New venue is a big success for series

Round six was played at the home of Wem Bowling Club on Sunday and attracted another near 100-strong field, with many new names topping the 13-up round robin groups

But many of the regulars were as strong as ever and eight of the top 11 in the formative series points table were table-toppers, including leader Callum Wraight and joint second Alan Boulton.

Hot on their heels are Daz Fielding, Kerry Dance, Ade Jennings, David Cunningham, Tom Killen and Conner Whitehall after their successes on Sunday.

“Wem Sports was a new winter series venue and we had another great turnout of 96 in total, this after eight had to withdraw due to illness,” said promoter Jamie Brookes.

“It was another great running green which certainly caught a few out with its funny quirks and nuances.”

The middle session was most the popular with nine groups and the other winners were Sally Webb, Gareth Davies, Vicki McNally and Tina Ralph.

Recent County Handicap winner Alan Purcell was a morning session winner alongside James Blair, Andy Cooke, Mark Davernport, Terry Howard and John Doherty, while the final session stars included Craig Jones, Linda Harding, Richard Proudlove and Molly Harris.

It’s never too early to start planning for next year’s bowls season!

That’s the thinking of the Molson Coors Mid Shropshire League as it launches a drive to recruit new teams to bolster its divisions in 2024.

Specific clubs with green availability have been targeted to try and get the main Friday divisions back as close as possible to three of 14 sides – there are currently five vacancies.

But all 26 member clubs have now been contacted as the league aims to relaunch its Saturday Division next year and find at least one more side for the new Afternoon Division that was set up this year.

“Saturdays has a unique format of four singles and two doubles games, so a minimum of just four bowlers are needed to make up a team,” said league secretary Malcolm Fletcher. “There were eight clubs that competed in 2019, before Covid intervened and the division was put into cold storage.”

Matches in the Afternoon Division – which had seven teams this year – are six-a-side and played predominantly on Thursdays, finishing before August so as not to clash with the Mid Shropshire Senior Citizens League’s main competitions.

“I appeal to all clubs, on behalf of the officers, to give these requests serious consideration over the closed season as a final decision on entries and relaunches, etc, does not have to be taken until the March executive meeting,” added Fletcher.