Here is our latest newsletter, with an update of news and comments from your club.
Members
Since our last newsletter four further members have joined Oak Hill – Pete Headland, Naresh Shah, Julian Shulman and Annika Stranberg. We continue to coach a number of other prospective new bowlers, some of whom have been to our club nights, so we hope to have news of more new members in future newsletters. We now have more men full-playing members (45) than in any of the previous 5 years, but unfortunately our number of full-playing lady members is only 18, with 6 lady Associate members.
East Barnet School
Our project with East Barnet school was finally able to proceed in June, but because the year-10 students had mock GCSE examinations, work experience and the school sports day, we were only able to host 3 training sessions. However, the teachers were very impressed with our organisation and we are beginning to plan sessions for next summer with the school. Many thanks to those members who helped with the training.
Competitions
The club competitions are well underway and many thanks to Liam Murphy, with help from Derek and Jill, for organising them. The competitors in four finals have already been decided as follows –
Men’s 2-wood singles Liam Murphy v David Bowler
Ladies 2-wood singles Maureen Lovell v Sheila Bowler
Two wood pairs Leah Ketibuah & Terry Doe v Barry Brennan & Brian Thomas
Mixed triples Kay Comer, Mike Wellbelove & Alan Nicholls
v Christine Shields, Junior Brewster & John Abson.
It was particularly good to see 39 members taking part in the mixed triples competition, a greater number than we have had for many years. The remaining competitions seem to be running well with competitors managing to play their matches by the designated dates.
Many of our members have been taking part in the competitions organised by the Finchley and North London Association and, with most competitions now at the semi-final stage, we are hopeful that there will be a good representation of Oak Hill players in the finals which will be held at Finchley (Etchingham Park) on Saturday 20th August.
Club Shirts / Jackets
We have recently sent off an order for club shirts of various sizes, so hopefully will be receiving these within the next couple of weeks. If any member requires a shirt, please see John Abson. The club is maintaining its policy of providing a free shirt to all new full-playing members. Part of the reasoning behind this is to ensure that, when bowlers represent the club in friendly fixtures or competitive matches, all the players can wear the club shirt, ensuring a really smart turn-out and complying with bowls regulations.
Leagues
Our club is competing in a number of county and district leagues and matches are progressing well. Of particular note is the Veterans League, in which Oak Hill was placed second at the end of June, having played 6 of our 14 matches. Since then we have won further matches, including a convincing win against Grovelands, who had been placed third, so we are hopeful that we will be maintaining our position at the end of July. Our first match in August is at home against Broomfield, the current league leaders and last year’s champions, so a good support on the afternoon of the 4th August would be greatly appreciated.
Our Open Triples league on Tuesday morning is progressing well under the management of Gordon Greenfield. The first round-robin series of matches has been completed, after which 3 teams were promoted from the lower division and 3 teams relegated from the upper division. The second round-robin series of matches is now underway, with the league scheduled to be completed on 20th September.
Finchley Bowls Week
Details of this popular event have now been received and forms are posted on the notice boards in the ladies and men’s changing rooms. The event, which runs from the 12th to the 16th September, includes singles, pairs and triples competitions and is open to both ladies and men. Entries must be sent to Alan Oldham of Finchley Bowls Club by the 2nd September and we hope there will be a good number of entrants from Oak Hill.
Social
Thursday club-nights continue to be very popular, particularly the barbecue suppers, and we are very grateful to Mike Marques for providing excellent food cooked for us on many Thursdays. The programme for the next few weeks is:-
28th July – Fish and chips
4th August – Barbecue
11th August – Mike’s Chinese Special
All members and prospective members are welcome to come along to the club-nights, when the food is normally served at about 7.30pm. However, please ensure that you put your name on the relevant sheet on the notice board outside the kitchen by the preceding Tuesday, so that there is sufficient food for everyone who comes along.
First Aid Training
Jim McGregor has agreed to provide a training session in general first aid and use of our defibrillator. This will be held on Friday August 19th at 10am . Please put your name on the list outside the kitchen if you would like to come along. We will arrange a second session if there are sufficient names to justify it.
The Green
Our green was not in a good state at the beginning of the season, due to a condition called “dry patch”. We believe that this was caused by the particularly dry spell before the season started, and before we started watering the green. Our green drains very well and therefore tends to become dry and develop firm patches which can cause bowls to bump and bounce.
ASM have recently been applying a wetting agent to the green and this, combined with an application of fertiliser and regular overnight watering, has improved the condition of the green considerably. The green is to be scarified on Thursday 28th July, with a further application of the wetting agent. ASM will subsequently reduce the height of the blades when they cut the green, so this should improve the speed of the green for the rest of the season.
Working Party – Green Surround
The top of the hedge surrounding the green has now been trimmed by the council workers and ASM will be cutting the inside of the hedge on the 27th July. In order to further tidy up the surrounds of the green there will be a working party on the morning of Saturday 30th July. In order to beat the rush in the car park for the Oak Hill fun run, the group will be meeting from 8am onwards, so set your alarm for an early start and come along ready to help with this clearing. Please be aware that there are some club competition matches arranged for that morning, and we will be providing coaching for any prospective bowlers who come along, so please observe the normal etiquette for players on the green.
Lockers
We are looking into replacing the lockers in the ladies and men’s changing rooms by lockers with a greater depth. This will be done at the end of the season, so as to cause minimum disruption, but will mean that all the existing lockers must be cleared of any equipment at the end of the season. Nearer the time we will let you know the arrangements for clearing the existing lockers and allocating new ones to all our bowling members.
President’s Charity
It is traditional every year at Oak Hill that the club President selects a local charity and money is raised for this charity over the course of the season. My selected charity for this year is the North London Hospice and I am hoping to arrange a visit from a representative from the hospice at one of our events towards the end of the season. There is a collecting box on the bar shelf, so please give generously.
With best wishes to you all – we hope you continue to enjoy your season’s bowling.
John