Ormskirk Bowling Club

To end a successful year for the club we are holding the above event and we would like to see as many members as possible attending.

Tickets will be £5 payable on the night which will enter you into a draw for 2 superb meat hampers plus many other prizes. We will start the evening with Heads & Tails Bingo followed by an open discussion regarding the club’s financial position ahead of the AGM, where we will seek your input and views.

To follow there will be the Chairman’s Quiz and some fun & games from Ian Gill (although he doesn’t know this yet!). Please bring some coins with you for the games and obviously the bar will be open.

Any additional raffle prizes will be gratefully received on the night.

Please can you e-mail back if you intend to come along indicating number of attendees, just so we can advise numbers, and we look forward to seeing as many of you as possible.

Winter Pairs Knockout Draw

We have had a lot of interest in our first winter pairs knockout, with 15 teams entering. The draw for round one matches has been made, see below. 

I hope I’ve included everyone who contacted me. If you did contact me and I’ve missed you out, please let me know and I’ll include you. 

Play By Date: 

All games to be played by the end of November.
Please let me know if there any issues with keeping to that timescale

Arranging Games:

Pair One are responsible for contacting Pair Two.  Most members are contactable through the WhatsApp Groups. If you don’t have any contact details for anyone in Pair Two, please contact Dave Roper or me.

Recording Results:

A results sheet will be put on the noticeboard in the clubhouse. Please write your results on. 

Format:

A reminder that this is a straightforward knockout competition. The winner goes through, the loser is out. Once all the games have been played, we will draw the fixtures for round two. 

Queries: 

Any questions, please get in touch

Enjoy your bowling and hope to see you on the green shortly

Steve James

OBC Chair

Congratulations to Ormskirk BC on winning Division 2 and Ormskirk Academy who were runners up. Both teams will be in Division 1 next year.

Also many congratulations to Alan Bellis who had the best average in Division 2. Some photos below of the presentation event.

Winter Social Bowling Ladder and Winter Pairs Knockout Tournament

Winter Singles Leagues:

Thanks to everyone who registered for our Winter Singles Leagues. Two divisions were created and matches have now commenced. We hope everyone enjoys this new format. 

Winter Social Bowling Ladder:

As mentioned, the Winter Ladder will be continuing, but in a slightly different format to previous years. The rules are largely the same as those set out on the ‘Winter’ section of our website. The main ones being:

1. You can challenge anybody to a game. If you win you go 3 places up the ladder. 

2. In March, you can only challenge people 1, 2 or 3 places higher than you. (The website has a section specifically for the rules that apply in March.)

Ladder Winner:

The main difference this season is that the ladder will not culminate in a play-off morning for the top 8 players, as in previous years. Instead, the person at the top of the ladder at the end of March will be the winner. 

Recording Results:

Results should be recorded immediately after the game on the Winter Social Bowling Ladder Results form on the clubhouse’s noticeboard. (It will be pinned-up early next week). Members will be asked to record the date, time the match started and result. The ladder results will be updated periodically on the website and more frequently in March. Monthly updated ladder positions will be printed off and put in the clubhouse. 

Arranging ladder games:

Games are arranged through a specific ‘OBC Winter Ladder’ WhatsApp group. If your phone number is still on this group from last winter, and you want to remain on it, you do not need to do anything else. 

Please note this is a different WhatsApp group to the ‘Winter Singles Lge Div 1’ and ‘Winter Singles League Div 2’ groups. If you are on either of those groups but have not previously been part of the ‘OBC Winter Ladder’ group and wish to join, please text Dave Roper on 07962 014149 and ask him to add you to it. The club is very grateful to Dave for organising this for us again. 

When can we start arranging matches?

You can start arranging matches right away. You can play anyone else in the group until the end of February, regardless of ladder positions. 

Enjoy the ladder, it is a great way to bowl against new people and meet new members. 

Winter Pairs Knockout Tournament:

Last year we piloted a Winter Pairs Tournament and it was quite successful, but rather ‘fell away’ with a number of matches unplayed. Ultimately, it was not concluded. The Committee have taken this into account and also the fact that we have an additional club winter singles tournament. As such, our proposal this year is to run a pairs knockout tournament. 

Format:

As an example, if we get sixteen pairs who wish to enter, we will randomly draw out the First-Round games, i.e. 8 matches. The pairs will be given a timescale to play this game by, e.g. end of November, but arrange the date themselves. The losing team will be knocked-out, the winners will progress to the next round. We will update progress via the website and draw out the Second-Round Fixtures and set a date, etc. If there is an uneven number of entrants one team will get a bye to the Second Round. We will build up to a final or possibly a ‘Finals Morning’ with both semis and the final.  

Please let me know if you wish to enter and who your team is by Sunday 23^rd October, please. Contact me on: stevej2330@gmail.com, 07768092236 or via any of the club’s WhatsApp groups (I am in all of them).

I hope you are all enjoying your winter’s bowling and that these multiple formats offer ‘something for everyone’.

Best wishes and hope to see you on the green soon.

Steve James

OBC Chair

Please note due to weather delays the help requested for 13th and 14th October will now be required 17th and 18th October. Please do not attend this week.

Please can we ask for help on the above dates to assist with the treatment of the grass green.

Thursday 13th October-just turn up after 10am to help with continually topping up the hopper throughout the day preferably on a staggered basis. no equipment required.

Friday 14th October-please turn up after 10am to assist with removing detritus from the green. If you could bring a snow shovel that would be ideal.

Thank you.

The Club is sad to announce that Tim Walsh has passed away. Tim had played as a winter member at our club and was in the team at Aughton Institute. Our condolences go to his family and friends.

We have had great interest from people who wish to play in the above. Twenty-nine people have registered to play. We will therefore be creating two leagues. We have tried to create leagues that will be competitive based on what we know about each player. Several members of the OBC Committee have looked through the list of registered players and we have agreed upon a two-table structure as follows:

Format: After further thought, we have decided not to issue a fixture list. Instead we will leave it to players in each league to arrange to play all of their games. In Division 1 this will be 14 fixtures, in Division 2 – 13 fixtures. 

Timescales: All games should be concluded by 31st March 2023.

Frequency of matches: Any player who has not played 4 matches or more by 31st December will be removed from the league and their results removed as if games had not been played. 

In general, we would like players to try and play 2 or 3 matches a month. We don’t want players to get too far ahead, e.g. by playing all of their fixtures in the first few months, or too far behind.

Points: 

·        3 points – match winner

·        1 point to the loser if they score 15 points or more

League winner: The player with the most points wins the league. In the event that two or more players are level on points, the player will the most number of wins will be champion. If still level, the player with the highest average aggregate points difference will be champion. In the very unlikely event that two players cannot be separated a ‘final’ match or matches will be arranged. 

Recording results: We will create a space on the noticeboard for players to record results after each game. We will create a ‘Winter Singles League’ page on the website and will update the tables regularly. We will also print it off and put up regular updates in the clubhouse. 

Arranging fixtures: Our preferred method is through the creation of a ‘Winter Singles League’ WhatsApp group. We have used this successfully for several seasons for the Winter Ladder. Dave Roper has kindly offered to set this up/administer it. Dave will set up a separate group for each division. If you are already part of the Winter Ladder WhatsApp group Dave has your number. If you aren’t already part of the WhatsApp Group can you please text Dave with your number and name. Dave is on 07962 014149. 

If you are not happy having your phone number included in a WhatsApp group please let Dave know via text message. We can send a list of phone numbers out to people via email.

When can I play? Please check the website for details of any times the green is unavailable. Matches can be played in the evening using the floodlights. Floodlights must be turned off by 9.30pm.

Second Thoughts? If anyone does not want to be included in the singles league please let Steve James know on stevej2330@gmail.com or text / WhatsApp on 07768092236.

Winter Social Bowling Ladder There will be a ladder running again this winter. There will be some changes, e.g. it won’t lead to a finals morning. We will send some further details on this very shortly. 

Winter Pairs League:  The committee are meeting this week and will provide an update soon as to whether we are going to run this again this winter. 

I hope this all makes sense and everyone is happy with the format.  I’m sure there will be a few teething problems along the way but we’ll do our best to make it work as outlined!

Hope to see you on the green shortly. 

Best Regards

Steve James – OBC Chair

Please see below the proposed structure of the above competition. If you wish to register your interest please contact Steve James via the contact details indicated in the e-mail sent to all members.

Winter members singles league/s

League Administrators: Steve James, Dave Roper and Martin Roberts

Eligibility: OBC winter or full members only

Duration: Commence 10th October conclude by 31st March

Format: Membership capped at 14 players per league

League structure: If more than 14 people wish to play we may create a second league with
promotion and relegation. The Administrators would decide who played in which league.

No. of matches: Members would be required to commit to playing everybody in the league once, i.e.
to playing 13 matches during the 6 month period – one match a fortnight.

Arranging matches: A fixture list will be produced with each player scheduled to play one game
every 2 weeks. A ‘Winter Singles League’ WhatsApp group will be established to help people contact
each other to arrange times to play.

Scoring / points system:
 3 points – match winner
 1 point to the loser if they score 15 points or more

Recording of results: Dedicated section of the noticeboard created in the clubhouse. Players to write
the results up at the end of each game. Steve / Dave will produce an updated table to show games
played, positions, etc. and place this on the noticeboard once a fortnight. The table and results will
also be available on a dedicated ‘Winter Singles League’ part of the website.

Player gets behind with fixtures:
If a player is unable to play a match they must re-arrange it as quickly as possible and let the League
Administrators know the re-scheduled date.
The Administrators will contact players who have not played their fixtures or contacted with details
of re-arranged dates.
If a player has played fewer than half of their scheduled fixtures by the end of January they will be
removed from the league. All results relating to that player would be removed in full including points
gained by their opponents. The table would look as if the player had never been involved.

League winner:
 The player with the most points wins the league. In the event that two or more players are
level on points, the player will the most number of wins will be champion. If still level, the
player with the highest average aggregate points difference will be champion. In the very unlikely event that two players cannot be separated a ‘final’ match or matches will be
arranged.

Winter Ladder
I would suggest two changes to the Ladder:

1. It does not lead to a finals morning – the ladder leader at the end of March is the winner.
2. It is not administered on the website but self-administered by the members. This could be
   via a simple ‘clothes peg’ ladder in the clubhouse, with members moving themselves up the
   ladder after winning a game. The clothes peg could have the players initials on. Matches
   could continue to be arranged through the WhatsApp group with phone numbers / contact
   details given to members in advance of the season.
3. Everyone starts at the base of the ladder.

Congratulations to our two Senior Citizen (over 55) teams who have taken first and second spots in the Aughton Senior Citizens League. The final games of the season were played today and it has been confirmed that the team led by Nick Slater finished top, with Alan Bellis’ Academy team finishing in second spot. The League Champions finished on a massive 256 points, with the Academy second on 201 points, just pipping Sandbrook Park who got 199 points. Also congratulations should go to Alan Bellis who topped the averages for the division.

Both teams ‘retired’ to the Cricket Club Pavilion to celebrate after the matches (pictured along with the team pictures below). A big thanks to those who supplied the food, and it was a great social event.