Summer article time has come around already which is a little light relief from all the chaos of Brexit which goes on and on………

The winter league fixtures were completed at the end of March and we were more than pleased after a very successful season, probably our best since we joined the league.  Whilst we eventually finished fourth, only 2 points separated second to fourth which is testament to how we have improved as a team competing well with the best players in the league.  This indicates how well the overall standard of play has improved within the club with the big test being, can we carry that forward to next season, time will tell.

We have already started our friendly league fixtures with not much success so far.  As the school teacher would have said ‘room for improvement ‘.  Never the less friendlies are just that which is having fun and laughs with a game of carpet bowls thrown into the mix making for very enjoyable evenings.

Our internal club competitions are now under way which run until the middle of December when we have our finals day.  As I mentioned in my last article, we are now close to starting our new internal competition, The Sylvia and Alf Goodwin Cup.  This cup was very kindly donated by Sylvie Goodwin in honour of her late husband who sadly passed away last year. Alf and Sylvie were very much a part of the club playing very successfully in both league and friendly matches. This is very much a new venture for us as instead of it being a straight knock out competition it will be played by teams of three in two leagues with again eventually a final between the two league winners.  A big thank you goes to Roger Smith our team vice-captain who has spent many hours formulating his ideas for the competition and then putting the logistics in place for things to hopefully run smoothly throughout the duration of the competition.

Nice to see one or two young people showing an interest in playing carpet bowls.  We currently have around 40 playing members coupled with the addition of young people to hopefully sustain the club into the future, which can only be a good thing.

Socially we are planning another visit to the Race Course in Braintree in early autumn given the success of our visit last year.  We are also planning a night out to a restaurant again in the autumn which has always proved successful.

We play at Notley Green Community Centre on Monday and Thursday afternoons between 1.15 and 3.45pm. Please come along and give it a go to see if it is for you.  You will be made very welcome and we will even throw in a cup of tea or coffee at half time!

Ray Hall