Month: August 2023

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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Downton v Highcliffe D

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Match Report 26th August 2023
With Dawn and Charles both recovering from hospital operations and Neil unavailable we had to call upon Simon , John and Nick to replace them. We were playing top of the league Highcliffe D. It was without doubt one of the toughest matches we played this season with the lead changing back and forth during the games.
John, Cathy and Nick managed to win the last end to win 14 shots to 11 shots.
Steve, Simon and Colin went down by six shots on the second end but slowly climbed back up to draw and then overtake the opponent to win the game by one shot 22 shots to 21.
We are now top of the league with one more match to play. If we win this match we will be promoted!
Hoorah!
Steve Allen

Downton hosting two New Forest Plate Finals

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On Saturday, 9th September Downton Bowls Club will be hosting two New Forest Plate Finals.

The first final will start at 10.00am and the second at 2.00pm so there will be much to see all day.

Teas, coffees and other refreshments will be available over the course of the day – and the Bar will be open!

Spectators are warmly welcome.

Leisure Centre ‘Fun Day’

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On Sunday, 3rd September the Leisure Centre in Downton is holding its ‘Fun Day’ from 11.00am – 4.00pm and, hopefully, there will be some people wishing to have a go at playing Bowls.
We are planning to have the Green open for a roll-up, so please look in when you come along.

Downton Dragons v Knyveton Gardens C

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Match Report 19/08/23
I can’t believe I am writing this but the Dragons have just beaten the league leaders away on both rinks!
Thanks to Geoff for filling in for Neil.
The teams were:
  • Geoff, Cathy and Charles who won 20 shots to 14 shots.
  • Steve, Lynda and Colin who won 15 shots to 13 shots.
If we win the next two matches and other results go our way we could get promoted to Division 4!
Steve Allen, Captain, Downton Dragons
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Eight Wealth Cup

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Last Sunday, Marie and Alan were the only Mixed Pair team to represent Downton to one of the 32 teams from Bournemouth and District, Wilton, and other clubs – including a 12-strong contingent from Fordingbridge who hosted this big annual competition.

There were six rounds being three preliminary rounds, then the quarter finals, the semi finals and, of course, the final.  To reach and play the final round, those 4 players had by then played 48 ends and bowled 196 woods – quite some feat of stamina and concentration.

This game was played on six different rinks, over two directions, as Fordingbridge changed the rink direction after the three preliminary rounds.

The Final round was played between Noreen Jones and Colin Grant of Fordingbridge and our own Downton team.  Marie was on top form, even outplaying Alan, (who openly admits this….) on this occasion! But, as a strong team together, they won every round taking home the Eight Wealth Cup and £160 between them.

They were presented with the cup by Derek Purse, the President of Fordingbridge, who said he was impressed by the standard of the consistently good bowling he had seen today

Out of 32 Mixed pairs, It was a great day for Marie and Alan to proudly win the cup for Downton.

Ringwood Shield v Braeside

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Ringwood Shield, Downton v Braeside 10th August
The Ringwood shield is the New Forest knockout tournament for the League teams of four triples- two home and two triples away. The winners being the team with the highest aggregate of shots. The result came in from the Home game that showed Downton to have an advantage of 11 shots. The Braeside leg were two ends behind this result and at that stage were four shots behind Braeside, so overall Downton’s lead was seven. This all changed in the next two ends. The Waters triple went down by five and the whole match was even with one end to play from the Colin Morris trip.Colin needed one shot on the last wood. All to no avail, Downton lost by two shots.
Alan Waters 14/8

Downton Dragons v Swanage Seagulls 12/08/23

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Match Report Today we were playing at home .The team selection was as follows; Team1. Steve , Lynda and Dawn Team 2. Neil , Cathy and Colin. Team 1 got off to a bad start and by the fifth end they were 11 shots to 1 shot down. However they managed to claw their way back up and eventually won the rink by 24 shots to 15 shots. Team 2 were in the lead from the beginning and had a comfortable win of 24 shots to 7 shots. We won the match with all six points and are still third in the league. Steve Allen Downton Dragons Captain
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Swanage Dolphins v Bustards

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The Bustards made the long trip South to face league leaders Swanage Dolphins. Both rinks had quite a lot of damage to them & when you added in the strong wind blowing straight across the green, it made for very tricky playing conditions.
Rink 1 – Paul, Muriel & Cathy made light work of this & had a cracking game, winning 13 ends in their 18-9 victory.
Rink 2 – Ivan, Alan & Geoff took 2 shots on the last end to level their match 17-17. Take out the two fours & a five against, this match would have been won comfortably, but in the end a draw was a fair result.
Overall score Downton 35 v 26 Swanage. Downton 5 points, Swanage 1 point.
Our next match is in two weeks time, away to Bournemouth Buffalos. Swanage visit second in the table Lyndhurst next Saturday & we wish them well in this title decider. We are now pretty much assured of finishing third with two matches left, which is a great achievement. Congratulations to all of the Bustards squad members.
Ivan Buss – 12th August 2023.

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