Bolton Parks Veterans Amateur Bowling Association

The Merits are to be held at Westhoughton Central Park on Monday, 9th September. 30 bowlers are already registered but we would like more participants so eligible bowlers may enter on the day. To be eligible you must comply with Rule 2.4.5 below. If your name is highlighted in orange below you meet the criteria of Rule 2.4.5 and may take part - however only a maximum of two bolwers from one team may play in the competition. Bowlers not highlighted are already registered to play. If bowlers wish to enter on the day they are asked to attend at Westhoughton Central Park at 11:00.

2.4.5 On completion of all League Matches, the two (2) players who have the highest qualifying average in each team, in both Sections of the League, shall be eligible to play in the respective Merit Competitions. If a qualifying player is unable to take his place in the Competition, the player with the third best qualifying average from their team, shall be allowed to participate in their place. To be entitled to play in the Competition a player or substitute, shall not have missed more than six (6) matches in the season. In addition a player or substitute shall have played in three (3) of the last five (5) matches of the season.

Section A	1st Rep	2nd Rep	3rd Rep
Astley Bridge Park A	Mark Bradshaw	John Mort
Astley Bridge Park B	E Gregson	Roy Schofield	Paul Pover
Egerton Park A	Peter Hardman	Howard Boyd	Dennis Wildman
Egerton Park B	Eric Haslam	Peter Crook
Great Lever Park A	Fran Taylor	Rod Cuming
Haslam Park	Keith Crook	No one else available
Horwich Public Hall A	Ray Sale	Keith Andrews
Horwich Public Hall B	No one else available	Trevor Hope
Longsight A	Les Fishwick	No one else available
Longsight B	Ian Holloway
Moss Bank Park A	No one available	No one available
Moss Bank Park B	Keith Brooks	Keith Clarkson
Sunnyside Park	Tommy Harrington	Tommy Glover	Neville Gregson
Tonge Park A	Mick Bailey	Mick Hilton
Tonge Park B	E Hall	Anne Norris	Terry Ratcliffe



Section B
Astley Bridge Park C	David Barton	Malcolm Austin	David Tadd
Breightmet	Alf Evans	C Parkinson	Anne Booth
Darbishire Park B	Andy Cook	Keith Townsend	Danny Fletcher
Darbishire Park C	Tom Chesters	Agnes Briggs	Pete Roberts
Egerton Park C	Geoff Dunn	David Phillips	Rita Dunn
Great Lever Park B	Albert Ashworth	Walt Callow
Heywood Park	Peter McCawley	Jim Barton
Longsight C	Kevin Pickervance	John Kay
Merehall	Trevor Owen	John Patterson	Joe Duker
Moss Bank Park C	Mary Southern	Sonia Forrest
Moss Bank Park D	Eric Redford	Graham McGuiness
Queens Park A	Howard Tilotson	Christine Dew
Queens Park B	Derek Hill	John Kelly	Norma Buckley
Westhoughton A	No one available	No one available
Westhoughton B	Lynda Baker	No one else available

(Saturday 7 September 2019)

Secretaries Shield 2019

The Secretaries Trophy was played at Haslam Park on 5th August. We had a dissapointing number of entries with only 12 participants.

The League Secretary thanked Eddie Thompson and members of the Haslam Park Club for hosting the competition.

The bowlers were in two halves with 'A' Section bowlers in one half and 'B' Section bowlers in the other half. The 'A' Section final was competed between Ron Spedding and Clive Fenn both of Great Lever Park 'A' team with Ron coming out on top 15 - 12. While the 'B' Section final was contested between Carol Pollitt from Egerton and David Dixon of Great Lever 'B' team with David coming out on top 15 - 9. The Final of the Secretaries Shield was then played between the two Great Lever Captains with David Dixon, the 'B' team captain coming out on top winning 15 - 13. Ron has the consolatory thought that he got to 15 chalks first and had he not had a handicap of -3 would have won. Congratulations to David and commiserations to Ron. The full draw and results can be found here.

Pictured from left to right - Clive Fenn, Ron Spedding, David Dixon (Champion) and Carol Pollitt.

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(Wednesday 7 August 2019)

BetFred Trophy 2019

The BetFred preliminaries were held on two greens for the first time in 2019. The preliminaries were played at Sunnyside and Queens Park on 8th July. In total 37 entries were received but only 16 bowlers attended each of the two venues. As a consequence, all bowlers played one match to qualify for the Final 16 who were scheduled to play at Great Lever Park on 15th July.

The finals were played in good spirit with some excellent bowling being watched by bowlers and spectators on a glorious day. The competition was won by Kevan Lathom who beat Alan Foster in the final beating him 15 - 7. The full draw can be found here.

Thanks were expressed to the Committes of Great Lever Park, Sunnyside and Queens Park for hosting the final and preliminaries.

A photo will be posted in due course.

(Wednesday 17 July 2019)

Mixed Pairs 2019

The Mixed Pairs Competition was played at Derbishire Park on Monday, 10th June. The weather stayed fine all day despite the threat of bad weather which was thought the competition was played over two days. There was an excellent days bowling with the eventual winners Sonia Forrest and Les Fishwick who beat Sandra Doel and Clive Fenn in the final 15 - 9. Congratualtions to Sonia and Les and commiserations to Sandra and Clive. Ken Holcroft thanked the Committee at Darbishire Park for hosting the competition. The draw and results can be found here.

Mixed Pairs Finalists Clive Fenn, Sonia Forrest, Les Fishwick & Sandra Doel

Email Sent to All Team Secretaries by Ken Holcroft on Saturday, 8th June 2019 @ 13.15

All Team Secretaries, copy to all Executive members

The number of female entries to this competition has dropped considerably this year and we really do not have enough potential pairs to require a qualifying round, and it is therefore proposed that the fixture scheduled for Monday,10^th June will be the final of the competition, playing for the actual trophies.

It is common knowledge that this particular competition attracts more male entrants than female and therefore some men inevitably have to be balloted out at the green, and this tends to cause upset for the male players who have travelled to the venue only to return home without playing. This year the situation is far worse than usual in that we have only 21 female entrants but 41male entrants, so Clive and I, as acting Joint Competition Secretaries, have therefore decided that the only viable solutions to the problem are as follows:

1. We have closed the entry list with immediate effect and cannot accept any further nominations for the competition, and

2. We are concious of the concern that players have regarding attending the green only to be balloted out but with such an imbalance in the male/female entrants some balloting out will be inevitable. With this in mind we have drawn the lots for the sequence of players to be balloted out and ranked the order of male bowlers according to the attached list. All male bowlers can attend if they wish but bowlers lower down the list are more unlikely to be playing on Monday in the competition. For example, if all 21 ladies attend the first 21 men listed will play, with pairings 12 - 21 playing in the preliminary round with pairings 1 - 11 getting byes to the second round (last 16). We believe that this is the only fair method to deal with the problem and, as this is now the final of the competition, the players balloted out may well wish to stay and support their team mates or friends who will be playing.

Could you please notify all of your players who have entered this competition, especially the male players, of the above comments and advise them that we really would appreciate them attending the green on Monday? Female players can be found here listed in no particular order but generally by teams.

(Saturday 8 June 2019)

Fraser Huyton Pairs Competition 2019

The green allocations for preliminaries of the Fraser Huyton Pairs Competition can be found here. We are trialling a handicapping system to try and increase numbers participating. This year we have 48 spread across two greens - Egerton and Breightmet. The scheduled date for the preliminaries is Monday, 13th May with Friday, 17th May the reserve date. The scratchout time and start time is 11:30 for all of the BPVABA pairs and and singles competitions.

The preliminaries went well with a fantastic day for bowling matched by excellent play from most bowlers. The finalists of the Fraser Huyton Pairs Competition which is due to be played on Tonge Park on 20th May (with reserve date 24th May) with start and scratch out time 11:30 can be found here.

The final of the Fraser Huyton Pairs was played at Tonge Park on 20th May. The final day draw can be found here. The green was in excellent condition and we had a full day of excellent bowling with the winners John Mort and Gordon Butler who beat Geoff Wilde and Ray Wood in the final 15 - 7.

Thanks to everyone at Tonge Park for hosting the final day. The home made almond tart was lovely.

(Saturday 11 May 2019)

Bowling Permits go up

Bowling Permits have gone up to £25

The following letters have been recieved from Malcolm Russell concerning the increase in cost of bowling permits. This apparently was a political decicision made last Monday by the Council and ratified on Friday when the opposition parties chose not to oppose the increase in fees.

Email received 15th April at 10:51

Bowling Season Ticket Charge 2019

Dear Clive,

As discussed on the phone.

I am sorry if you were under the misapprehension that the fee would rise by just £1 for 2019, this was not information confirmed by the Council.

Unfortunately the Council is experiencing continuing difficult financial times and as part of the 2019/21 budget process a decision was taken to review income generation i.e. fees & charges. As a result a wide range of charges across the Department of Place are increasing by above inflation, many by more than the figure for bowling green permits.

We would suggest that the new fee still represents significant value for money at a cost of around £1 per week for the summer season for the use of the greens and associated facilities.

I trust this information is of some assistance in communicating with your members.

Regards,

Malcolm

Malcolm Russell

Head of Service (Neighbourhood Services)

Directorate of Place

Email received 12th April timed 15:58

Bolton Council Bowling Greens - Permit charges 2019

Dear all,

Please accept my apologies that the Council has not been able to advise you of the cost of a bowling permit for summer 2019 before now.

I can advise that the approved charge for 2019 is £25 per player. If Secretaries could now complete the form that we sent you, collect the fees and return the same to this office it would be much appreciated.

Regards,

Malcolm Russell

Head of Service (Neighbourhood Services)

Directorate of Place

(Monday 15 April 2019)

Start Time now 1.30pm

The start time and all associated timings were brought forward 30 minutes at the AGM on 31st January. The proposal had been proposed by Chris Barnes and seconded by Ken Crook. After a short discussion on the benefits of an earlier start the proposal to start at 1.30 pm was approved with 20 votes in favour and 8 votes against. More news from the AGM can be found here.

The re-drafted rule 2.1.18 is shown below.

2.1.18 All League and Cup matches shall commence at 1.30pm and shall be completed that day, weather permitting. Practice will be allowed before the start of all league matches at the following times:

Home team 12.55pm to 1.10pm

Away team 1.10pm to 1.25pm.

The rules for practice shall be followed before the start of any rearranged matches

(Monday 4 February 2019)

Bowl played out of turn

We have had a number of instances when opponents have not allowed a bowler to resend a bowl after it was originally played out of turn. Rule 5.12 of the BCGBA states that "If a player delivers a bowl out of turn it must be returned to be played in its proper turn". This means should a player send their bowl inadvertently after setting a mark following the original block being sent off by their opponent - that player gets their bowl back.

Rule 5.13 covers the instance when a bowler delivers their opponent's bowl. In this instance the offending player forfeits their bowl and the bowl is returned to their opponent. The wording of the rule is "If a player, in turn, delivers a bowl of another player, it shall be returned to the proper owner to be played, the offender forfeiting a bowl." This means the bowl sent incorrectly is not replaced by the correct bowl - it is lost and removed from the end.

Please make sure you read the rules. The rules are printed in the Lancashire and BCGBA Official Handbooks. Your Club should have new copies of these handbooks annually.

(Wednesday 1 June 2016)