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On Sunday 23rd June, Henley held its annual Gala Day. Teams from Caversham, Desborough, Harwell, Maiden Erlegh, Pangbourne & Hagbourne, Wantage and Henley entered the competition and despite a very late withdrawal of a Wargrave team because of illness, a great day of bowling was enjoyed by all, helped on by some fine weather. As usual, it was a Mixed Triples round robin competition played in two pools.
Once again, this event was made possible by one of our sponsors A.B. Walker putting up the prize money of £200 for the winners and £100 for the runners-up and making a major contribution to the raffle and other treats.
The day kicked off just before 10:00am with the usual "spider" competition. The "spider" consists of all participants standing on the green with one foot in the ditch and on the sound of the hooter, everyone delivers one bowl to the jack in the centre of the green. It's always a bit of a lottery and this year, the closest bowl to the jack was delivered by Barrie Davies who won a bottle of champagne. Barrie was playing in the second one of the Henley teams, called the "Youth Wing".
The main event then kicked off with 3 games in the morning and 2 in the afternoon. Each game was 6 ends long and took about 45 mins each. After the first two games, players had a quick tea/coffee break before playing their third game which was followed by lunch. It was a closely fought competition and after all games were played, the Blue Pool had one of the two Desborough teams, Dazed & Confused, tied with the Caversham Ne'er Do Wells and the Maiden Erlegh Hot shots on 8 points each. Dazed & Confused went through to the final having the far better shot difference.
In the Red Pool, the position was similar with one of the Henley teams, the Prisoners, tied with the other Desborough team, All Bowled Out. Again the pool winner was decided on shot difference and the Prisoners went through to the final.
After a break in proceedings when all teams enjoyed tea, cakes, scones and other refreshments, the raffle was drawn by the Club Chairperson Sally Daniells before the finalists took to the rink to battle it out.
The Desborough team, Dazed & Confused were probably the favourites having won the competition last year and the Henley team were probably considered relatively novice bowlers. However, bowling can be a strange game and despite losing the first and last end, the Henley team came through as victors. The Club was honoured to welcome Deputy Mayor Tom Buckley to present the prizes and individual medals to the winners and runners-up.
Runners up - Dazed & Confused:
Skip Lee Chamberlain, with lead Nicola Jones and no. 2 Gemma Hanks.
Winners - The Prisoners:
Skip Ramsay Adams (far right), with lead Rachael Shaw and no. 2 Peter Menhinick.
Here are a few more photos from the day. Club members can see more in the Members-Gallery.
