22nd July 2008 - Mixed success for West Ealing

On Wednesday evening 16th July, the current Middlesex Men’s Pairs Champions, Nick Skidmore and Paul Cater played in the quarter finals of the Middlesex County pairs at Paddington BC against Norman Worley and Pat Briscoe from Paddington. In a game that was touted as a possible final it lived up to it’s expectations with the West Ealing pair narrowly losing a close game by 20 shots to 15. Worley and Briscoe went onto reach the county final which gives Worley an unprecedented 3 county finals this year as he has also reached the singles and triples finals.

On Sunday morning the Men played in the London & Southern Counties Shield area final against Bletchley Town BC from Buckinghamshire. The home rink of Ken McCarthy, Ian Streames, Ken Hodgson and Paul Cater winning comfortably by 27 shots to 10 with the other home rink of Paul Wilsher, Tom Creaby, Nick Skidmore and Martin Barrett narrowly loosing by 2 shots. Away from Mervyn Road the rink skipped by John Carey drew their game 23 shots each but, unfortunately, the other rink lost by 39 shots to give Bletchley Town a place in the competitions semi final.

In the afternoon West Ealing played against Mid-Surrey BC in the Richmond & Barnes League drawing the game to share the points two each. The club had two winning rinks of Dave Glover, Clive Simms, Bill Fletcher and Martin Barrett who won 24 shots to 21 and Paul Wilsher, Paul Jelbert, Tom Creaby and Kevin Simms who won 17 shots to 16. That result gives the club fourteen and a half points and keeps them in contention to reach the finals on September 21^st. On Monday night Rob Green progressed to the quarter finals of the Richmond & Barnes singles when he thrashed Dave Charleston from Priory Park BC by 21 shots to 4.

On Saturday August 2^nd West Ealing BC will be hosting the Rolfe East Champion of Champions singles tournament with the confirmed entries being four time Middlesex County singles winner Perry Cook, Current Middlesex Men’s and Home Counties singles Champion Ron LeLeux, Current Middlesex under 25 singles champion Craig Hill, The London & Southern Counties Lonsdale singles Champion Des Hunter, Brentham BC Men’s and Ladies Champion Barry Burgess and Liz Dawson, former West Ealing bowler and current England International Ian Jenkins, West Ealing singles Champions Paul Cater and Bev Wilsher along with Open singles Champion Val Van Baars and current Ladies Middlesex fours champion Ann Halliday and last years ladies Middlesex singles champion Janet Walby. The tournament starts at 11am with the final expected to be played around 4.30 that afternoon.

19^th July 2008 -  Triples Triumph for West Ealing Ladies

The West Ealing Triple of Ann Barrett, Lu Green and Bev Wilsher have won the Middlesex County Ladies Triples! In the final at Ladygate BC on Saturday afternoon they comprehensively out-bowled the trio from Poplar winning 24-14. After going into 10-2 lead, the WE ladies were pegged back and the Poplar ladies got within 4 shots at one stage but with a 5 on the 17^th - and last end - re-established the superiority they had shown throughout. The show rolls onto Leamington on Sunday 3^rd August where our ladies will play with increasing confidence.

15th July 2008 - West Ealing fail to progress

West Ealing Men failed in their bid to reach the last sixteen of the National Top Club competition when the club lost to Hagbourne BC last Thursday evening at Mervyn Road. West Ealing got up in the fours and pairs and all square in the triples. Robin Innes then took to the green in the two wood singles and, in a close game, the Hagbourne player captured their first point with a 15 shot to 12 win to make the tie all square. Then the wheels came off the West Ealing machine in the space of four ends, the triples of Robbie Ryan, Terry Pettitt and John Carey went from 8 shots to 7 up to 18 shots to 8 down and the fours of Paul Wilsher, Rob Green, Ken Hodgson and Paul Cater went from 10 shots to 8 up to 24 shots to 10 down. This gave Hagbourne the three points they needed to progress and with the West Ealing pair of Colin Harman and Martin Barrett winning by 24 shots to 18 the game was lost by 3 points to 2.

The West Ealing Ladies suffered a similar fate on Saturday morning when they lost by two shots in the semi final of the Middlesex Ladies Double Rink competition. The home side of Val Van Baars, Lu Green, Brenda Lines and Rene Barber lost for the first time this year at Mervyn Road by five shots. The away rink of Bev Wilsher, Sue Butcher, Pam Hughes and Anne Barrett winning by three shots although with one end to play they were four shots ahead needing only one shot to win the match and unfortunately dropping a single shot to go out.

Also on Saturday morning the Men progressed in the London and Southern Counties Shield with a four shot win over Oxford County and City BC. The match winning performance was from the away rink of Ian Streames, Dave Lloyd, Roy Bond and John Carey who won by ten shots to secure victory. The club now face Bletchley Town in the next round.

Also on Saturday afternoon the club played a new fixture against Old Dean BC from Camberley in Surrey with a win for West Ealing by 90 shots to 51 with the top triple of Glynis Hillier, Rena Rickets and Dave Carter winning by 29 shots to 12.

On Sunday afternoon the Men played in the Middlesex league crunch game against top of the table Paddington BC. In a game that could have gone either way Paddington proved too strong winning overall by 8 points to 2 with West Ealing having one winning rink, Robbie Ryan, Ian Gilbert, Roy Bond and John Carey winning by 17 shots to 16. The other two rinks only just losing to give Paddington a 54 to 44 shot win.

Finally Paul Wilsher has continued his impressive season with a win in the Ealing & District singles on Monday night winning by 21 shots to 5 away at Springfield BC in Acton. Paul has been a regular in the Middlesex under 25’s this season and has helped them reach the National County Double Rink finals to be played at Worthing in August and was again part of the under 25 Home Counties side that beat Kent on Sunday by 10 points to 4 to keep Middlesex on top of the league. At seventeen Paul has a bright future ahead of him and has been called up to the full Middlesex Home Counties squad to face Kent in two weeks time.

8th July 2008  - West Ealing reach Area Final

West Ealing Men stormed through to the area final of the Bowls England Top Club competition last Tuesday evening with a 3-2 win over Broomfield BC. The evening started well with Robin Innes securing victory in the 2-wood singles 16 shots to 15 in a game that needed an extra end to separate the two bowlers. Former England under 25 international Nick Skidmore then won the 4-wood singles 21 shots to 17 against current under 25 County skip Lee Barber.

The four of Paul Wilsher, Rob Green, Ken Hodgson and Paul Cater secured the one point needed with a convincing win by 22 shots to 11.

The pair of Colin Harman and Martin Barrett and the triple of Robbie Ryan, John Carey and Terry Pettitt both lost. West Ealing now plays Hagbourne BC from the Reading area at Mervyn Road on Thursday evening with a place in the last sixteen of the country at stake. This will not be an easy match for the club as Hagbourne BC are littered with Berkshire Middleton Cup bowlers, the game will start at 6pm.

Also on Tuesday evening the club sent a side to Dukes Meadow in Chiswick to play the fifth Richmond and Barnes League game against Harrodians BC. Even with many of the side playing in the Top Club competition at West Ealing the result was a disappointing one, 2 points each; in a game that West Ealing should have won well. The top rink on the day was Dick Cunningham, Paul Jelbert, Dave Lloyd and skip Roy Bond who won by 28 shots to 10. West Ealing also claimed victory on the rink of Ray Allen, Tony Bond, Lionel Singleton and skip Ian Streames who came back from 6 shots behind with 3 ends to go to win 24 shots to 23. The rink of Clive Simms, Tom Creaby, Kevin Cochrane and skip Kevin Simms going down by 29 shots to 9.

In the Middlesex Men’s county singles competition both remaining West Ealing bowlers, Ken Hodgson and John Carey, went out of the competition in the fourth round.

In the Ladies Middlesex County Singles only Captain Bev Wilsher, Val Van Baars and Rena Rickets progressed to the second week of competition with two good wins. Unfortunately Bev and Reena both lost in round four but Val progressed to the re-draw for round five.

On Saturday West Ealing played at Brentham BC in the third of West Ealing’s Middlesex League games. West Ealing are currently in fifth place sixteen points behind the leaders Paddington BC. In a close game West Ealing came out on top by 6 points to 4 even though the club only won one of the three rinks. Club Captain Bob Wilsher with Tony Bond, Rob Green and Vice Captain Terry Pettitt won by 15 shots, the only winning rink, and with the rinks skipped by John Carey and Robin Innes both loosing by 2 shots the overall victory belonged to West Ealing. The club now play Paddington on Sunday afternoon at Paddington in a crunch game for the club.

On Sunday morning Ken McCarthy and Vic Perry beat Derek Evans and partner from North Sheen BC in the Richmond & Barnes pair’s second round by 20 shots to 8 and President Martin Barrett and his wife Anne progressed in the Middlesex Mixed pairs with a comfortable win over a pair from Hayes Botwell BC with Robin Innes progressing in the Middlesex County Officers Cup singles with a win over Gary Holmes from Paddington BC.

In the afternoon the club played host to Featherstone BC from Southall in a friendly game that was abandoned because of the bad whether with the club ahead on one rink at the time of abandonment.

This Saturday morning the West Ealing Ladies play against Broomfield in the semi final of the County Double Rink and the Men play Oxford City & County in round four of the London & Southern Counties Shield, both games starting at 10am. In the afternoon the men host a new fixture against Old Dean BC from Camberley in Surrey.

1st July 2008 - A Good Weekend For West Ealing

West Ealing Ladies, who are the defending champions, played against Bishopswood from North London in the quarter finals of the Middlesex Ladies County Double Rink competition reaching the semi finals for the third year in a row, the semi final will be played on Saturday July 12^th with one rink at Mervyn Road and one away at Broomfield BC. The home rink of Val Van Baars, Lu Green, Brenda Lines and Rene Barber won by 25 shots to 10 and the away rink Bev Wilsher, Sue Butcher, Pam Hughes and Anne Barrett also winning well by 22 shots to 9.

Also on Saturday morning the West Ealing Men played against Herts. BC in the London & Southern Counties Shield with two rinks at Mervyn Road and two away. The club won the game overall by eight shots to progress to round three with the away rink of Bill Fletcher, Robbie Ryan, Roy Bond and skip John Carey winning the game for the club with a 27 shot to 10 victory. The home rink of Kevin Cochrane, Tom Creaby, Rob Green and Ken Hodgson also winning by 23 shots to 20, the other two rinks skipped by Terry Pettitt, away, and Martin Barrett, at home losing both by six shots. The club now face Oxford and City BC in round four.

On Saturday afternoon West Ealing played host to Parsons Green, the men in the Richmond & Barnes league and the Ladies played a friendly game. The men won a tight game overall by three and half points to a half with the rink of Bill Fletcher, Roy Bond, Rob Green and skip Robin Innes the top winning rink by 20 shots to 17. The game was in the balance until the very last end of all the games, a result that could have gone either way. West Ealing skip Martin Barrett drew his game against former English National Singles Champion Simon Jee 18 shots each and Terry Pettitt winning by 2 shots.

The Ladies continued their success in the afternoon with a convincing win as well with both rinks winning well with the top rink of Lu Green, Jan Lloyd, Jean House and Rene Barber winning by 24 shots to 15

On Sunday morning the men played a very hastily arranged Richmond & Barnes Double Rink competition against Teddington BC. The home rink of Ian Streames, Tom Creaby, Robin Innes and Paul Cater easing to a 27 shot to 13 with the away rink of Dave Lloyd, Lionel Singleton, Martin Barrett and Terry Pettitt coming out on top by 22 shots to 14 for an overall win.

In the afternoon the club travelled to Cambridge Park for a friendly game. West Ealing gave first games to new members Jim Fawkes and Peter Howland, an occasion that was marked with Vice Captain Terry Pettitt awarding both players with West Ealing lapel badges to mark the occasion.  Jim Fawkes was part of the top winning rink along with Dave Carter, Dave Lloyd and Terry Pettitt who won by 31 shots to 20. Overall West Ealing winning on all rinks to record a 76 to 56 victory.

In the Middlesex Men’s County singles competition the club had a poor week with all but Ken Hodgson and John Carey losing out in the first week, John beating club colleague Ian Streames in a close game 21-20 last Wednesday then beating Chris Robertson at Brentham by 21 shots to 14 on Friday. Ken beat West Ealing’s Rob Green by 21 to 6 then discovered he had a bye through to round four this week.

On Saturday West Ealing travel to local rivals Brentham BC for a Middlesex League game. Until last Sunday Brentham were un-beaten when they lost to Paddington BC by ten points to nil, so they will be looking to get back on track against West Ealing.

23rd June 2008 - West Ealing Honour Bill Fletcher

Former West Ealing and Middlesex President Bill Fletcher has been honoured by both club and county when West Ealing hosted Middlesex CBA against Sussex last Thursday afternoon. Bill, who has been suffering with his health over the past year, has been made the Honorary Life President of West Ealing Bowls Club for the services that he has given to the game of bowls over the past 25 years. Bill stood down from his role as President of West Ealing last October after nine years in office and was County President in 1997.

West Ealing's current President, Martin Barrett, praised Bill's work for both club and county and stated that this was a fitting way to honour such a respected gentleman within the game of bowls.

West Ealing President, Martin Barrett (right) congratulates Bill Fletcher on receiving his Honours