Year: 2023

Christmas Coffee Morning Frivolity

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Our lovely ladies – Muriel, Rosemary and Anne – organised a lovely morning of coffee cake and laughs on 20th December. Christmas hats and jumpers abounded (some hats were sillier than others, as were those wearing them). Bingo warmed us up, followed by a bumper raffle. Thank you to all those who supported our Christmas event.

Alan Waters

Ivor Formy Final won by Downton Men

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Downton’s Men were run away victors in the New Forest League plate cup, The Ivor Formy Cup. The Final was held at the Downton Green, which may have given us a slight advantage over Fordingbridge B, our opponents. Many of the Fordingbridge squad, though, had experienced the Green in a friendly a few days before the Final.
Congratulations to the Downton team and the Downton Club who hosted the finals day for The New Forest League.
Alan Waters.

[competitions] Club Competitions

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  WINNERS AND RUNNERS- UP OF CLUB COMPETITIONS
Two Woods: Alan Waters – WINNER Cathy Dean – RUNNER UP
Novice Cup: Paul Fox – WINNER Peggy Maguire – RUNNER UP
Sets: Alan Waters – WINNER Rod Hall – RUNNER UP
Aussie Pairs: Alan Waters/Ivan Buss – WINNERS Nick Purkis/ Marie Clarke – RUNNERS UP
Triples: Marie Clarke/Nick Purkis/ Ivan Buss – WINNERS v Alan Foster/Tony Musselwhite/Alan Waters RUNNERS – UP
Ladies Pairs: Marie Clarke/Ann Noble – WINNERS Cathy Dean/Ann Galpin – RUNNERS UP
Men’s Pairs: Nick Purkis/Lewis Ambler – WINNERS Steve Allen/Paul Fox – RUNNERS UP
Ladies Singles: Marie Clarke – WINNER Cathy Dean – RUNNER UP
Men’s Singles: Alan Waters – WINNER John James – RUNNER UP
Champion of Champions WINNER – Marie Clarke RUP. – AlanWaters
Winner Marie who played Alan in the Champion of Champions.

Downton Win the Mixed Triples League

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 Match Report Downton for the first time in 38 years have won the Westbrook Mixed Triples League.The final match of the season took place at Downton Green on Wednesday afternoon 13th September 2023 against Amesbury Bowls Club. Downton needed to win on just one rink to secure victory.Amesbury fielded a very strong side as by winning this match they would be runners up in the league. Downton strongest rink comprised of Marie Clark, John James and Alan Waters had a comfortable win with 20 shots to 9 shots.Amesbury Captain Ali Noyes(also their Champion of Champions)and team fielded their best players against Marg Hall, Steve Allen and Nick Purkis and won very convincingly by 26 shots to 9 shots. The match now depended on the result on the 3rd rink .Ivan, Lynda and Colin made a great start and after nine ends were winning 11 shots to 1. But then Amesbury came back winning the next 5 ends. It all depended on the final end as to who would win this match. Luckily for us Colin and his team made four shots on the last end. This meant that we won the match by one shot and had 6 points to Amesbury 2. This result meant that Amesbury were unable to overtake Wilton currently in 2nd place and ended up in 3rd place in the league. My thanks go out not only to those who played in this match but also everyone else who played for the MTL especially Rod Hall, Dawn Allen and Simon and Marion Stacey and Jane Smith. Steve Allen
MTL Captain
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Downton Dragons Team

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The Dragons are winners in 2023
The Downton Dragons have won league 5A of the Bournemouth and District Morning Triples league and have been promoted to league 4. They will receive their trophy at the B&D Presentation Dinner.
The main Downton Dragons team is as follows: Steve Allen(Captain) Charles Burrows (Vice Captain) Neil Gillespie, Colin Morris, Cathy Burrows, Dawn Allen, Lynda Hale, John James and Nick Purkis. Simon Stacey and Geoff Warr also played one match for us.
Steve Allen
Downton Captain
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Downton v Fordingbridge Fire B&D Morning Triples

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Match Report Saturday 2nd September 2023 This is the last match of the B&D morning open triples league.It was against Fordingbridge Fire at Fordingbridge. The weather was fine and sunny. As Dawn Allen was still recovering from her operation and Neil was unable to play we called upon our reserve players again Nick Purkis and John James to take their place.The teams were; Team 1. Steve Allen, Colin Morris and Nick Purkis Team 2. John James, Cathy Burrows and Charles Burrows. Team 1 won the first end and managed to stay in front throughout the game but it was pretty close at times and by winning the last end we won the rink 13 shots to 9 shots. Team 2 . They had a close match for the first five ends but on the sixth end they got five shots and after that they romped home winning by a massive score of 37 shots to 13 shots. This win meant the Downton Dragons are now top of league in Division 5A and are eligible for promotion to Division 4. I would like to congratulate the team for their hard work throughout the season in achieving the success that they richly deserve. Steve Allen Downton Dragons Captain
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Downton Bustards v Branksome Park Falcons

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The last match of the season pitted 3rd place Bustards against bottom of the league Falcons. Although there was only pride to play for, both rinks produced some great shots, on what was probably our best green of the year; and the sun came out!
Rink 1 – Rosemary, Alan & Geoff. Nine rinks each, but a four to start & a six to finish, gave our team the edge in a 23-13 win.
Rink 2 – Ivan, Muriel & Cathy. A close game until a winning six end streak mid match put the home team in control. A four & a five also helped, as we won eleven ends & the match 22-13.
Overall score – Bustards 45 v 26 Falcons. Downton 6 points, Falcons 0 points.
In my first season as captain, I would like to thank Cathy, Paul, Muriel, Alan, Rosemary, Geoff, Tony & Lewis for playing for the Bustards, for playing so well throughout the season & for the support & commitment they have given me. Coming third & winning 11 out of 14 matches, is a great achievement. Thank you & well done.
Congratulations to Lyndhurst & Swanage on their promotion. As they were the only teams to beat us all season, they thoroughly deserved it.
Congratulations also to the Dragons, who have won division 5a. Well played team.
Ivan Buss – 2nd September 2023.

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Downton through to final

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Downton v Milford-on-Sea in Ivor Fourmy Cup, Men’s New Forest League.24/8. This was a semi final match with a home and away format. The winners being the team with the highest total of shots. On this occasion all four triples excelled from the off, with the the home squad having a 17 point lead after 6ends and the away team having a similar lead after ten ends. These leads were added to by the end of the match( just 15ends), giving Downton a comfortable victory of 45shots. Downton go on to play the final, at Downton, against Fordingbridge B.
Alan Waters 26/8

Bournemouth Buffalos v Downton Bustards

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 The Bustards travelled to Bournemouth for our final away game of the season. We have got to know several of the Bournemouth players really well this season, as they switch their players between the Broncos & the Buffalos. Their players are good fun, they like coming to Downton & we have really enjoyed playing our four matches against them.
The green was very wet when we arrived after heavy overnight rain, but luckily the match started in bright sunshine. Sadly, after an hour or so, we had a heavy shower & had to leave the green for a few minutes. When we came back on, we managed to play 15/18 ends before the heavens opened & the match was abandoned, with the result at that point to stand.
Rink 1 – Rosemary, Alan & Geoff. If we had only played the minimum 12 ends, this match would have been lost, but after 15 ends the score was level 11-11. Well done on fighting back to get an important point.
Rink 2 – Paul, Ivan & Cathy. A four on the second end, set the trend & after 15 ends the score was 18-10, with our trio having won 9/15 ends.
Overall score – Bustards 29 v 21 Buffalos. Downton 5 points, Buffalos 1 point.
With Highcliffe losing today, we are now guaranteed to finish third. Congratulations to all of the Bustards squad members, on winning 10 out of 13 matches, with one to go.
Final game of the season is at home to bottom of the league Branksome Park Falcons next Saturday (2/9), with a 10am start. The bar will be open from midday, so why not come along to support the team, enjoy the match & have an end of season beer with us.
Ivan Buss – 26th August 2023.

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