Tuesday 30th October

Apologies

With the season ending in September and the interminable series of A.G.M.'s due to take place in November and December, October is naturally a quiet month in the bowling year apart from Secretaries preparing info for the Annual General Meetings. I have to report suffering from a slight heart problem over the last few weeks which has needed attention at hospital but hopefully I am now on the road to recovery and will soon be back in full swing. I can report that the excellent Sunday Morning "Flyers" run by Colin Saville and his loyal band are now being played on the excellent greens at Arrowe Park and Colin would like to invite as many bowlers as possible to attend. I can also report that I have now had work schedules from Wirral Borough Council for all the greens under their control and these schedules will be winging their way to Club Secretaries this week. Anthony Bestwick from the Council has agreed to meet us again in January to discuss the work taking place and I have had reports that work has been ongoing already. The Wallasey C.G.B.A. Annual General Meeting will be held on Wednesday 28th November at Manor Road starting at 7-30pm with the Wirral & District A.G.M. being held the following night at Cammell Laird, also with a 7-30pm start. The agendas and minutes for the Wallasey A.G.M. will be with Club Secretaries by the end of next week.

Tuesday 2nd October

Suggested Wallasey Monday Afternoon over 55's League

The Executive Committee were asked to consider setting up an Afternoon Over 55's League to be played on Monday afternoons next season. After writing to all the Wallasey Association Clubs and putting an advertisement in the Wirral Globe regarding this League, I can report that only 2 Wallasey Association Clubs and three Clubs registered with the Wirral & District C.G.B.A. have responded by the cut off date of September 30th. Obviously from this response there would seem to be insufficient interest from clubs to play in such a League and at the moment the idea has to be considered as a non starter.

Tuesday 2nd October

Annual General Meeting

This years A.G.M. will be held on Wednesday November 28th at Manor Road Bowling Club starting at 7-30pm. As stated above there have not been any proposals from Clubs for rule amendments etc. and the only items for discussion, under Notices of Motion, will be the following 2 recommendations from the Executive Committee.

ALTERATIONS TO ASSOCIATION RULES

 Team Competition Rules

 Replace rule 14 with

The League and Cup trophies are to remain the property of the Association, with the League Winners receiving their trophy at the Annual General Meeting. The Association will be responsible for all the engraving of trophies, with the winning clubs being debited for the amount in their 2^nd account of the year. All trophies to be returned to the Association Secretary by no later than 2 weeks before the Cup Final of the following year or in the case of League Championship Trophies, 2 weeks before the Annual General Meeting.

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Wallasey C.G.B.A. Individual Competitions

Insert new rule after Cup Competitions in handbook

Individual and Doubles Competitions

1        Entry shall be open to all bowlers registered with the Association on payment of the entry fee, which must be paid in advance and sent with the Competition Entry form to the Competition Secretary

2        Any player having put his name on an entry form submitted to the Competition Secretary, will be deemed as having entered the Competition and if he fails to turn up for the Competition and has not paid his entry fee, his Club will be billed for the entry fee in their 2^nd Account.

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Thursday 27th September

Wallasey C.G.B.A. County side have to settle for runners up spot

Following North Derbyshire's 28-03 victory over Warwickshire last Sunday, they have become Champions of Division Two of the British Parks C.G.B.A. Senior County Championship. This means that we have finished runners up behind North Derbyshire by the narrow margin of 9 points. North Derbyshire finishing on 72 points to our 63. We have however been promoted to Division One for next season and I would like to thank, the Selectors, Colin and Paul Saville, all the players and reserves involved during the season, the measurers Colin Jones and Gerry Reeves, the Association President and Chairman, Keith Etches and Mike Costall and all the supporters who came to the home matches and especially those who travelled to the away games for their continued help throughout a successful campaign.  I think the Executive Committee deserve our thanks also for their work during the season in raising the funds, via our weekly draw, to enable us to promote the Wallasey Association via all the British Parks Competitions not just the County Championship.

Monday 24th September

West Kirby Victoria win Merseyside "8 A Side" Club Championship

Wallasey Association 1st Division Champions, West Kirby Victoria, won the Merseyside County, 8 A Side, Club Knockout on Saturday by defeating holders, British Plate, by 42 shots in the final at St.Gregorys in Lydiate. The Vics beat the Brooke Hotel in their semi final before going on to claim 7 of the 8 blocks in a one sided final. West Kirby Victoria will now go on to represent Merseyside in the National Finals at Irlam.

West Kirby Victoria

Merseyside County 8 a Side Club Champions 2007

Back Row left to right, Robby Fitzpatrick, Jamie Fitzpatrick, Robby Hall, Anthony Thompson, John Lloyd

Front Row left to right, Frank O'Neill, Mally Johnson (Captain), Heather Strike (No.1 supporter & scorer), Matty Gilmore, Dave Gilmore

Saturday 22nd September

Second Accounts & Notices of Motion for Annual General Meeting

Clubs are reminded that the Second account payments have to be paid to the Association Treasurer by September 30th at the latest. Any notices of motion for  the Annual General Meeting have to be with the Association Secretary by September 30th in order for them to be sent out to all the Association Member Clubs for consideration and possible amendments.

Sunday 16th September

Wallasey lose out to North Derbyshire in vital promotion tussle.

This afternoon's British Parks Division Two clash between Wallasey and North Derbyshire, was won by North Derbyshire by an overall score of 19 points to 12. In Wallasey's home leg at Manor Road we won by 10 points to 4 with 8 excellent winning cards. Unfortunately the away leg at the lightning fast little green at Ridgeway Bowling Club, went the way of North Derbyshire by 12 points to 2, with North Derbyshire also gaining the extra 3 points on offer for the aggregate scores. At Manor Road the first four blocks were shared, with Chris Barton celebrating his promotion to number one on the card, winning 21-16 and Paul Johnson, making a welcome return to County Bowls for Wallasey, posting an excellent 21 -13 card. Wallasey had 3 comfortable winners in the middle four, with Alan Bainbridge using all his local green knowledge to record an inspiring 21-07 victory. Karl Sherbrooke gave a "mini crushing" display with his 21-11 win and Dave Gilmore was a good 21-13 winner. Anthony Thompson fought back from a big deficit to run out a fine 21-13 winner and Mathew Gilmore gave his usual assured display in a 21-15 victory. Geoff Lynch, showing no signs of fear from his new found love of flying, landed smoothly with a fine 21-16 win to complete the Association's 8 winners on the day. The final score being 222 - 188 to Wallasey. The journey to North Derbyshire was not without incident, with the esteemed Paul Saville, deciding to share the contents of of a dodgy drink, Paul says it was "Lucozade", not many believed him, with the inside of a sick bag, isn't it funny how there always seems to be carrots. This meant an unscheduled stop at the famous "spew " corner on the Snake Pass, well its famous now anyway. After finding the green just outside of Sheffield, some of the lads wished we hadn't. A lightning fast, postage stamp, of a green, certainly fooled the majority of our bowlers and I think we did extremely well to come away with only 2 single figure losers on the day. John Lloyd, with an excellent display, had a sweep winning 21-14 victory and Billy Atkinson also came to grips with the green, despite comments from the sidelines that it was much slower later on, to record a fine 21-17 win. Matty Cunliffe 16-21, John Devlin 18-21, Paul Saville, minus the few ounces of substance he left at the "Snake", recovered to only go down 19-21 and Billy Astles was really unlucky to be pipped 20-21 after a terrific struggle. The final score being 241-171 to North Derbyshire. Wallasey still top the Division Two table on 63 points but have now played all their matches and North Derbyshire lie in second place on 44 points with one match against Warwickshire to play next Sunday.

Total Points

 Wallasey 12-19 North Derbyshire

Friday 14th September

British Parks Senior County Championship, Wallasey v North Derbyshire

The final County Championship match of the season brings the curtain down on an exhaustive Summer's Bowling on Sunday, when Wallasey take on North Derbyshire in the decider for the Division Two Championship. The home leg is at Manor Road Bowling Club with a 2-00 pm start with the away tie being held at the Ridgeway Bowling Club. I hope a big crowd will gather to give the team a boost in their efforts to go up to Division One next season as Champions.

Friday 14th September

Greens Meeting with Wirral Borough Council

Representatives from 12 of the 14  Wallasey Association Clubs using Wirral Borough Council owned greens, turned up at the meeting with Wirral Borough Council Officials on Wednesday at Manor Road, alongside representatives from Higher Tranmere, Cheshire Cheese and Lingham Ladies. Mr Anthony Bestwick, Manager of Wirral Borough Council's Parks and Countryside Services and two of his Area Managers, Mr. Roger Calvert and Mr. David Grealis represented the Council. In response to our prepared list of questions they had already received, significant progress would seem to be the order of the day if Autumn and Spring work on the greens outlined by Mr. Bestwick is actually carried out. We have been promised a copy of the work schedule drawn up for Scarifying, Hollow Tining, Top Dressing and all the other necessary work needed to return the greens to something like their former good state. We have been made aware that the Council have spent £6000 in hiring sufficient machinery for the jobs in hand and that there are sufficient qualified green keeping staff to carry out the work. We have been told that work will start in the last week of September and hopefully with a decent Winter all greens should show marked improvement next season. It was pointed out to our members that rolling of bowling greens actually does more harm than good as the soil gets compacted and grass would not be able to grow properly. The levelling out of the playing surfaces should be taken care of with the proper work during top dressing. Mr. Bestwick pointed out a lack of financing as the major problem in the upkeep of the greens with green rental fees from Clubs only amounting to £17000 per annum. In response to questions regarding Government Funding the Officers present were unaware of any grants available that the Association could receive and indeed individual clubs were more likely to succeed in attracting grants. Security issues in the Parks were raised and the Officers admitted that there were no plans to replace existing fencing with new fencing but in the case of Great Meols, hopefully the fencing will be repaired. New benches are on order and should be in place in the Summer. There will be no fireworks launched from the green at Lingham Park but only on the surrounding area. Apparently there are no long term plans for irrigation systems on any of the Council greens other than those in use at Birkenhead Park. In response to a question regarding the setting up of a website link to enable clubs to report if work is not carried out as scheduled, there would not be a link available but we have agreed to organise a small Committee to have regular quarterly meetings with the Council Officers to report on the amount of work, or lack of work, being done to the greens. After a comprehensive evening of questioning I think the major outcome was that Wirral Borough Council are now aware of the complete lack of confidence we have in their efforts over the last three years and that unless the promised work is actually carried out we would be looking for redress from the Council as to our future fees. Association Chairman, Mike Costall reiterated the comments made by Bowlers World Editor, Brian Hampson, by thanking the Wirral Borough Council Officers for facing up to the problems and agreeing to turn up to the meeting and hoped that the outcome would be better playing surfaces next season. The only disappointing aspect of the night for me personally, was the non attendance of Grange and Greasby Bowling Club representatives at the meeting. I will forward a copy of the working schedule to all clubs as soon as I receive it. I would also like to thank all the Clubs for attending and thank the Chairman on the night, Mr. Rick Keeley for his efforts, even though he has lumbered me with some more work.

Tuesday 11th September

Gladstone crowned British Parks Inter Club Champions.

Unfortunately the Wallasey C.G.B.A. representatives, West Kirby Victoria, lost to Llay M.W. from North Wales at the quarter final stage of last Sundays Inter Club Knockout tournament hosted by the Wirral & District C.G.B.A. We must however congratulate the Gladstone Bowling Club on becoming this years winners of the event, the first time any club from the Wirral has won it. Gladstone defeated New Street from Central Lancashire in the quarter finals, Llay M.W. in the semi finals and top Greater Manchester outfit Lloyds in the Final at Birkenhead ESWA. It is the turn of the Wallasey C.G.B.A. to stage this prestigious competition in 2008 and hopefully we will be able to emulate Gladstone's excellent acheivement.

Tuesday 11th September

Meeting with Wirral Borough Council

All clubs using Wirral Borough Council greens are reminded that our meeting with Mr. Anthony Bestwick, takes place at Manor Road Bowling Club tomorrow night,12th September, starting at 7-00pm. Please ensure there is at least one representative from your club in attendance at the meeting.

Monday 3rd September

Final League Results and Tables

All the League results for the season are now in and the  Final League Tables for the season can be seen via the League Table page.

Sunday 2nd September

British Parks Inter Club Knockout Tournament

The draw for next Sundays competition can be seen below. West Kirby Victoria, Wallasey C.G.B.A. Division One Champions 2006, will represent the Association in this competition.

Sunday 2nd September

Weekly Draw, Lucky winner receives £550

The weekly draw numbers drawn today were 4, 5, 7, 8, 11, 12. The £550 Jackpot was won by a lucky bowler from Harrison Park. This was the last draw of the season and I would like to thank all the people who bought tickets throughout the season and all the ticket sellers. Special thanks go to Mike Costall, Denis Bulman and Gerry Reeves for conducting the Sunday draws and thanks also to the Manor Road Bowling Club for allowing us to use their club every Sunday for the draw. In total we have paid out £1710 in prize money this season.

Saturday 1st September

British Parks Senior County Championship Division Two, Wallasey v North Derbyshire

Wallasey's final County Championship match takes place on Sunday September 16th against North Derbyshire with the home leg at Manor Road Bowling Club and the away leg at Ridgeway Bowling Club. The pairings for both matches are as follows.