Bowls tour : Weston-super-Mare : July 2009
Monday 13 th July meant an early start as the 2009 tour was about to begin, picking up most of the group from the Milestone Centre then on to Shiplake to collect three ‘Bucketts’ and Audrey, what a little raver she turned out to be! A pit stop on route for breakfast then on to Dauncey’s Hotel, we were wondering did they have enough Guinness in for Max. Rooms were allocated and lunch was eaten, much hilarity about the cut up candlewick bedspreads which acted as bath mats.
We were then back on the coach, waved off by Janette to our first match at Burnham on Sea, the captain of Burnham used to be a fireman who knew Peter and also bowled at Woodley, on one rink was a chap who was born in Mayfield Drive, Caversham! What an enjoyable afternoon it turned out to be, the greens were excellent, the company superb and the sun shone. The first wrong bias of the week was duly bowled by a tour committee member - Wendy. Phil received a gift of a joke roll of toilet paper from the captain, (who had put him up to that?). We lost the match but that didn’t dampen our spirits as we had such a nice afternoon. Goodbyes said then back to the hotel for a wash & brush up for supper.  
Tuesday started with a good cooked breakfast, a walk into Weston, a ride on the little train or just having a read of the papers. The afternoon took us to Clarence Park, what an experience that was, three greens in a beautiful parkland setting, the large club house complete with upstairs indoor rink and a full sized snooker table. The hospitality was greatly received with cups of tea brought out to our spectators to enjoy while watching the match. Sue had been kitted out before hand with borrowed clothes and equipment to play her first game (she had only rolled up once before a few years ago) with help from Snooky, Mr Christmas, Peter and coaching from Pat as we walked up the road the evening before, with much encouragement from our hosts, Sue thoroughly enjoyed her afternoon. Gordon spent the afternoon looking through the lens of his camera taking some action shots so all proceeding were captured. This was a win for Shiplake and an invite back to join them again for a rematch.
After supper we were entertained by an Opportunity Knocks reject or had we seen him auditioning on X Factor? He was ok if you couldn’t see him, a few glasses of wine consumed by us made him sound quite good! Dancing was done by some of us; others just laughed and enjoyed the evening.

A leisurely start to the day for Wednesday then back on the coach for the ride to Weston St Andrews bowls club, would this club be as grand as Clarence Park? No, this was a small club in the middle of a housing estate. In one garden there was a very large bird bath with a full sized Rottweiler dog looking into the water, this wasn’t a real dog just part of the bird bath! We wondered how many birds dared to have a bath there! The reserve team of Sonia, Gordon & Max stood in today while three members had a day off. The match started well but we were out bowled by the opposition, they were sure that a village team was not going to win. Julia enjoyed watching most of the game but soon found that sitting in the sun was too much and had a snooze, no snoring was heard! A wrong bias for Neil today but we put this down to him playing at two not in his comfort zone of three! Vera kept Snooky and Mr Christmas in order during supper; she had soon got the measure of those two with an answer for everything they said!

An earlier start to Thursday as we were going for a morning out to Cheddar. While waiting for the coach Peter H started to discuss the plumbing of the hotel (for more details on this please see Peter or Dave W). After a lovely drive through the countryside we arrived at the gorge. Several people went into the caves, others shopped, or just sat and had coffee but all agreed it was a nice wander round.
A short drive took us to the Isle of Wedmore club; this was another super club in a countryside setting, the afternoon started well with a lot of friendly banter from all rinks. A Hakka was performed by Chris to make sure some of the opposition knew we were here to do a good job! Tea was taken at half time, then as we went out it started to rain, a delude came and the match was abandoned at sixteen ends with a win for Shiplake, we decided that we didn’t need to use their showers as we had all had an outdoor one! Still it gave us more time to chat with our hosts until the coach came.

The final night already here, tourists assembled in the lounge for Prize Giving. The end tour speech was given by Snooky which had us all in fits of laughter.

Some of the awards are shown in the yellow box.

Thanks were given to Jacksons for sponsoring the tour & Melvin Stafford for the prizes (which he does now know about!)

Julia: Sleeping on the green + 1st class captain
Janette: Best member on crutches
Peter H: Saniflow expert
John C: Lift Inspector
Max: Champion Guinness Drinker
Daphne: For putting up with Max
Dave B: Not complaining when skip was not available
Audrey: Little Raver
Jean B: For supplying Audrey
Phil: Chief Toilet paper tester
Pat: No.1 coach for new bowlers
Dave S: He got it all off Pat
Chris: Best Hakka performance
Dave W: Plumbing advice
Jean W: Plumbers mate
Vera: Devotion to food

The last supper was eaten, Daphne found some new specs on her table to replace the ones she had mislaid, and how these suited her!! We adjourned to the bar to be entertained by another singer, Tuesdays singer sounded excellent compared to this chap! Still it didn’t stop Jackie and Gordon ‘doing a bit of a jig’. Much merriment continued and some stayed up very late!! Friday brought the tour to a close and we weary bowlers snoozed most of the way home on the coach.

Jackie, Wendy, Mr Christmas and Snooky would like to thank all tourists for making it such a fun tour and hope members will join us again next year.

 

Jackie Stafford July 2009