Early season Friendlies
The "summer" season of competitive matches started on Tuesday, April 15, with our now traditional Friendly opener away at Chess Vale in Chesham on their full-size artificial surface rink, and one used by England internationals for training.
The match resulted in a win for Wraysbury by 87 shots to 64, with Wraysbury winning on all five rinks, a great way to start the new season. And it was better than last year when we won by 4 rinks to 1 – certainly an improvement as we never used to do very well when visiting Chess Vale.
Three rinks were decided by two or less shots, so the rink result could have easily gone the other way. Seventeen Wraysbury players wished to take part and with the kind agreement of our hosts we did swop players around during the match so that they all could all take part.
The recent warm spring weather changed to a dull, but just about warm enough day, that ended with a heavy downpour just as the match was finishing, and with only one rink not completing the scheduled 18 ends.
Having made it into the clubhouse just about in time, as the downpour continued for about half an hour, all the players enjoyed generous hospitality together with a raffle of chocolates and wine.
The first home match of the summer season was a friendly on Thursday 24th April against Staines. Played in warm sunny weather over 18 ends, three mixed triples battled out a very close match. So close that the rink score was one each with one tied and the shot score was a narrow win for Wraysbury by 47 shots to 46.
The last bowl of the match on the tied rink deciding it in Wraysbury's favour.
Top rink for Wraysbury was on Rink 1 with Val Lambert, Trevor Woodham & Ian Smith winning 23 shots to 11.
Our visit to Stanwell four days later ended with a 45-43 defeat, losing on all three rinks – the best for us was from Trevor Woodham, Adam Smith & Howard Brooks, who went down by just one shot.
We have not had much luck in this early fixture at Stanwell – it being rained off the last two years and another loss in 2022.
The friendly match played on Wednesday 30th April away against Fordbridge Park on three rinks of triples resulted in a win for the hosts by 53-40 and 2 rinks to 0 and with one rink drawn.
The weather was sunny and the rink well prepared at such an early stage in the season and gave Wraysbury's players some much needed practice on grass.
Top rink for Wraysbury was Jackie Carlton, Mike McLachlan & Len Carlton with a 12-12 draw gained with a single on the last end.
Into May and a visit to Windsor Great Park brought little joy with a 79-50 loss in the friendly played as four triples. We did though tie on one rink thanks to Jackie, Paul & Len finishing 12-12.
Men's KLV League
The first KLV league match of the season for our men’s team was on Friday May 2 with Wraysbury travelling to one of the very strong clubs in Division 1 East.
The away match against Desborough A is always a difficult fixture for us. Another fine, warm day and a well prepared rink yielded a win for Desborough A by 81 shots to 35 shots for Wraysbury and by 2 rinks to 1 resulting in 8 league points for Desborough A and 2 points for Wraysbury, picked up by our top rink of Martyn Hammond, Martin Wilson & Dave Bevan winning by 16-13.
VICTORY was very much in the air on May 8th, with the VE Day celebrations taking place in the village – and our Wraysbury men’s team storming to a 79-31 win against Windsor and Eton A in the second match of the 2025 KLV League season.
The battle was won by convincingly taking all three rinks to secure maximum 10 points. Rink three was a very close affair, though, with the lead changing hand 5 times before Wraysbury came out 3 shots in front.
The other two rinks were large wins for Wraysbury with the top rink being Paul Lester, Colin Hood & Andy Doughton with a massive 37 shots to 7 advantage.
* This included the rather rare feat of a magnificent 9 shots in one end to claim a Bowls England Hot Shot award!
Wraysbury's second away KLV league match of the new season was against newly promoted Sunningdale A on Friday May 16. We last played there a few years ago and we were greeted by a sunny day and a well prepared green.
The result of the match was a narrow win for Wraysbury by 50 shots to 48, but with Sunningdale winning on two rinks we could only muster 6 points to 4.
Top rink for Wraysbury was Martin Wilson, Colin Hood & Len Carlton winning 21-9.
The second home KLV match of the season was held on Wednesday 21st May against Royal Household Bowls Club, a team that we have had very little success against over the years. After a morning of rain, the day brightened up for the start of the match though some light showers and a period of loud thunder spoiled the afternoon.
The result of the match was a close two-shot win for Royal Household by 45-43 and 2 rinks to 1, giving Royal Household 8 league points to 2 points for Wraysbury.
The winning rink for Wraysbury was Martyn Hammond, Mike McLachlan & Ian Smith by 19 shots to 12.
The last match of May was at home in the KLV when we entertained Windsor Gt Park and secured
a 68-54 victory.
After a bright start for the hosts when all three rinks surged ahead, WGP found their line and length and started to make a comeback. Fortunately, Wraysbury picked up again and were heading for a comfortable win. But while rinks 1 & 3 held it together, rink 2 somehow contrived to give away 9 shots on the last two ends to lose their game by 2 shots.
The end result was 8-2 by virtue of us picking up the 4 bonus points which left us sitting in mid-table..
Into June saw a visit by our near neighbours Egham Bowls Club (Wed 4th) for a friendly match of the usual 3 triples over 18 ends. As quite a number of Egham players are also members of Wraysbury, our perceived advantage of playing at home is steadily being diminished.
The result of another close match was a win for Egham by 52 shots to 47, and 2 rinks to 1. The top rink for Wraysbury was Angela Teale, Adam Smith & Alan Dell (The 3 A's!), who won 25-13.
This game marked the first use of our new visitors changing room in the recently erected cabin addition, and was well received by all the Egham players.
A second away win on the trot for our KLV team when we beat Maidenhead Town’s B team 56-35
(on June 6) to secure 8 points and taking 2 rinks to 1.
The green was well prepared and though some rain seemed a possibility it held off and gave us a warm though breezy day to enjoy.
Top rink for Wraysbury was Martyn Hammond, Mike McLachlan & Andy Doughton who won 23-5. At this stage of the season we have won 4 out of our 6 matches played, including 2 wins away on grass surfaces, and sit third in the table.
A Friendly was next up as we visited Staines Bowls Club on Tuesday, June 10, for a match of 4 triples over 18 ends, our second of the three matches against Staines this year. The rink was well prepared and the weather was fairly warm and dry.
The result of another close match was a win for Staines by 71 shots to 65, with the rinks being tied at 2 each. The top rink for Wraysbury was Angela Teale, Steve Angus & Colin Hood, who won by 20 shots to 12
Friday the 13th did not bring us any ill luck despite the visit of KLV league leaders Maidenhead Town A.
Usually a difficult opposition for us, however something must aligned correctly, or maybe it was just the unexpected hot day giving us a day to remember.
Indeed we overwhelmed Town A by winning 69 shots to 29 and 3 rinks to 0, gaining all the 10 match points, which maintained our third position in the league - and became the only team to defeat the table toppers so far this season. Top rink for Wraysbury was Martin Wilson, Len Carlton & Colin Hood who won by 27-11.
On Tuesday 17th June we visited Bishop Duppas Bowls Club in Shepperton for a Friendly match of 3 triples over 18 ends. The rink was well prepared and the weather was quite hot necessitating drinking plenty of water throughout the match. Afterwards we were all treated to a drink from their bar and a raffle was held.
The result of another close match was a win for Bishop Duppas by 51 shots to 45, although Wraysbury won by 2 rinks to 1. Our top rink was Hilary Doughton, Tony Britton & Andy Doughton who won by 17-8.
After two recent matches had been postponed due to the extremely warm weather we were pleased to have the Berkshire Masonic Bowls Association visit us for a mixed triples Friendly on Wednesday 25th June. The day was still rather warm, but there were plenty of cold drinks available throughout the match.
The overall match score proved to be another very close affair with the Berkshire Masonic Bowls Association being the winners by 44 shots to 38, Wraysbury winning 2 rinks to 1. Rather oddly this 6-shot reverse was the same difference for the third of our friendly matches in a row.
Top rink for Wraysbury was Val Lambert, Trevor Woodham & Alan Dell who won 16-7.
The away KLV match against Windsor & Eton A (June 27) was played on another hot day on their well prepared rink within sight of Windsor Castle. The result was a 59-43 win for Windsor and Eton A and 2 rinks to 1, taking some revenge for our 10-point victory at Wraysbury earlier in the season. It was a result typical of late for this fixture, but some post-match cooling beers and soft drinks served in the clubhouse after the match were most welcome. Our winning rink came from Martin Wilson, Mike McLachlan & Len Carlton who won by 21-17, a great comeback after being 12 shots down after 4 ends!
Into July and our KLV campaign continued with 2 wins and 2 defeats. It started with a superb comprehensive home victory against Sunningdale A 33-10, taking all 3 rinks which included two Hot Shot achievements. (More details when the editor receives them).
Then two away losses, first to Royal Household a disappointing 43-9, followed by a tight match against Windsor Gt Park where we were pipped 46-44, which included us tying one rink for one valuable point.
Finally the month closed with a good 80-37 win hosting Maidenhead Town B and taking all three rinks, giving Wraysbury 10 league points..
There were some light intermittent rain showers throughout the match causing much putting on and taking off of rain jackets, though it was never really enough rain to get wet, Top rink for Wraysbury was Trevor Woodham, Mike McLachlan & Colin Hood who won by 23 shots to 12.
The KLV season ended with a not unexpected defeat to high flying Maidenhead Town A, where we lost 83-25.5 and 3 rinks to 0 - which saw us finish in fourth spot with 72 points, just pipped by Royal Household by six points, after having spent several weeks in third place. Our task was made even more difficult with a low number of players being available which resulted in us having to play short-handed for the last match.
Nonetheless, a creditable effort to be in the top half of the premier division playing against some of the biggest clubs in the area. Desborough A were crowned winners of the KLV Division 1 East with 116 points, three ahead of Maidenhead Town A.
Late season Friendlies
We played our first match against Sunbury Bowls Club (Aug 6), a friendly triples on three rinks at home. The weather was pleasant and we had a slightly late start as Sunbury were one player short and we arranged to have a Wraysbury member play for them.
The result was a 50-32 win for Wraysbury and two rinks to one. Sunbury players were pleased to win on one rink as many of them had not played on an outdoor artificial rink before. The best rink for Wraysbury was Jackie Carlton, Mike McLachlan & Len Carlton who won by 23 shots to 7.
After the match everyone enjoyed tea in the clubhouse followed by a raffle - and Captain Alan Dell even managed to win a large box of tea bags!
We did better in the return match against Ashford rivals Fordbridge Park than we did at their place in April and secured a 76-36 and 2 rinks to 1 victory (Aug 13).
The match was played in warm weather that had luckily cooled off from the very high temperatures of the previous two afternoons. There were some heavy spots of rain and thunderous sound effects that passed by without causing any delay.
Our visitors were happy to win on one rink which their Captain Dave reckoned was the first rink they had won at Wraysbury!
Top rink for Wraysbury was Janet Cross, Mike McLachlan & Colin Hood who had a very successful day to win by 34 shots to 7.
At last an away win after a bad run on the road – and at Egham Bowls Club too! (Aug 20)
Wraysbury triumphed 70-61 and 3 rinks to 1, which was the reversal of the match played at Wraysbury earlier in the season when Egham were the victors. The result for the year being one win apiece, with each club winning away!
The game started cloudy with a rather sharp wind blowing, but after an hour the sun shone strongly giving us a pleasant afternoon. Throughout the match the individual rink and overall scores remained extremely close. Rather unusually after 7 ends, three rinks had identical scores on the board! After the match we retired to the clubhouse for drinks, crisps and muffins.
Our return friendly match at home against Chess Vale Bowls Club on August 28 saw Wraysbury complete a double over our Chesham friends for the first time, winning 71 shots to 27 and 3 rinks to nil. It was played in warm conditions, but with annoying short light rain showers occurring at regular intervals. The players enjoyed tea in the clubhouse after the match together with a raffle.
Top rink for Wraysbury was Janet Cross, Mike McLachlan & Colin Hood who had a resounding win of 34 shots to 6.
Our September match against Bishop Duppas saw honours even this year as we won on home turf 69-38 after a defeat at the Shepperton club in June. Wraysbury took 2 rinks to 1 with the top trio of Martyn Hammond, Martin Wilson & Len Carlton winning 33-8.
The season was wrapped up with a visit to a club we've not played at before, Teddington, but could only win one rink and fell to 57-40.
