Organising this Triples competition started, as usual in January, Carol started it off with the invitation letters.  

However, the weather is something we cannot organise but we live in hope for a decent day. This year it was beyond our expectations as our preparation day and the day itself could not have been better as these were the last 2 days of the third heatwave we had experienced this year. 

Unbroken sunshine, but at least a cooler breeze. 

The club looked great with all the gazebos erected, giving essential protection to all the players and those officials during the day. The 12 teams from various clubs started to 

arrive and select their positions in readiness for the start at 10am. Six of the teams formed the blue group with the other six as the red group. 

Each group started with the traditional spider to win a bottle of wine. After that the 

competition got under way with games, mainly of 5 ends being played, first by the blue group and alternating with the red group throughout the day. 

The competitors were encouraged to take on fluids throughout the day and water, tea and coffee were freely available all day. 

Picnic lunches were provided by the hard working club members, plus desserts and later in the day a delicious cream tea plus all kinds of cake was enjoyed by all. 

There was a large raffle and a competition to guess the total number of shots played and here the club very much appreciated the support for these as well as the number of prizes donated.

The winner of how many shots was Richard Cooke (274 shoots). 

The scorers recorded all the details during the day so that eventually they could reveal the best team from the blue and red groups, to play in a three end final. Those teams were Gordon 

Hall(Space Invaders) from West Hoathly and John Loran (Cross in Hand) from Heathfield  

After a very good final the Cross in Hand collected the trophy from Vivien Woods, the daughter of Alf Sayers, our former greenkeeper. 

The green was not up to our usual standards, due solely to the very hot weather, unfortunately it didn’t play as well as we would have liked. Though everyone appeared to have had a great day. I would like to thank all those who helped, Mike E the Master of Ceremonies, Harry and Mike F the scorers, Dave our liquid provider, plus Ann, Linda, June, Lesley, Jenny, and various cake makers for such good food and drink. Dean and Kathryn selling raffle tickets, and Kieth for the total shots. We were lucky to have Dean whose marquee knowledge in putting up and taking down marquees invaluable, and all the visiting teams for their continued support for Nutley Bowling Club.  We must not forget all those members who turned up the day before to erect all the marquees. Remembering Steve and Mike B the mowers of the green. 

Peter Lambert. 

Alf Sayers organiser.