May 2023
Coronation Cup
Played in great weather, twenty two members contested our first competition of the season where some very competitive matches were played. Players started off in groups of five and six, with the top two from each group qualifying for the quarter finals which were then played on a knock out basis. The eight qualifiers were Nick Carr, Brian Hyde, Debbie Pryor, Jim Pryor, Martin Fletcher, John Vaudin, Liz Balsdon and Anne White. Nick Carr and Martin Fletcher progressed to the final which Nick won by one shot. Jim Pryor and Brian Hyde tied for third place. I’m sure that everyone taking part enjoyed themselves and a special thanks to Nick for organising an excellent day. We now have a lovely trophy and one which will now be played for annually.
Summer 2023
Stamford and District Bowls League
As usual we opened the season with the Boor and Wainwright competition and as usual didn’t progress beyond the qualifying league stage.
We did not have an easy start to our league program with our first two games being against Blackstones D and Stamford Town C. Once we had got those out of the way we won five of our next six games. With Ketton rooted at the bottom of the table, and the two Blackstones teams and Stamford Town contesting the top three spots the other six positions in the league table were constantly changing. As the season drew to a close, only six points separated fourth and ninth positions. This meant that in our last game we needed to beat Market Deeping to guarantee our place in Division one for next season, we did this with a good 8-2 win. We eventually finished sixth, another two points and we would have finished fourth that’s how close it was.
Highest scoring rink was Paul Christophi, Sue Moir and Brian Patman 32-10 against Ketton Kestrals.
I would like to thank all those players who played in the Stamford League team for their help and co-operation during the season, particularly those who stepped in as last minute substitutes and those who acted as captain on the odd occasions I wasn’t around. Nolan Catterwell.
Summer 2023
Peterborough Club 55 Division 1
As predicted a better season was experienced this year in Division 1 after our demotion from the Premier Division.
We spent most of the season in 2nd position, starting after our 3rd match when we won 8pts from a win and stayed in that position for the next nine matches. Unfortunately we were unable to maintain our good form and then lost our last four matches. This meant we lost our 2nd place and finished up in 4th position. One highlight that we did achieve was a 10-0 victory Away at Longthorpe Woods who finished as winner’s of our Division.
Over all the team played well for the majority of matches so may I thank all team members for their efforts throughout the season.
I am standing down as captain this coming year though I do intend to play, if selected.
Hopefully we will give a good account of ourselves next year and endeavour to maintain it to the completion of all matches.
Once more thank you for your support during the season particularly Ann Northern who assisted me in the functioning of team matters. Martin Fletcher
Summer 2023
Peterborough Midweek League Division 1
For the A team it was not a great start to the season going down 1-9 on the unpredictable Wittering green. After that we were pretty consistent with the only other real disappointment the 0-10 defeat on the very tricky green at Burrows Court.
We scored a maximum 10 points on five occasions. Two sixes were recorded, by Malcolm, Mick and Brian Patman against Wittering and by Peter Grammatica, Sue Moir and Andrew Windsor against Baker Perkins. No sixes were conceded. Highest rink score was 36 – 7 by Nolan, Anne and Peter White against Burrows Court Kestrels at home.
We now have it all to do to prove ourselves in the Premier League. We must think positively, we will be playing on some very good greens and we won’t have to go to some of the trickier greens! Nolan Catterwell.
Summer 2023
Peterborough Midweek League Division 3
What a great first season for our new B team, winning their league at the first attempt. It wasn’t a great start to the season as the first game was postponed because of a very wet evening.
The crunch game came in the one from last fixture at home to Bretton Beagles who topped the league at the time and needed just 3 points to win the league, we managed to beat them 10-0. This set us up nicely for the last game, against Central Park, and although not without its dramas we managed to get the points we needed to win the league. Only one six was recorded by John Kingsmill, Alan Shakespeare and Jim Pryor against Central Park at home. No sixes were conceded. Highest rink score was 38-6 by Chris Pryor, John Vaudin and Jim Pryor playing against Crowland Ravens at home.
Special mention to Chris and Jim who went the whole season unbeaten, both winning all eleven games they played in. This included them winning (20-18) as a pair against three at City of Peterborough.
A special thanks to Robin who acted as captain on the day for the B team. Another note, worthy of mention is that both teams were unbeaten at home.
Well done to both teams, my thanks to all players for their help and support, you made my job fairly easy from an administration point of view. Our trophy, see the photograph, was awarded to our club at the Peterborough League Presentation night on the 14th November, unfortunately we are not able to keep it for the year as it is kept by the league Nolan Catterwell.
Summer 2023
Peterborough Weekend League Division 2
We started the season with a good 8-2 win against Bretton Beagles. Something to note in this game and something I could not ever remember happening before was that John, Mavis and Ann Northen conceded a 9 shot end. Mavis and Ann did try to make up for it a couple of weeks later by scoring an 8 with John Kingsmill against Burrows Court at home. Highest rink score was by John Vaudin, Alan Shakespeare and Liz Balsdon who won 34-5 against Burrows Court at home.
With Crowland Rooks running away with the league, we were in third place going into our last two games, three points behind second placed East Community Bears who had played a game more. All we needed to do was beat them by 7-3 or better to finish in front of them, we lost 8-2! This meant that we had to beat East Community Wolves 10-0 in the last game.
We managed to do this, despite East Community playing three of the players we had played against on the Thursday as substitutes. Both these last two games were played over a shortened game of 12 ends. Both games had been re-arranged from earlier in the season and as it happens were played in probably the hottest week of the year.
We had a fairly small squad but everyone pulled together to win a thoroughly deserved promotion.
A special thanks to Ann Northen who ran the teams and acted as captain on the day. Nolan Catterwell.
September 2023
Finals Weekend
Our competition finals were held over the weekend of the 2nd – 4th September, favourable weather conditions produced some great bowling and a wonderful end to this years internal competitions. Congratulations to our winners, commiserations to our losers, to our entrants who didn’t make the final, better luck next year and to those who didn’t enter, go on, have a go next year.
- Handicap Singles Champion – Mick Fisher
- Fixed Jack – Nick Carr
- Novice Singles – Debbie Pryor
- Open Pairs – Paul Christophi & Robin Freeman
- Mixed Pairs – Debbie Pryor & Jim Pryor
- Open Triples – Debbie, Jim and Chris Pryor
- Mens 4 Woods – Malcolm Cullingworth
- Ladies 4 Woods – Anne White
- Ladies 2 Woods – Pat Booth
- Langtoft 19 – Peter White
A massive thanks to Martin who has organised the internal competitions over the last few years.
September
The Rose Bowl and Plate
Status Quo and The Who – Top of the charts
The Rose Bowl and Plate competition held on Sunday 10th September was played in glorious weather during the morning but was unfortunately interrupted by thundery showers in the afternoon. Hence the day was prolonged by probably an hour and a half longer than expected. Nine triples took part, who for a bit of fun were all given names of pop groups. A group of five and a group of four played each other in the morning session, with the top two from each group going forward to play for the Rose Bowl in the afternoon with the remaining five playing for the Plate. After all the games had been played on a league basis, Status Quo (Phyll Long, Alan Shakespeare and Andrew Windsor) topped the Rose Bowl league and The Who (Debbie Pryor, Anne White and Peter Cox) won the Plate.
Thank you to Martin for organising the competition, and to everyone who contributed and made the day a real success.
September
And now for Something Different
A cracking day to finish the season with 18 players split into 3 groups who played a series of singles games that resulted in the 3 group winners, Sue, Jim & Pat progressing to the semi finals where they met the 3 group runners up, Chris, David Booth & Nick. The final had the 3 winners being Sue, David & Nick. In a closely fought final it came down to the last end where David played a great shot to rob Sue of victory and forcing Sue and Nick into an extra end. Sue then proved victorious in the extra end to go home with the bubbly. A final corner to corner challenge finished off the day with Alan Shakespeare beating Geoff Tinson by 8 cm to win the chunky Kit Kat prize!
Thanks to Nick for organising the event.
November
Presentation Evening
On Friday 3rd November, we held our presentation evening at the Black Horse, again a great evening wonderfully supported by our members. You really can’t beat a carvery, can you? Throw in some quizzes, a raffle, thank you to those who donated prizes and bought tickets, the awarding of the trophies, thank you Martin for sorting that, and you have a recipe for a great evening.
Langtoft Bowls Club 