Ormskirk Bowling Club

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.

The Club has been notified of the following arrangements for Ken Knowles’ Funeral. 

Thornton Garden of Rest
Thursday 29 September, 11:15am

Dress code: smart casual and with something blue (no matter how small but only if you have it)
Flowers: from family only. Funeral followed by family only wake.

Eric has arranged for some considerable works to our grass green in October. Help is needed on certain days as set out below. Please pop these dates in your diaries and come along and help if you can, even if you are just brewing up for the others! Keep your eye out for any updates on the website.

11th	Delivery of “backfill” material, approx 190, 25kg bags, time to be confirmed	Help required to unload and store in shelters
13th	Arrival of Ecosol, set up ready to “Drill & Fill”Time to be confirmed	Help required to keep hopper filled with backfill
14th	2nd day may be required to complete work!
15th	Clear residue material from green, move to edge to cover carpet, bag excess material for use to cover after over seeding	Help required to remove excess material.Snow shovels ideal

Similar to previous years, the Maghull Winter League will commence on
Tue 27SEP22 and will run on the OBC Artificial Green from 11:00 until
approx 15:30 each Tuesday through the winter. Please see the OBC
Calendar on our website for details on when our greens are in use (
https://ormskirkbowlingclub.wordpress.com/calendar/)

The Club has just made a donation of £303.00 to the Mel Evans MBE Foundation to help with research into Motor Neurone Disease. With an additional £75.75 of Gift Aid this brings the total up to £378.75. Thank you to all those who attended our fundraising evening and also those who donated afterwards. Those who did the walk to cover 14 crown green counties in 14 days deserve so much credit for what they have achieved. The total raised so far is £13,824 and that is sure to grow as further monies come in.

A big thank you also to The Cricketers in Ormskirk and Booths of Ormskirk who donated vouchers for the raffle or to be given as prizes and also Aughton Institute who hosted us and also provided a raffle prize. They supported us so please support these great businesses.

The Champion of Champions competition is to be held at Monk Sports & Social Club, Warrington, next Saturday. Play starts at 10am. The draw and address are shown on the flyer below. It promises to be a great day’s bowling, with a chance to see all the top players in action. If anyone fancies going along we may be able to sort out lifts, Ian Gill will be attending.