Our Weekly Club Sessions
We meet twice a week, on Monday and Wednesday afternoons. We arrive at the Memorial Hall at about 13:30 and set about preparing the hall for bowls. We usually lay out our three mats, but depending on numbers, it could be two. We then play between 14:00 and 16:00, with a tea and biscuit break for 20 minutes or so, at about 15:45.
During the latter part of the year, after the draws have been made for the club Singles and Doubles Championships, on Mondays the matches in those competitions are played on mat one, nearest the windows to the left of the adjacent picture.
Everybody else will be involved in friendly, practice matches on the other mats. The Club Captain, or Vice Captain will draw the skip name tags from a bag, allocating 2 skips per mat, followed by again drawing player name tags from a bag, allocating players alternately to each mat and each skips team.
The tags are then turned over to reveal each team skip and their team members. The skips toss a coin to decide who is to be the Home and Away teams, decide in which order the team members will play and the fun begins.
Club League Tournaments
Throughout the year as part of our Wednesday afternoon sessions, we also play two league tournaments, The Winter League and The Tom Bull Shield.
Each league runs for two or three months, with each champion being crowned after the final league matches. The playing rules for each are slightly different and detailed in the specific page for each tournament, in the “What We Do” drop down menu, at the top of the page.
Essentially though, as with the friendly practice matches, to select teams in each competition, the club captain, or vice captain will draw the name tags from a bag, allocating players alternately to each mat and each team.
The tags are then turned over to reveal each teams members. The skips toss a coin to decide who is to be the Home and Away teams, decide in which order the team members will play and the slightly more serious fun begins.
Monmouthshire League Matches
The club also play in the Monmouthshire League, against seven other clubs. The club has won the league on a number of occasions in the past, our most recent finishing position being third, in the 2025-26 season.
We play each team home and away, usually in the evening on a day other than our normal twice weekly sessions. The longer serving members of the club, have been playing against many of the team members we meet during these matches for many years and know each other well, so there’s a friendly rivalry at every match, as well as a coffee and biscuit, giving a chance for a catch up with old and new friends.
We had a reasonable season last year, finishing third in the league table, as shown in the adjoining picture.
Special Club Days
The highlight of the season, is our Finals Day. For this special occasion, we lay out just one mat with chairs down each side, as illustrated, so the members can watch the Doubles Final, before a buffet lunch, followed by the Singles Final and presentation of the winner and runner up trophies.
As a club, we also have Christmas celebrations, with a Christmas Dinner at a local pub, or restaurant and a fun bowls day, in the Memorial Hall.
We lay out the three mats as usual, but each mat instead of utilising a jack as a target, it’s replaced by obstacles and targets of different kinds and scoring values on each mat. Each player rotates around each mat and aims at these targets. The player with the highest score wins a wonderful prize !!
As with other special days at the club, we all bring in food and enjoy a buffet feast and general, social get together.
If you think you might like to come along and try the game and enjoy the company, contact us on the details provided. We’d be delighted to see you and welcome you to our club.