Pulborough Players represent club at National Finals

Tuesday, August 2,7 saw Alfie Knight and Jacob Pells, two of Pulborough's talented juniors, travel to Leamington Spa to play in the National Under 25s Pairs.

After playing and winning their first preliminary round and making it to the main competition, they came up against two England players, who unfortunately took the win, but the fact that Alfie and Jacob qualified for the Nationals and represented Pulborough BC at such a high level is a credit to the club and their skill as players.

President's Day at Pulborough Bowls Club always falls on the late August Bank Holiday Monday, but with the recent high density of matches, numbers were a little lower than normal, but competition was as fierce as ever!

The format was drawn triples playing three sessions of six ends, with the winners decided by the highest shot difference. Dave Soutar's team of Trevor Bushell and Marc Pells had a strong third session to pull level with 14 shots a piece, but the clear winners, taking all three sessions were Skip Phil Floyd, with Dave Fuller as Lead and Jeffe Elliott as 2, with +12 shots. The glass trophies were presented by Club President, Malcolm Gray.

Pulborough's final match of the season in the Brooke's Motors League was on Wednesday at home against local rivals Storrington BC, but with the visitors struggling to stay in Div 1 of the League this season, the odds were stacked in Pulborough's favour.

Two League triples and a friendly played 18 ends of competitive bowls, with the friendly rink, skipped by Phil Floyd, taking the first six ends by 16 shots to 0 and finishing on a strong score of 23 shots to 10.

John Brown's triple of Sylvia Smith and Terry Chriss battled their way to a 19/12 win after taking five shots on the penultimate end, but Top rink of the day went to Skip Paul Leatherbarrow, with Christian Bushell as Lead and Jane Gray as two, after strong scoring throughout and a 6 on the 9th end catapulted them to a convincing 29/13 win.

The final score on the League rinks was 54/25 to Pulborough and the full 6 League points, leaving Pulborough just above the middle of the Div 1 table this season.

Saturday's friendly at home to Stedham BC also saw the home side show their skills to win on all three rinks, but the competition for top and bottom rinks for Pulborough was all too plain to see, with the lowest scoring home side in line to do the washing up after the bowls tea.

Malcolm Gray, Sylvia Smith and Christian Bushell looked to have Top rink sewn up, only to lose focus and drop 12 shots in the second half, just winning by 18 shots to 15, which was one shot more than Phil Floyd and his team, who were forced to don the marigolds!

Top rink went to Club Captain, John Brown, with Jenny Miland-Taylor as Lead and Terry Chriss as two, who outshone their opponents to finish 25/12. The banter both on and off the green throughout the match was something special and shows why lawn bowls is such a sociable game to play.