The Green Keepers Trophy was played for this afternoon by 8 club members, who have given up their spare time to work on the green/ground this season. Despite the recent bad weather, the green looked great and played really well.

The competition was played for on a knockout out cup basis, starting at the quarter final stage. All three rounds were played over 6 ends, with the names & rinks being drawn out of a hat, at the start.
In the quarter finals, Rod bt Ivan, Geoff bt Lewis, Janet bt Tony & Colin bt Steve. In the semi-finals Rod bt Geoff & Colin bt Janet.

And so, on to the final – Rod v Colin. Rod won the first two ends to lead 3-0, then Colin won the next two ends to level the match at 3-3 after 4 ends. Colin then played a super end to take three shots & the lead 6-3 after 5 ends. Rod took one shot on the final end, but he couldn’t quite make up the deficit, so Colin ran out the 6-4 winner.

Well done to both players on making it to the final, but the spoils go to Colin. Many congratulations on your excellent victory. Watching the final was last year’s winner Charles, who presented Colin with the lovely trophy, which has been donated to the club by Marie.

Don’t forget, the single’s finals are both being played tomorrow afternoon (Friday 19th) at 1:30pm, followed by the Champions of Champions match & a roll up, starting at 5:30pm.

The Aussie Pairs final is being played on Saturday morning starting at 10:30am.

All spectators are very welcome. Once the Aussies Pairs match has finished, you are all very welcome to have a roll up, anytime you like until the green closes for the season at dusk.

Ivan Buss
18th September 2025.

In memory of our late founder, Ralph Bentley, 15 club members today played in the annual Ralph Bentley Cup competition. Conditions weren’t great, but Lewis had done a cracking job preparing the green this morning, which looked & played really well – and nobody got wet!

The format was four rounds of four ends, with four teams of four players, each team being drawn out of a hat. Each player played two bowls each. The order in which the players were drawn became the order they had to play in. As we were one player short, two players had to play three bowls in one of the two matches in each round, so each team still played 8 shots. I’m not sure everyone completely grasped this concept, even after two hours+ of play, but we got there in the end and no blood was spilled (just)!

Thank you to Colin, for completing the scorecard in each of his four matches.

After two rounds, Tony led the way with 9 shots. Then, boosted by 9 shots in one of the round 3 matches, Steve was leading on 17 shots, with Ivan, Paul T & Janet close behind on 15 shots. So, with everything to play for, the last round of matches were crucial. With Steve & Ivan in the same team up against Paul T, Paul T needed to score 3 shots more than Steve to head the table. Sadly for him, he could only manage 1 shot more, leaving Paul T on 18 shots & Steve on 19 shots. That left a chance for Janet to tie with Steve if she could score 4 shots in the other match. It all came down to the last end, when Janet’s team scored an excellent 3, giving her 6 in total from that match, which in turn left her clear at the top on 21 shots, Steve 2nd on 19 shots & Paul T & Peggy tied 3rd on 18 shots.
That’s the first time Robert, Paul T & Peggy have played in this competition, so well done to you all. Janet wasn’t able to play in any of the club competitions this season, so how fitting that she played so well today and ended the season being crowned as our 2025 Ralph Bentley Cup winner.

Congratulations Janet & very well played.

Ivan Buss
16th September 2025.

The Bustards’ final match of the season was at home against already-relegated Argyle D, which gave us the opportunity to finish third if we took all six points & other results went our way. We couldn’t have asked for a better day weather wise & the green looked & played great. Thank you to all of the Arygle team for making this such a lovely, friendly match to play in.

Rink 1 – Tony, Ann & Paul – W17-15. We won the first 3 ends to lead 4-0 & never looked back. In all, we won 10 ends, which included a 5 & 5×2. I was a bit worried when they scored a 3 on end 13 & a 4 on end 14 to lead 13-14, but we managed to recover & took a 2 on the last end to win the match 17-15. A very good effort.

Rink 2 – Janet, Steve & Geoff – W24-15. 10-0 after 3 ends which included 2×4, set the tone for a convincing victory. We won 10 ends, including a 5, 2×4 & a 3. The Argyle team never gave up & won 6 of the last 8 ends, but trailing 17-4 after 10 ends was always too much for them to make up. Well done team.

Overall score – Bustards 41 v 30 Argyle D. Bustards 6 points, Argyle 0 points. Final points total Bustards 61 points.

Yet again, delays in inputting the results meant we had to wait to see the correct results & the final league table positions. Knyveton took 4 points today, which gave them 62 points & they finished 3rd. Then the big one. Fordingbridge (P18 W18) 40 (1 rink) 4 points v Dragons 30 (1 rink) 2 points, which gave the Dragons a final total of 60 points. This all means the Dragons finished 5th & the Bustards finished 4th. To see the final league table, please log on to www.banddba.org.uk & follow the links.

Congratulations to the Dragons on a successful season & for pushing us so hard. To finish 4th & 5th with the resources we have, reflects very well on everyone at Downton Bowling Club. But, to those of you who have played for the Bustards this season, Geoff, Steve, Dibbie, Paul, Dibbie, Tony, Ann, Janet & Martin, thank you so much for all of your efforts. Coming 4th is a great result & you should feel very pleased with yourselves for what you have achieved this season. I’m very proud of every one of you & I hope you have enjoyed playing for the Bustards this season. Tony/Dibbie – If you don’t play on again next season, thank you for everything you have done for the club & for playing for the Bustards.

Ivan Buss 6th September 2025.

The Bustards (3rd) were today at home to Fordingbridge (2nd), under an overcast sky. We had a couple of showers & at one point the rain was so heavy we had to leave the green. Luckily the sun came out & we managed to play a full 18 end match.

Rink 1 – Dibbie, Paul & Geoff – L12-18. Not a good start, 0-9 after 4 ends. After 7 ends it was 7-10, then we lost 5 ends in a row to trail 7-16. A couple of good ends to finish, saw us eventually lose 12-18.

Rink 2 – Tony, Ann & Ivan – L15-20. Again, not a good start 0-5 after 4 ends. We then won 6 of the next 7 ends to lead 11-6. On ends 12 & 13 we lost 3 shots on each, then on end 14 we conceded a pathetic 6, to chuck the game away. We did win 3 of the last 4 ends, but still lost 15-20.

Overall score – Bustards 27 v 38 Fordingbridge. Bustards 0 points, Fordingbridge 6 points. With the Ringwood result still to come in, we are still 3rd, with the Dragons now only 1 point behind in 4th.

After this performance, the bye week has come just at the right time for us. Our next game is on the 9th August away to Knyveton Kestrels.

Ivan Buss – 26th July 2025.