AS the ladies and gents of Keynsham Bowling Club continue with their various league fixtures, different cup matches also are taking place.
Our ladies played at home to Purnells in the Fear Cup, losing by 7 shots in a game curtailed due to the hot weather. They will now be entered into the Somerset Plate Competition.
Our men were also drawn against Purnells, in the preliminary round of the Turnbull Cup, and they won on our own green by the narrowest of margins – 73 shots to 72.
Another close result followed in our first-round fixture away to Knowle, where we won 67-64.
Our triples side beat Bristol by 12 shots in the cup semi-final played on the neutral green at Severnvale. They will play St Anne’s Park in the final later in the season.
A regular fixture each year sees Keynsham and Frys compete for the Allsop Shield trophy, which was donated in memory of AJ Allsop, Keynsham secretary from 1964 to 1967.
This year it was played at Frys. Although Keynsham were well in front at the halfway stage, Frys made a spirited recovery, only to go under by 70 shots to 60 due to Keynsham’s strong finish.
It was the 56th time this fixture has been played, with Keynsham winning 31 times and Frys 25. The match was played in the usual friendly spirit, with Frys being generous hosts in providing a supper of sausages and chips.
At the start of July, we hosted a Somerset county game against visiting team the Royal County of Berkshire.
During an extremely hot day, our air-conditioned clubhouse provided a welcome retreat from the green, particularly for the hydration break of ice lollies at the halfway stage. Our catering was acknowleged by the visitors, who stated on their website that “the meal afterwards was plentiful and we hope that we will get to play there again.”
We were asked to host the Bowls England Somerset family regional final of the three-wood competition, when the father-and-son partnership of Phil and Kyran Davis, from St Anne’s Park, played against grandad and grandson Nigel and Jack Vine from Norwest. In what turned out to be a fine evening of quality bowling, Nigel and Jack were victorious by 21 shots to 10.
Our club funds were recently boosted by proceeds from the monthly book stall at Tesco, and we thank them for their support. Our photograph shows members Richard Stackhouse and Ian Tweedie receiving the cheque.
Mike Barrow