Secretary’s report on Gala day on 18 August 2024
I arrived at Alderbury just after 9:00 am and found the club was open and several people were setting up for the day. With the first round of matches due to start at 10:00, players from the 19 entries arrived in good time and signed in. Unfortunately Amesbury was unable to send any entries due to a long standing friendly match.
The first round started promptly on time. The 35 minutes for each round was enough for all games to finish their four ends well within the time allocated. Timing was kept very efficiently all day by Nick Hanski .Four rounds were completed n the morning session after which the Spider was won by Jan Jarman of Alderbury bowls Club. The lunch break was a time to eat and drink and socialise with friends old and new. As in the past, some people brought their own packed lunches. However, Alderbury provided cakes and rolls with various fillings and tea and coffee and bar drinks. The raffle prizes were very reasonable. The winning raffle numbers were picked and the prizes were grateful collected.
Two further rounds were played after lunch and two teams had won all four matches – these were Mere and Alderbury, and they were now in the final. As the weather was still warm and sunny, over thirty players stayed and watched a good final with one team in front one end but the other team coming back to take the lead. After 6 ends, the score was 6-all but in the final two ends Alderbury used their local knowledge and ran out the winners.
The winning Alderbury team was Alison Cosens(lead) Roy Jury (2nd) and John Halski ( skip). The runners up from Mere were Marie Wright (lead) Shaun Tealey (2nd) and Les Manwaring ( skip).
The overriding feeling was that the day was a great success and matches were played in a friendly manner. May I congratulate the MTL clubs that supplied nineteen triple team entries. The green seemed to me to be good, at just the right speed for the day and certainly I heard no complaints.
The whole day was organised and very efficiently run by Alderbury and my thanks to the volunteer officers and club member for their contribution. The revenue generated from entrance fees, the spider and the raffle will boost the the MTL bank account by a healthy £293.
At the autumn meeting we will need to choose a host club to run the Gala Day but that is a few months away. In conclusion, I would like to thank all the players and volunteers who took part in the Gala Day.
Robert Hayes
MTL Secretary
