The week started well for the Ladies with Lesley Brown winning the 2nd round of the County Singles by beating a lady from Garston by 21 shots to 17. Not to be outdone Jackie Cormack won her 2nd round heat in the same competition by beating an opponent from Herts Bowls Club. Success continued with Anne Furlong and Jackie Cormack winning their 3rd round match in the county pairs. They went into the last end all square and got 3 shots on the last end. Success continued for the Ladies by Lesley Brown & Janice Murgatroyd winning their 2nd round match, in the Watford & District Pairs by beating a pair from Kings Langley 19 -14. Unfortunately it was not all roses when Sarah Marshall lost to Mavis Hendry, of Bushey, in the 2nd round of the County Singles, losing on the final end.
Things did not go so well for the Men with David Brown losing his County Singles Match to Ken Woodward of Kitcheners 21-18. The Men also lost in the National Club Two Fours to a team from Datchworth by 36 – 54, but they all redeemed themselves by winning their heat of the Watford & District Griffin Cup away to Borehamwood by 50 shots to 29, the top team consisting of B Livesey, M Primo, D Steadman and D Brown who won 31-14.
The week finished at Berkhamsted on Saturday with the Annual Captain’s Day Match when a team put together by the Captains play against a team formed by the Vice –Captains. The theme for the Day was bright Colours which went very well with 50 club members taking part and in excess of 30 other club and family members came to watch. The game was played in very hot conditions with the Vice – Captain’s team coming out the victors on this occasion. All players and guests turned up in a fine array of colourful attire and this helped to make the day a very joyful one. After the game 65 members and guests sat down to an excellent fish and chip supper and extras followed by a very welcome choc ice. Top Rink for the Captains’ Team comprised John Bell, Paul Healy, Ann Cutting and Steve Burrell. For the Vice Captains, the winning trio was Paul Sims, Linda Ralphs and Brian Smith.

The players all coloured up ready for the match.

In the week ending 25th June the Men did not start the week well in the Men’s County League against Bushey for despite the efforts of Steve Burrell, Nigel Eckert, Brian Ralphs and Kevin Clarke who won 19-16 they lost overall gaining 2 points to Bushey’s 4. The Ladies fared better when Carole Dunn, Anne Furlong, Anne Cutting and Jackie Cormack, in the blistering heat on Wednesday beat a team from Hemel Hempstead by 1 shot only in the Watford & District Ladies League. It was so hot that the friendly team gave up after 10 ends and retired to the Clubhouse to cool off. In the evening, when it was cooler the team of Janice Murgatroyd, Liz Temple and Lesley Brown beat a team from Met Police 20-10 in the 2nd round of the Watford & Dist. Ladies Triples competition. Then it all went downhill when Berkhamsted played Bovingdon in a heat of the Dacorum Shield competition. The Men lost 35-13, the Mixed team lost 19-12 and the Ladies tried to even things up by winning by 1 shot, winning 17-16, but it was not enough to affect the final outcome. The men then played in the Jones cup against Harpenden. The Home team won 27-10 and the away team won at Harpenden by 25 shots to 11. Paul Sims and Peter Batchelor made their debut into the Watford & District Men’s pairs at Mill End. Unfortunately their debut did not go well when the Mill End pair beat them 34-7 despite Paul realising that he used to play football with one of the opponents at Mill End in the 1970’s, they showed no mercy. The week finished with a friendly game against Hemel Hempstead which had a nail biting finish with Berkhamsted winning by 1 shot the game ending 89-88 to Berkhamsted. The top rink for Berkhamsted were Greta Taylor, Ray Kessler and Ken Maynard.
On Thursday 22nd June, Berkhamsted Bowls Club played host to a friendly fixture between Hertfordshire Men and Bedfordshire. Here, Brian Ralphs, Berkhamsted Men’s Club Captain, welcomes Alan Sayers, Men’s President of Hertfordshire Bowls, and Terry Wilkinson, Men’s President of Bowls Bedfordshire to the club. Hertfordshire convincingly won by 140 shots to 88.

This report covers 2 weeks and the first week started again with a win for Berkhamsted Ladies in the County Ladies triples competition, with the team of Linda Ralphs, Liz Temple and Lesley Brown beating a team from Welwyn Garden City 24 – 18 to progress to the Semi-Finals at Hatfield on the 7th June. Unfortunately in the Watford & Districts men’s pairs competition 2 teams from Berkhamsted were picked against each other and it ended with a win for David Brown and Kevin Clarke who progress through to the next round. More success for the Ladies with Carole Dunn and Marcia Dunstone winning their match in the National Ladies over 55’s Competition.
As the week progressed things got worse, the men lost in the Ray Cup to Borehamwood by 52 shots to 60. They also lost in the Herts Top Team competition to Oakhill. The bad fortune continued with a loss in the Dacorum Shield match against Kitcheners by 4 games to 1 and to finish a bad week 2 teams from Berkhamsted lost to Potters Bar in the Tony Allcock competition.
However things got brighter for to finish the week Berkhamsted Bowls Club’s Annual Gala took place on Bank Holiday Monday, 29th May 2017.
The weather was threatening most of the day but held out until the cloudburst in the last 10 minutes but spirits were high when 28 teams competed to win prize monies totalling £270.
Bowls Clubs from The Met Police, Hazells, Bushey, Garston, Little Gaddesden, Herts, Abbots Langley, Kitcheners, Kings Langley, Dunstable, Ruislip, Aylesbury Town and Hendon all took part, including one home team.
The winners were…. Sue Halsey, David Richardson, Ian Davis from Kitcheners Bowls Club – The Recycled Teenagers
Runners up…………… Mavis Hendry’s team from Bushey – The Bushey Wanderers
Third………….……….… Brian Hamilton’s team from Herts Bowls Club – JCB
Generous local businesses also donated great raffle prizes while club members provided over 100 tombola prizes. The bric-a-brac stall, run by Mary Cave, Janet Jackson and Pat Oakley, took £64 which will be donated to The Hospice of St Francis. There was also a Cake stall and a Guess-the-weight-of-the-Cake made by Ken Maynard, a club member who also ran the very popular Bacon Roll stall.

Last Week the Ladies started well in the Watford & District Ladies league by beating a team of Ladies from Bushey 22-8. Berkhamsted’s team were Sarah Marshall, Linda Ralphs. Janet Jackson & Jackie Cormack. Unfortunately the ladies friendly rink of Marion Maynard, Shiela Fountain, Jill Griffin and Gill Howells lost. The men continued the success in the National Two fours by beating a team from Harpenden 35-33. The team of Swan, Priomo, Webb & Kenyon won 17-15 and the team of Lloyd, Biggerstaff, Ralphs & Sear drew 18 All. In the Dacorum shield match the following day Berkhamsted won 4.5 points to 0.5 and Berkhamsted won an extra 5 points for a walkover in the Mixed match. The Ladies team were Carole Dunn, Janice Murgatroyd,, Anne Cutting & Jackie Cormack and the men’s was Steve Burrell, Alan Jones,Brian Ralphs and Ken Maynard. The score was 45-27. In the County Mens Pairs Brian Ralphs and Dave Sear won their heat 19-15.  In the final game of the week against Aston Clinton, Berkhamsted had more success by winning 92 – 57. The top rink was Jean Greenfield, David Drew & Ken Maynard.”