Another Easter at the club and with a 17% increase in attendees at March session, it’s a time to celebrate, Harris wishes all followers of our club a very happy and relaxing Easter.
He has attended all the sessions this week, handing out free Easter eggs to all.
Here he is in all his glory.
The winner was Mike Lewis (5), runner-up Dickie Mander (41)
Congratulations to both.
We had a great day yesterday at the North Wiltshire Golf Club. 47 people make a lot of chatter and laughter, the service was great and the food was excellent. The staff looked after us very well.
Below are the photographs are all titled so I won’t repeat the details. The Secretary went through the last 12 months events and made various presentation.
The 3rd draw of the 50/50 club was made with the runner-up being Terry Brewer, he then pulled the winner out of the bag who happed to be Stuart Beard, well done to both.
The raffle made £190 for our charity account, thanks to all who donated and bought tickets.
At this I always feel that another year is over at the club, strange feeling.
The latest leagues up to the 28th February have been published look under Members – Internal Comps.
Have a look there are few surprises in the top 5.
On Tuesday we entertained Crudwell at Beversbrook, this was our last game for the season. Crudwell are the top team in the league and we’re hoping for a good win, as they had previously won 22-53 0-9 points at Crudwell on the 1st October 2025. Things did not go well for them as we managed to win 2 rinks, in the first half Nick, Carol and Terry won 10-8, whilst Pat, Esther and Les lost 6-10.
However in the second half Les managed to come back from 5-7 down and score 4 shots on the last 2 ends to win 9-7, unfortunately Nick, Carol and Terry lost 5-14.
Final score 30-39, 4-5 points, a very enjoyable night for us.
Harris Hogg was on show celebrating the Chinese New Year, fortune cookies for all. It was his friend Millie Ham turned up to keep him company.
Fun was had with the Chinese New Year calendar as members found out whether they were born in the year of the snake, boar or tiger, etc.
We went to Marshfield hoping to improve the result we obtained at home on the 18th November 2025, being 29-40, 3-6 points. However we weakened in the second half after having won an end in the first half.
Final result 21-47, 2-7 pts, well done to Sheila, Esther and Les for the one win 9-6, however they lost their second game 4-11. Whilst Nick, Carol and Terry lost their 2 games 3-14 and 5-16.
But coming away with 2 points was good as Marshfield are not an easy team to win on their rinks.
Last night we played Melksham away at Broughton Gifford, we went with high hopes following our win at Beversbrook 33-31 recently. Unfortunately it was not our height and we lost 20-60, we did improve in the second half only losing the 2 games by a total of 12-22. As always we were well looked after with cake at half time, whispers of whisky abounded, but I think it was only an essence! But whatever it was, we did bowled better for it.
Many thanks to Lorraine and all at Melksham for an enjoyable evening.
Firstly, many thanks to Carol and Pat for organising this first session and also to Sheila for taking over placing Nick’s woods and Terry and John for there invaluable advice during the session.
The reason for these sessions is to help ESMBA members to gain confidence and knowledge to enable they to take part in County. Competitions/Leagues in the future if they wish to.
The session started with Carol explaining why it was taking place and Pat explaining the teams and format of the session.
League teams are made up of 3 players with 2 bowls each, not 3 as is played in our social games.
This requires greater skill and understanding of the game. A league game is made up of 2 half
1st half is 2 trial ends and followed by 9 ends, then a break for refreshments
2nd half is a further 9 ends.
The option is to play a 1st half, stopping when members need information or advice.
The session went very well and at the debriefing members said how much they had learned and appreciated the help they had received, it had been a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon.
The next session will be on Friday 30th January, 2pm to 4pm.
Now follows photographs.
Read in full“CALNE ESMBA Members practice session 16th January 2026”
We had a full house with several visitors, after the session ended and all was cleared away we had our usual nibbles, many thanks to those who supplied them.
As usual Harris Hogg was there with his reindeers and suitable Christmas accruements ! We also had our annual photograph with many members attired in suitable festive clothes, even that elf turned up again, this could be his last appearance, thank goodness.
We also had the first draw of our 50;50 club that helps raise money for good causes, in the year 2024/25 we donated £300 to the Air Ambulance and £300 to Calne Welfare Charities. The winner of the draw was Ro Smith with Peter Robert’s as runner-up.
It was a great afternoon, enjoyed by all.
Many thanks to all our members who have supported the club this year and contributed to such a good atmosphere in which to play Short Mat Bowls.
As this is the last posting for 2025, may we wish everyone a very Happy Christmas and a Healthy 2026 and to say thank you to all the staff at Beversbrook Sports and Community Facility for all their help over the year it is much appreciated.
Finally the photos
The above game which was due to be played on November 28th has now been rearranged to be played on Wednesday February 4th at 7-30pm.
At our evening session some members dressed up and there was ‘spooky’ food at the end. Even Harris Hogg brought sausage rolls and managed to get on a chair for the phot.
We also had the 12th and last draw of the 50/50 club, the draws will start again in December 2025 once members have purchased their number for the next 12 months.
The winner was Angie Fish (1) with the runner up being Martha Mason (38)
