News

Terry Davies would like to invite all members to attend his President’s Day on Saturday 23^rd July

Bowling will commence at 2pm and a list is now up on the friendly match noticeboard – please add your name if you would like to play.

Non-playing members and guests are encouraged to come along on the day also. We expect Southend Mayor and Mayoress in attendance, along with our local MP.

In the build up to the day a hamper will be raffled off with all proceeds to Southend Stroke Club, this can be found now on the Bar – please purchase plenty of tickets!

Outdoor Club Competitions

As most members will know by now, all of the Club Competitions have been drawn and placed on the noticeboard. The website has also been updated. Click Outdoor Competition (essexcountybowlsclub.com)  Please make every effort to get your games played in plenty of time to avoid complications further into the season.

Club Website

Various areas of the website have been rearranged and efforts will be made to regularly update our achievements in Club-representative competitions so please use this valuable resource. The other way for such regular updates are to join our Club Members-only Facebook group, just ask for details.

Mark Royal Roadshow

Mark is bringing the Potters Bowls Shop back to the Club on Wed 22^nd and Thur 23^rd of June – this coincides with us hosting the Police Sport UK International Series, members are encouraged to come along and support this event.

Club Sponsor Visit

One of our sponsors, All You Need Mortgages, will be visiting the Club to talk to members on Fri 24^th June from around 9am – they deal not only with mortgages but also later life lending, equity release and much more and are very happy to talk to members with no obligation, just to relay information – please come along and use this opportunity for us to support one of our generous sponsors.

Our first month back out on the greens is now through and we’re looking forward to June with our fingers crossed for some sunny days when we can reach for the sun cream rather than our waterproofs. 

Ladies afternoons are proving very enjoyable with good turnouts most weeks. All ladies are very welcome; come along around 1.30pm to register, we play from 2pm. 

A big thank you to everyone who continues to put their name forward for the Affinity and 20/20 league games. If you are not selected for a game, please don’t lose heart - your turn will come, you aren’t being overlooked. Results have been mixed but all games have been closely fought and it’s been a pleasure to see a number of the newer ladies in teams.When a league table for Affinity is issued it will be printed out for the noticeboard. 

Match team sheets are rolling out regularly - please keep your eyes on the ladies notice board and remember to tick your name off when selected.Teams are also notified by email so don’t worry if your visits to the club aren’t too frequent, let us know that you can play by whatever means works for you.

May Results :

3rd May v. Runwell - Home 10-20 lost / Away 20-14 win.

17th May v. Falcon - Home 10-23 lost / Away 16-19 lost.

25th May v. Thorpe Bay - Home 18-21 lost / Away 14-20 lost.

18th May Friendly v. Southchurch - 1 rink each, overall 36-35 win.

14th May Top Club v. White Hall - lost 1-3 on rinks, a win for the 4’s.

Other news :

Wickford have withdrawn from the Affinity league due to lack of numbers.

Spoons - This new ladies disc game will start on Thursday June 30th from 5.30pm. All ladies welcome, details to follow.

July Inter-Club Affinity and 20/20 League dates.

Please add your names to the availability sheet or email/contact me with your availability.

Weds 6th July    Affinity v. Hadleigh 10.30am  (1H/1A)

Friday 8th July   20/20 v. Rochford 10.30am  (2H)

Weds 13th July  20/20 v. Thorpe Bay 2.00pm  (2H)

There may be an additional Affinity game added to the July list replacing the away leg of the Southend match which was not played on the due date of 1st June as the Southend ladies were unable to raise two teams. I expect to hear from Southend over the coming week.

Chris. (ladies v.c.)

Open Day

A reminder that our Open Day this year will be held on Saturday 28^th May 10am-4pm.

All members can help with making this event a success – the easiest way being telling a friend and/or bringing them along. As always there is no charge for anyone attending – PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD!

Mens Indoor County Competitions 2022/23

The deadline for entries is today, however we have only received ONE entry to date, therefore the deadline may need to be extended slightly – if you are planning to enter please get it in ASAP.

Forms can be found in the Indoor Arena as well as on the Club website - www.essexcountybowlsclub.com/files/mens22_23countycomps.pdf

Outdoor Club Competitions

The deadline for these competitions is this Sunday (22^nd May) – please get your entries in promptly if you have not already done so. The draws are likely to appear on the noticeboards early June.

Car Parking

On busy mornings at the Club in Summer the parking in our car park is chaotic to say the least. The Management Committee will be discussing what can be done, but in the meantime please make every effort to park properly and if there are no spaces (which is a regular occurrence on busy mornings) then please park on the street.

To all members of ECBC,

One of the most important days of our year is fast approaching – our Club Open Day on

Saturday 28^th May 10am to 4pm

If you and every other member of our Club are able to bring a friend along it will make a huge difference.

The event is for Indoors and Outdoors, it is completely free of charge as always.

We will also require a large number of volunteers for the event, so please let Ed know if you are able to help out on the day.

We all need to band together in any and every way we can in order to make this day the best it possibly can be.

Thanks in advance.

Dear Ladies,

It’s May and a good number of us have ventured onto the greens wrapped in as many layers of warm clothing as we can manage whilst still being able to bowl. It was really encouraging to see so many of you at our first Monday afternoon session and also the good turnout of ladies at the Wednesday morning disc game.

I’d like to give a big thank you to everyone who has put their name forward for this month’s Affinity games and for our friendly on the 18th. If you are yet to be selected for a game, please don’t lose heart - your turn will come. 

Do continue to put your names on the availability sheet (now on the board outside the ladies changing room) or email me if you prefer. If I don’t know that you are available I can’t pick you and selection gets even harder. Match teams will roll out quicker as we get into the swing of things.

There are games on the 18th and 25th of May which would benefit from more names please.

June dates are now on the notice board and I’ve listed them below. Take a look next time you visit the club or email me.

June Inter-Club Affinity and 20/20 League dates.

Weds 1st June    Affinity v. Southend 2.00pm  (1H/1A)

Weds 8th June    Affinity v. Rayleigh 10.30am  (1H/1A)

Fri 17th June   Affinity v. White Hall 10.30am  (1H/1A)

Tues 21st June    20/20 League v. Runwell 10.30am (2H)

Weds 29th June  20/20 League v. South Benfleet 10.30am (2A)

Chris Johnson (Ladies Vice Captain)

Indoor Finals / Presentation Night

A reminder that the finals of the Mens (Richard Hart) and Ladies Club Championship Singles will be held at 6pm on Tuesday 26^th April – with the presentation of all League and Competitions trophies and prizes following at roughly 8pm. Please come along and support.

Mark Wilson Pairs

This coming weekend (Sat 30 Apr & Sun 1 May) we are hosting the second running of the Mark Wilson Pairs. The competition will be of a very good standard and includes 3 previous National Pairs champions so please come along to watch some great bowling.

The weekend is being used to raise money for the Motor Neurone Disease Association in memory of Mark and this will include a large raffle – we would be very grateful for donations for this raffle, please bring in to Ed in the Office.

Across the whole weekend Mark Royal will be bringing his Bowls Shop Roadshow back to the Club, so please use this additional opportunity to grab whatever you might need for the new season.

Club AGM

Thank you to everyone who attended our first club AGM in 3 years. The minutes of the meeting will soon be uploaded to the Members Area of the Club website.

It must be noted that the Club Secretary role remains VACANT. This is an extremely important and vital role within the Club that needs someone to step forward to fulfill – please get in touch if you would like to know more (this is open to Full Members only).

Summer Season

The Outdoor and Indoor Summer seasons are now underway, a reminder that subscriptions are due by 1^st May.

Outdoor competition forms are due by 22^nd May.

HAVE A GOOD SEASON EVERYONE!

For the latest schedule of matches, please click HERE

Welcome to the 2022 outdoor season.

The handbook for the season is now available, in a pdf format, on the club website (www.essexcountybowlsclub.com/files/2022onlinehandbookoutdoor.pdf) for you to download (requires member log-in).

The opening day drive is on the 23^rd April at 14.00. The match lists are up, in the corridor, for both this and the first friendly at Thorpe Bay on Thursday 5^th May.

Please add your name if you would like to play, in either or both.

For the opening day drive match, the teams will be picked on the Saturday before the start.

In addition there are a number of feature matches at the club including (in date order):

ECBA Middleton Cup (May & June)

Police Sports UK International (June)

ECBA County Semi Finals & Finals (July)

Bowls England Area Finals – Mixed Pairs & Mixed Fours (August)

As the handbook is now online, it can be updated through the season so look out for further emails on any update.

Mike Vaughan

Match Sec.