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Newsletter

2026 News letter 1

At last it’s nearly time to get outdoors and start bowling again. 

We open on Thursday 16st April, with our first club night,  followed by the Captain’s vs President’s match on Saturday 18th April. If you have put your name down for the buffet that follows our traditional opener, the cost is £5.00 per person, payable on the day, and in addition to the match fee. The game starts at 2.30 – remember to wear your whites. There are many other games to look forward to including the Royal Household visit on 26th April – more about this later – and a day out/trip to Cavendish Bowls Club in Suffolk on 23rd May.

We are holding our Open Days on the mornings of Saturday 25th April and Saturday 2nd May. The Club will be open from 10 a.m., with our coaches, Les, Peter and Clyde, and Committee members ready to welcome newcomers who might want to join, and these are followed as usual by 4 free 2 hour coaching sessions on the following Sunday mornings from 10 am to 12 noon.

Our membership is currently 70 full playing members (41 men, 27 ladies and 2 Juniors).. This is down a little from 2025, but we hope our Open Days will attract one or two more.

New members to be welcomed are Caroline and Gary Bartlett, and Jean Lyme, and we hope they all enjoy their time at our club.

Also to be welcomed is our new club captain Graham who has taken over from Steve. We wish him every success in his new role, and should all support him and his 2 vice-captains, Jan and Keith, also new to their roles, as they provide leadership for all our games and matches over the coming season.

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Sadly we lost 2 ex-members recently; - Peter Large, who was a very active member of the local community, and Jim Adams who had moved back up to Norfolk and was a great character to bowl with.

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I will send out members lists to everyone shortly, and as before, because of data protection, they will only show names, telephone numbers and email addresses.

We have a brand new website – thanks to Clyde - who put it together and is our new webmaster. He will be looking to receive news, results and photos from all of us to keep the site up to date.

We also have a new Availability-On-Line application which we are trialling this year, and will enable members to advise their match availability to the selectors without always having to come to the clubhouse. This will run alongside the Availability Sheets in the clubhouse – the selectors will use both to pick the teams. Thanks to Jan and Keith, with Andy Short’s help, for making this available. 

News from the Fixture Secretary: 

1. Visit of the Royal Household Bowls Club on 26th April

- The team will be arriving in a coach which will park in the upper car park. Members are asked to park their cars in the lower car park to leave enough space for the coach.

There will be 24 visiting, and we will be providing tea and coffee and a meal after the match (including their driver) which will be covered by their match fee. We will charge an additional £5 to our players (additional to the £3 match fee) for the meal.

2. Away trip to Cavendish in Suffolk on 23rd May

Steve sent out an email on 19th March asking members who are planning to go to Cavendish if they want to go earlier and meet for a meal at the Willow Tree Café in Sudbury beforehand. If you haven’t already replied to this note, please do so as early as possible in case a booking needs to be made.

3.  Early warning for our first matches of the season. They are: 

-Saturday 18th April, President v Captain, home, 2.30 start, in whites. Match format will depend on the number of players available. – Already selected.

 Sunday 19th April, home, Rosedale,2.30 start, in whites, 5 Mixed Rink Friendly.- Already selected.

Friday 24th April, home, Welwyn & District, 2.30 start, in greys, 4 Mixed Rink Friendly

Saturday 25th April, away, Rosehill, 2.00 start, in whites, 4 Mixed Triple Friendly.

Sunday 26th April, home Royal Household, 2.30 start, in whites, 6 Mixed Rink Friendly Thursday 30th April, home, Potters Bar, 2.30 start, in greys, 5 Mixed Rink Friendly.

Friday 1st May, Welwyn Woods, 6.00 start, in greys, in the WHBL John Brown Trophy with 1 Open Triple at home and 1 away.

If you haven’t already put your name down for the matches from 24th April onward, you can  email Steve with your availability, or enter your name on the lists up now in the Clubhouse.

More News, Information & Specific Requests 

  • The 2026 Cleaning Rota has already been circulated and posted in the clubhouse together with the 2026 Catering Rota, which will be circulated shortly. 
  • .If any of you aspire to be bowling coaches, there is a Level 1 Coaching Course starting in June, consisting of 4 modules and based at Hatfield IBC. Let me know (asap) if you are interested.
  • We have 2 free standing electric heaters going begging in the clubhouse. They are not currently PAT tested, but both worked, before being replaced by the fixed heaters now in place. Let Graham or Richard Brewster know if you are interested.
  • Draws for the In-House Club competitions should take place on Thursday 16th April. If you haven’t already entered and want to, contact Jim Smith asap.     
  • As previously mentioned, Clyde will be looking for match results from match captains to place on the website. He would also welcome any relevant photos.
  • I have been asked to remind members of our bank account BACS details. They are; Datchworth Bowls Club, a/c 90304042, sort code 20.41.12.

And finally; We will be looking for volunteers to help the Green and Maintenance teams complete the work on the Green upstands at the end of the season. Although this is some time away, we would like to get a team in place as early as possible. So if you can help, or would like to understand what might be required, please contact Richard Brewster or any of the Green team for more information. 

 

                                    ROB HAZEU