Bowls at Midnight

As you read this I shall be out on the bowling green about to START playing bowls. Yes, here as we near the longest day of the year it is possible to play bowls at midnight. In fact it has been possible to see the outline of the roof next door against the sky for a number of weeks at midnight recently.

Kirkwall Bowling Club

This will be a knew experience. I have played bowls at midnight in the past, but most often in some church or community hall somewhere around the country as we were getting toward the point of qualifying for a finals night. I've played to near 10 in the outdoors but in Northern Ireland it was getting dark about then. This will be different.

Update for the record I was playing skip against my third from the previous night's Argo Cup win and beat him by a shot, with a nicely drawn bowl by me in the last end after midnight. With the cloud cover it was worse than one of those late night rearranged games we used to play on the Bangor Irish Cup runs.

I am the bowling rain God

I apologise for any rain you may have encountered this evening. Unless of course you are one of the people who was added to the drought area earlier today, in which case you're welcome.

Saturday may have been the first friendly match of the season but that was away. It was also the opening day of the greens at Ward Park, Bangor where my team North Down play their home matches. Therefore today I was always going to get down there to play a few ends.

Of course this morning the Sun was out, but I was helping my Mum with some things. This afternoon though overcast and windy was dry. Of course as soon as I started to get ready to leave the house this evening after a yummy fish pie it started to rain. Not a lot, but a persistent drizzle, that lasted at least as long as daylight did.

However, as bowls is a sport that you have to carry on playing even in the rain, that is one reason that I do practice in drizzle when I get the chance, I don't want to have to encounter it for the first time in a match. So I was out in the rain for the first session of the season on my own green. That said, despite the green being heavier than the all weather surface down at Cloughey on Saturday, I was happy with my first bowls on grass this season. Weight and line were good the majority of the time.

So again I apologise for this evening's weather. But I'm a bowler, I was expecting it.

Farewell Skip

Today will be a strange day to be a bowler.

Later tonight at the last night of the church bowling club season I will once again be awarded a club championship trophy. Picking up and winning bowling trophies is something I have done since I was 18. I have actually been crowned a champion in three nations of the United Kingdom, but I also have been crowned a champion of Ireland, not once but twice and in the same tournament in consecutive years. That is why today is strange.

In 1998 I moved bowling clubs. It was a strenuous task as the new club's green was literally 2 metres from my old and current outdoor club, North Down. But the difference between North Down and Bangor while short in distance was miles in standard. Bangor were the best, not just in our league, nor indeed just in Ireland, but for the three years I played for them they kept producing outstanding performances in the British Isles championships as well.

I had in the 1997 season played third throughout the entire North Down season. That is the sort of position where you have to know how to play your bowls and all shots in order to assist the skip. I was playing third on the B team unable then to crack into the As. However, somehow I also managed to play third that season behind 8 skips! Yeah that is right someone who for most of the season played second was promoted to skip before I was that season and I wasn't happy. Not happy at all seeing as I collected three trophies in the club championships that year. First in one final, second in another and third in the scores for the rinks through out the season. I'd also managed to get to the last 16 of the Bangor Pairs tournament, skipping a pair with a Bangor player. Further than any other North Down player that week.

One player who watched all my games that week was Joe Mercer. He was one of the people who persuaded me to come play for Bangor. He said to me that I was too good to be stuck in the B team at North Down where seniority not merit was rewarded. So I did. I knew that Bangor's B Team would probably have beaten North Down's A Team at that time but because at that time the Northern Ireland Bowling Association (NIBA) was split into 4 Senior Divisions for the A Teams and 2 Junior Divisions for the Bs that was never tested. So I would have been happy just to make the B team. Even at second, or lead (which is not my most natural position but one I could play if asked).

So after the first selection meeting ahead of the first game of the season I went into the clubhouse more in hope than expectation to see if my name was on the team sheet. It was, and I was still playing third, and third to Joe Mercer. It was a position I was to hold more or less throughout the season, though I was dropped for one game, which I was raging about, merely it seemed to give everyone a fair go in the early part of the season. Joe took to me one side and said, "Don't worry Stephen I'll make sure you are back playing third to me next week", and I was, not just the next week but for the rest of the season. And what a season it was.

Joe and me couldn't have been more different on the bowling green. I like to shout and show emotion, Joe just quietly gets on with it. I can and will play all the shots from full on drives to delicate draws, through controlled weight and just enough to turn bowls. Joe liked to just be able to draw his two in to add to the score. But the combination worked well and Joe loved to be able to imbue his experience into the new generation of bowlers and that was something he certainly did for me. I do still shout and jump about on the green, but even if I appear to be losing my cool with my opponents that is also part of the show and I am zen like within, ready to calmly play my next bowl when it is due. That is a lesson looking at most of the skips I have had that I could only have picked up from Joe.

There are very few seasons when you can't say you wish you'd done better, but that 1998 season was one of them. Bangor's B Team only lost 2 games all year. One of them we still one 3 points for having 3 of the four rinks up, but the fourth lost but just one shot more than the rest of us could cover and in the other we lost by 2 shots but with 2 rinks up and two rinks down. We won the NIBA Junior Division 1 by some margin with the As winning Senior 1. On the Wednesday nights through the season we also managed to secure the NIBA Junior Cup in the final up at Ormeau while our A team were on the other green, but just lost. But there was something that Bangor Bs have never done before and that was lift the Irish Bowling Association Junior Cup.

Both team battled through the Irish Cup rounds but the As finally feel at the Semi Final stage, something we learnt up at Larne when we came off having secured our place in the Junior final. So we went to Carrick on a day much like today clear blue skies, no wind and the sun warming our backs. We were to play Limavady whose coach had broken down on the way. However, with both the NIBA trophies safely in Bangor for the third successive double we wanted to add the icing to the cake. Something that we duly did. The junior triple was ours.

On the left label from top to bottom
IBA Junior Cup Winner
NIBA Junior Div 1 Winner
NIBA Junior Cup Winner

The following year I started out playing with Joe once again, but mid season there was an adjustment in the teams. We lost one less game than in 1998, but sadly the one we lost was the NIBA Junior Cup. The following year we lost out in the same stage of the NIBA Cup and finally lost our Irish Cup streak in the Quarter Finals at the same venue and against the same opponents as the year before.

It was my first season at Bangor and it was the perfect season. I also added the Northern Ireland Civil Service Triples title to cap it off. Today was very similar to that day in August 1998, but today the mowed grass I saw was at the graveside of my skip from that day. Joe died on the day that would have been his 55th Wedding Anniversary two days what would have been his and his late wife Sylvia's 79th Birthdays. Bowlers from all the teams in Ward Park and former teams mates of Joe's turned up to honour the man who was ever present it seemed in the park, but always a quiet, courteous and friendly figure.

He will be dearly missed.

RIP Joe Mercer 25 March 1934 - 23 March 2012


Update:


Did I say I'd be winner of one cup tonight?

Turns out I was a double champion. On the right is the club championship (which I'd actually won in 1997) on the left is the one for winner the rinks, (that is getting the best 12 scores a max of one per week through the season).

Must win this afternoon

This is the final game of the outdoor season and it is a must win game for us. The team with the most shots across the green will get 3 points this afternoon and for each rink that is up there will be a point. In total there is a maximum of 7 points at stake.

Here is the bottom of NIBA division 3.

As you can see we at North Down are 5 points behind Markethill, so we have to win and they have to lose. Fortunately we'll be able to keep and eye on how they are doing as we are playing host to them this afternoon. This means that for the whole 21 ends it will be a battle for survival.

While my rink for the past few weeks is attending a family wedding, I'm playing behind another skip, my third of the season. Something that has rather annoyed me earlier in the week. The last time I played for North Down before I moved to Bangor I played behind 8 other skips on the B team. Now I've been given a place at the back end of the A team and 6 of the others have been allowed to skip a rink. It is rather frustration for the youngest and most sucessful back end player in the team to be downgraded behind so many others. Especially when in recent weeks I have been performing the shots that are needed under pressure situations. But that is the way bowls goes. Sadly in this club you often have to pay your dues rather than simply being good enough.

I'l let you know how we got on later.

I can't be in two places at once

I'd rather be up in Londonderry/Derry right now like I was last August taking part in the Foyle Pride Parade. But As you can see from the league table below, every point, indeed every shot counts before we at North Down take on Markethill next week.

As it is I'll be in Carrickfergus for the penultimate game of the season. However, I will be up in Northern Ireland's second city a day too late tomorrow delivering wedding presents ahead of a wedding in two weeks time.

To everyone taking part in Foyle Pride today hope you have a good, safe day. As for the protestors remember that Jesus loves them too, just pass on his love to them.

Wish I was there walking from the Train Station to Guild Hall Square like last year.

Foyle Pride 2010

Bangor, Bowls and Bells

Yesterday my good friend Michael came out to Bangor for some sea air. The two of us being us of course a trip for him to Bangor did not just involve the normal activities of Bangor. There was a stop of at the Frederick Schomberg, the 1st Duke of Schomberg's camp before he set off to the Boyne where he died in battle in 1690. There was a visit to the old Walled Garden of Bangor Castle, now shortlisted for Britain in Bloom 2011 and open to the public and a walk around town, checking out some architectural history in my Gazeeter of the town, as well as spotting a graphic design error that got both our attention.

The evening rounded off with us actually sharing a little with the other a little of our favourite passtimes. First I took Michael along to see Sylvia Lady Hermon MP delivering the ceremonial first bowl of the Bangor Tournament. After a 10 year absence, while I was over in Scotland, I'll be making my return to the competition on Monday at 9:30am in the Singles. But here is a video I took of Lady Hermon, speaking (sorry very poor sound) and then delivering the ceremonial bowl.



After a few brief pointers about what was going on to Michael as we left the Greens we heard the bells at Bangor Parish start up. So Michael introduced me to his campanology passion and led us up the bell tower. I eventually did get to pull a few strokes on the bell and I can say it is a lot harder than it looks.

He hit a perfect 8

It has been a strange couple of days.

However, yesterday morning I woke up in Kirkcaldy, thanks to Callum Leslie, but more to his mum Susan and step-dad, for putting me, Kristian and Jenny up after Andrew Reeves's funeral. However, with Callum dashing off to Manchester for Liberal Youth at stupid o'clock and me having to back to the airport two cars departed in quick succession.

Callum's mum it was who left me in to the airport. The reason for the ungodly hour? Well I had a bowls match to play, not just was I playing I was skipping. I got off to a decent start, playing some good bowls to convert shots then at 9 all. My rink managed to drop a five.

Editor's alert blog readers are warned that Stephen will start to use a lot of bowling terms, not all of which he explains. You may wish to skip to the end for a nice bit of music, but bear with it for the drama, it is worth it.

Now for the uninitiated I'm talking lawn bowls, not ten-pin, and for league matches there are four players on a rink, with two bowls each, therefore a maximum of eight of your bowls could be closer than the opposing team. So to drop a five is quite dire.

However, the next end was something to behold. Slowly all my bowls got knocked up past the other team's best bowl until there were only three bowls to come.

With my first bowl I drew another shot. I turned to the guys behind and said there's seven in that now. They said don't count your chickens. Quite right my opposing skip had been keeping them in it.

He comes back up from the head and goes to deliver his last bowl. It looks good, it goes into the head. I set my last bowl down and walk up to the head, where I see the damage. It is a measure for shot but I prefer their bowl.

I walk back down to the mat, step forward, but don't feel right. I step back and reset myself. I deliver the bowl, the line looks good, then it starts the turn. I've followed it slightly up the green. I watch as it head in toward two bowls, my other one and the skips. It goes past mine hits the skips full.

Now the laws of physics state that energy is not destroyed it can only change forms.

My bowl had a bit of momentum behind it when it hit their skips shot bowl. However, it almost stopped dead as the energy was transferred to the other bowl and it carried on along that track. I knew from the reactions that it had gone far enough. I walked backward to the mat waiting for the thirds to declare the head. First three bowls are taken out straight away. Then a fourth and fifth. I'm saying under my breathe, "Come on give me the rest". The third then turns out the sixth.

My two shortest bowls at the front remain I know that the only bowl that could be better than them was the one I had just moved. But finally the other two are both turned out, to congratulations all around.

Getting an perfect eight is a rarity, although I have secured five of them in my career, but there are easier ways to get them than to have to turn out the opponents shot bowl as the skip to achieve it. Leads, seconds and thirds, often are resigned to the fact that there is bound to be a bowl gets in amongst their bowls before the end of the head. One did, but their skip showed the mettle to calming take it out and restore parity.

It is a perfect eight that I will remember for many a year. It really was a created rather than a given eight and therefore in honour of that I think a little Beautiful South seems just fine.

The Bowling Greens of Ireland: Part 1 Bessbrook

As some of you know I'm back playing bowls in Ireland so I'm going to start an occassional sedries of the venues that I have been playing at.

First up is Bessbrook one of the longest treks for us within the Northern Irish Bowling Assoccation being all the way down near Newry. However as you can see from the pictures the green is set out in the green surrounded by the old mill cottages on three sides. There are also views of Slieve Gullion and Carnlough Mountain from the green. However, the day we were there as you can see rain not only threatened but came down so hard that for 5 minutes in the middle of the match we all sheltered in the club house.


View Larger Map

Sorry I've not been blogging the last couple of days

I've been rather busy.

Yesterday with all the family we went on the Titanic Walking Tour this is a part of our history that Belfast is coming to terms with. We here now say "She [Titanic] was alright when she left here."

Indeed she first left from here, of which more will follow.

I then had some discussions with Michael, before heading out for a drink (or several) at the continental market, almost a year to the day since we first had a proper chat in the same venue, then across the road at the Appartment. I had to ensure I caught the last train home as this morning I was off to Dublin.

"Why?" you may ask. Because I was playing against Leinster Bowling Club in the Irish Cup.

So please forgive me for not being on top of the recent goings on in the world, but I have been rather busy and having a good couple of days.

Now I have to go and catch up with Doctor Who.

Bowling this evening: I know where my towel is #TowelDay

Tonight my team North Down are hosting Balmoral in the NIBA (Northern Ireland Bowling Association) Senior Cup. I love playing bowls as it is a sport where I can always know where my towel is.

Most of the time my towel resides in my left had (seeing as I need to bowl with my right). Occassionally if is placed on the ground when I am a back end player and have to get down to measure, you don't want grass stains on your white trousers. Sometimes I dangle it above the jack when it is hidden from view from the mat for my next team mate to see what s/he is aiming for.

However, if I am on the mat and about to deliver a bowl and my towel is not in my left hand (as pictured above) you'd better beware. This means I am not going for a nice draw or even a controlled weight. I'm going full out for a drive. My bowl will end up in the ditch, if it doesn't hit anything or anyone in the way. It is how I got the nickname Demon Drawer.

So if you know that my towel is on the ground behind me and I'm about to bowl you'd better watch your ankles, don't say you haven't been warned.

Bowlers Demand Freedom from Kitchen Slavery

Over the years I've enjoyed many a post match meal after a game of bowls barely paying a thought as to how it has been provided. However, the women of Broughty Castle Bowling Club (near Dundee) have brought the whole scenario to the fore.

They have voted to stop serving the meals every week for the male members, unless the task of setting, serving and clearing up is shared, or passed out to an outside agency. The men in retaliation have threatened to increase their fees from £46 to £87 which is 75% of the full membership fee paid by the men folk.

In certain locations while men can have almost exclusive use of the greens women often find themselves restricted to certain times. It is something that often younger women bowlers object to as often the men would claim precedence in the evening, after work. A younger woman may also have to work and be unable to secure green space in the evening sessions. The teas in some of the clubs I've belonged to have been a shared responsibility, food or a raffle prize provided by each member say.

Also in this day and age some of the men quite possibly are more than capable of preparing, serving or clearing up. The advancement of men in the household arts in recent decades has staggered some women folk the world over. Where once they thought a potato occupied the coach some of them have seen this creature venture into the kitchen to assist, or heaven forbid take over.

If the men of Broughty Castle Bowling Club are going to increase the fees out of spite for the women saying they want some freedom from all the work in the kitchen, they had better provide an equal increase in the resources of the club that the women can use. What's wrong with a little equality in bowls? After all I've played, lost to or beaten teams including women and wheelchair exponents of the art.