Friday afternoon sessions of short mat bowling opened with an excellent attendance of 14 members who all enjoyed this new afternoon game thoroughly, so much so, they even agreed to have a group photograph taken and smiled throughout the process as can be seen below.

Last week, as the club was closed for the renovations of the floor, no home club nights were on the cards, so an away match at was arranged for a contingent of our short mat enthusiast to play at Seend.

It was agreed that it was a wonderful night thoroughly enjoyed by all concerned but it was a hard game and another big step in the learning circle of what it would be like if bowling in the short mat leagues. The result at the end of the night was five games to one in favour of the home side.

Monday saw the return to home club nights with 22 players in attendance to try out the new floor (see pictures below) and apart from the fact that the varnish still polluted the air slightly, favourable reports were received related to the much improved playing surface even on the mat nearest the green side of the club which was originally the most untrue and difficult mat to play on

Terry Miles
Short mat Organiser.

Sunday afternoon saw the innovation of President’s Day, Captain’s Day and Awards Night all wrapped into one event and what an excellent afternoon and evening it was, enjoyed by all those playing, partners watching and many visiting past senior members coming along to join in the occasion.
The game was played as one rink and ten triples indicating the excellent support for this event. The game was played as a President’s team v a Captain’s team with the result of a win for the President by 200 to 162. Before the start of the meal President Rosemary asked those in attendance to stand for grace and hold one minutes silence in memory of David Basher who only last week passed away.
Top rink prizes were presented to Mike Mitcham, Mike Alexander and Will Ilott for the Presidents team and Simon Northway, Ingrid Thorogood and Denise Howard for the Captains team.
As is traditional the Ladies Vice-Captain gave a vote of thanks to Bev Lilley for the hard work she had carried out in what was a particularly difficult year, there having been no full-time men’s captain to assist. Ellen indicated that she had given Bev a new nickname of “beaver” because they are known to work tirelessly until they achieve a result. During the year Bev had also developed a new saying which Ellen hoped to adopt and that was “Don’t worry about it”.
During the speech it was mentioned that Bev had a liking for all thinks pink and fluffy and then a gift from all the ladies of the club was presented to the captain by young Marissa Ambridge, suitably attired in a fluffy pink flamingo outfit (see photograph).
Captain Bev then responded with the usual thanks to the many that had supported her in this unusual year. Many events had taken place that were a credit to the club even though it was hard for the men’s leagues with no captain and support unusually low for leagues.
Specific thanks and congratulations went to Richard Bradfield for starting the ball rolling for what turned out to be a very enjoyable and successful tour to Weymouth, to Lynn Hicks for reaching the semi-finals of the Bowls Wiltshire Ladies unbadged two wood competition, to Gerald Webb, Trefor Jones and Keith Scrannage in reaching the finals of the Bowls Wiltshire over 60’s triples. Bev herself had the fortune to play in the very successful Bowls Wiltshire Ladies Johns Trophy team who for the first time in many years reached the finals at Leamington and came out on top as winners.
Next Bev carried out the traditional presentation of gifts to all who had worked hard and given her and the club assistance during the year.
With phase one of the event now completed we moved on to phase two, the President’s address.
President Rosemary fully endorsed the captain’s comments regarding the help received and went on to remind members that we are a self-help club and without help we cannot run and included an appeal for all who could to offer help wherever they could. Rosemary paid tribute to the ladies who had provided a wonderful meal for the celebrations and for the support from the voluntary bar staff and expressed very grateful thanks to the large number of past members who had chosen to support her by attending the afternoon. It is always a delight to see everyone and renew acquaintances.
Phase three was the presentation of trophies to the winners and runners up of this year’s club competitions. Even though a lot of members in attendance did not have trophies to collect all stayed on to applaud those who did and the President thanked everyone for doing so and finally paid tribute to Sheila Garlick who, ably assisted by Ray Ward had done her usual excellent job of preparing all the trophies for the night, on top of organising the whole of the competition events throughout the season.
With this the President coupled with the Captain wished everyone a safe trip home, wishing them well over the winter and expressing the hope that all would support winter social events and return, refreshed, for next season.