The Three Counties Bowls Fellowship season finishes quite early on the first week of August. Which is a bit of a shame as lots of people enjoy the league games and we still have a month of good weather ahead of us.
In 2024 the club decided to bring back the Harlequin to have some competitive games for club bowlers until the end of the season. We had quite a bit of interest and had 23 members participate as we split players into even triples and ran a league followed by a knockout second round. This year we had 6 teams competing for the Harlequin and a lot of fun along the way. This years medalist were:
The final saw Tony Wareham bowl outstandingly breaking Rowland, Gareth and Chris hearts as he did a breathtaking wood to bag the Harlequin. With a head that you could throw a duster over Tony reduced a 4 down to a 1 down on the penultimate end and sealed victory so that Tony, Alan and Rachel could lift the Harlequin Championship with the final end.
On the next rink on finals night Anne and Mike battled out the bronze medal where despite Mike, Sue Collis and Michael getting a draw against Anne, Helen and Mariella, Mike wasn’t able to stop the bronze medal going to Team Anne on league position. In the 5th/6th play off Colin, Ron and Evan who won two matches in the Harlequin league and just missed out on the semi finals unluckily ended up with the wooden spoon. In the 5th/6th match Hilary and Sue Ives brought in untested, trialist (!) Dave Thurgood as a sub as Hilary played some great shots and skip’d her team to victory. The win meant that Team Hilary, who were beset with injuries throughout the 4 weeks, came through to claim 5th spot.
What was lovely about the end of season Harlequin was to get to play with club members that you don't usually get to play with. It was also brilliant after our very successful Open Day to get to play with so many new bowlers. Our club membership is now at 75 members. Which is fantastic and is a result of all the hard work on recruitment that’s brought in so many lovely new people.
On Harlequin finals night over the final and 3rd/4th play off we had three new open day bowlers playing and all of them were impressively on the jack. Incredible considering these guys had been playing a matter of weeks!
Big thanks to Ron Mancey, Colin Brodrick and Tony Wareham for setting up the green on Harlequin nights whilst the workers roll in late. Big thanks also to those experienced bowlers, showing lots of patience, kind words, helping teenage bowlers slow down (!) and helping our new bowlers with tonnes of encouragement and lots of great advice.
In 2024 the club decided to bring back the Harlequin to have some competitive games for club bowlers until the end of the season. We had quite a bit of interest and had 23 members participate as we split players into even triples and ran a league followed by a knockout second round. This year we had 6 teams competing for the Harlequin and a lot of fun along the way. This years medalist were:
- Harlequin Gold Medalists/Champions: Team Tony Wareham & Alan Donovan, Rachel Nicholls
- Harelquin Silver Medalists/Runners Up: Team Rowland Gooch & Gareth Rees, Chris Nicholls
- Harlequin Bronze Medalist/Third Place: Team Anne Gunton & Helen Thurgood, Rita Warren (Subs: Phil Walker & Mariella Polignano)
The final saw Tony Wareham bowl outstandingly breaking Rowland, Gareth and Chris hearts as he did a breathtaking wood to bag the Harlequin. With a head that you could throw a duster over Tony reduced a 4 down to a 1 down on the penultimate end and sealed victory so that Tony, Alan and Rachel could lift the Harlequin Championship with the final end.
On the next rink on finals night Anne and Mike battled out the bronze medal where despite Mike, Sue Collis and Michael getting a draw against Anne, Helen and Mariella, Mike wasn’t able to stop the bronze medal going to Team Anne on league position. In the 5th/6th play off Colin, Ron and Evan who won two matches in the Harlequin league and just missed out on the semi finals unluckily ended up with the wooden spoon. In the 5th/6th match Hilary and Sue Ives brought in untested, trialist (!) Dave Thurgood as a sub as Hilary played some great shots and skip’d her team to victory. The win meant that Team Hilary, who were beset with injuries throughout the 4 weeks, came through to claim 5th spot.
What was lovely about the end of season Harlequin was to get to play with club members that you don't usually get to play with. It was also brilliant after our very successful Open Day to get to play with so many new bowlers. Our club membership is now at 75 members. Which is fantastic and is a result of all the hard work on recruitment that’s brought in so many lovely new people.
On Harlequin finals night over the final and 3rd/4th play off we had three new open day bowlers playing and all of them were impressively on the jack. Incredible considering these guys had been playing a matter of weeks!
Big thanks to Ron Mancey, Colin Brodrick and Tony Wareham for setting up the green on Harlequin nights whilst the workers roll in late. Big thanks also to those experienced bowlers, showing lots of patience, kind words, helping teenage bowlers slow down (!) and helping our new bowlers with tonnes of encouragement and lots of great advice.
