Chew Stoke Bowling Club
Match Reports and Tables
Clevedon District BA
Long Ashton
Wednesday 30 July - Away
With Congresbury already having secured the title last week the only prize of note left to win was the Wooden Spoon for bottom place. A prize nobody particularly wanted and a prize which both Chew Stoke and our opponents, Long Ashton, were hoping to avoid.
We beat our sister club, Long Ashton, when they visited our green earlier in the season and knew a similar result would allow us to leapfrog our opponents and confine them to last place.
So all to play for.
A warm and pleasant evening saw battle lines drawn at Long Ashton's green. Although, as one of our opposite number commented, "it should be called a brown not a green".
Despite the numerous patches the green (brown?) played reasonably well and the contest was underway.
We only play four rinks at Long Ashton and it soon became clear that we would hold a small advantage on three rinks whilst having a torrid time of it on the fourth rink. On this rink Long Ashton were being led by their voluble and excitable captain which probably helped to put our guys off a bit.
Halfway through the game it was obvious that the small leads we were holding on rinks 2,3 and 4 were more than offset by the deficit on rink 1. We were in danger of winning rinks but losing the match.
As we neared the end of the match our best three rinks were consolidating their positions. We looked nervously across to see what was happening on rink 1.
Result
We won on three rinks.............and won the match by 66 shots to 52.
What of rink 1..........the stars of the evening came back from 22-4 down to a 22-17 defeat. A fantastic effort and well done to Steve, Dave, Allen and skip Phil.
So, once again, we ended up in seventh place in the league, one off the bottom spot. But this is probably a summer to put down to experience and a look forward to next season.
Clevedon Prom
Wednesday 23 July - Home
We're nearing the end of what has been a disappointing season for Chew Stoke. We're always up against it, taking on the larger clubs, but we've suffered some unusually heavy defeats this season.
On the bright side a number of new members have joined this year and have gained some valuable experience by being "chucked into the deep end". Hopefully this all bodes well for next season.
On a bit of a gloomy evening the result was just as grim as the weather with Chew Stoke being defeated by 67 shots to 124.
We managed a win in one rink and only narrowly lost on another but were well beaten on the other three rinks.
This result leaves us firmly rooted to the bottom of the table but with a chance of moving above Long Ashton if we can beat them on their green next week.
Congratulations to Congresbury, who have secured the title with a week to go. The two Clevedon teams are fighting for the runners up spot.
Clevedon
Wednesday 2 July - Home
A tough game was in store as we welcomed top of the table Clevedon to Chew Stoke.
Weather wise it was another pleasant warm evening and the game itself was also pleasant and warm even if the result wasn't.
The game was lost by 71 shots to 98 but we came away with a win on two rinks and weren't far away from a win on a third rink. So positives to be had if you look hard enough.
As ever, Chew Stoke hospitality is second to none and both sides were treated to a ploughmans meal to end the evening.
At least we had a clean sweep in the raffle.
Chew Stoke remain second from bottom in the league, although now only lead Long Ashton by 2.5 points after their fine win against Nailsea.
Portishead RBL
Wednesday 25 June - Away
Closed roads, diversions and heavy traffic made for an eventful journey for the Chew Stoke team to our away match in Portishead. To add insult to injury, with matches being played on both greens, parking was also not easy to find.
Was this an ill omen, we thought, as we arrived in dribs and drabs to eventually start the game over 15 minutes late. The prize for last to arrive went to Captain Jamie, with his rink starting play and then having to wait for him to join them.
Under grey, cloudy and drizzly skies our match got underway and we were soon struggling to keep up with our opponents. Amidst a confusion of brightly coloured and pretty straight woods the boys from Portishead pulled away on four of the five rinks.
Ironically it was the late Captain Jamie's rink that flew the flag for Chew Stoke and became our only winning rink on the night.
Portishead ran out fairly easy winners by 119 shots to 41, gaining 8 points to our 1.
West Backwell
Wednesday 18 June - Away
A warm and sunny evening greeted Chew Stoke as we travelled to West Backwell for an away match.
Their Green has a real community feel to it being just off the main road and next to tennis courts, children's playground and the recreation ground.
We had a few of our better bowlers on holiday so knew we would be in for a tough night and so it proved as West Backwell ran out winners by 100 shots to 74.
We had the consolation of a resounding victory on one rink by 26 shots to 12, winning 12 ends to 6. So we picked up 1 point in the match whilst our hosts gained 8 points.
It's worth mentioning the fine spread that our hosts put on after the game, rivalling the hospitality that our club is renowned for.
Long Ashton
Wednesday 11 June - Home
WE WON! WE WON!
A fine evening for bowling was equalled by a fine bowling display from Chew Stoke as we won our first match of the season in the Clevedon District league.
Long Ashton is our sister club, with both clubs being founded by Don Radford, so a friendly rivalry has developed over the years.
We didn't have it all our own way as we won two rinks and lost two but took the game overall by 64 shots to 57.
So good win for Chew Stoke and well done to all the lads who took part.
We're still second from bottom in the league but are a lot closer to the next team, West Backwell, than we were.
Clevedon Prom
Wednesday 4 June - Away
A kind of moral victory as Chew Stoke won on three rinks. Unfortunately the overall match was lost by 99 shots to 68.
Next week we're at home against bottom club Long Ashton so are determined to get our first win of the season.
Congresbury
Wednesday 28 May - Home
After some heavy rain on and off for a few days the evening turned out to be fair and sunny.
We've lost heavily to Congresbury in the past so a defeat by just 13 shots almost seemed like some sort of moral victory. We claimed a win on one rink with defeats on all four others with Congresbury now sitting at the top of the table.
Along with Long Ashton we're quite a way behind the rest of the teams with just over a third of the fixtures already having been played.
Nailsea
Wednesday 21 May - Home
A tough defeat to stomach as Chew Stoke were in front coming in to the final ends. A loss of four shots on one rink, ironically our best performing rink, resulted in overall defeat by just 2 shots.
The two points gained for winning on two rinks has seen us leapfrog Long Ashton who we now lead by half a point. Both teams, however, are well adrift of the rest of the teams in the league.
A bit of encouragement in that we have a number of new bowlers joined this year who are gaining valuable experience by being "thrown in at the deep end" and playing good quality teams from other clubs.
Clevedon
Wednesday 14 May - Away
Despite what looks like a very one sided result Chew Stoke gave a good account of themselves and were close to winning on three rinks. We couldn't quite hold on and had to settle for winning on one rink and one point.
Portishead RBL
Clevedon District BA - Wednesday 7 May
A sunny but slightly chilly evening welcomed our visitors from the Portishead RBL club.
Before the game started a minute's silence was held for one of the Portishead members who had passed away suddenly that day.
Portishead have always been a good side and as expected proved too strong for Chew Stoke who, once again, had to contend with a couple of late changes to the line up.
But no excuses as we were well beaten by 100 shots to 61 with Chew Stoke only winning on one rink. 8 points to Portishead and 1 to Chew Stoke.
Unfortunately we're now propping up the table and have another tough fixture next week away to Clevedon.
West Backwell
Clevedon District BA - Wednesday 30 April
A hot and sunny day greeted the men's first fixture in the Clevedon District Wednesday night league at home against West Backwell.
As ever the green was in fantastic condition and received much praise from our visitors. A last minute crisis for Chew Stoke was averted when a couple of players had to drop out. Thanks to Allen Taylor and Steve Penfold for stepping in at short notice and making their league debuts.
Unfortunately the perfect weather wasn't matched with a perfect result as we were well beaten by 105 shots to 64. The results and table are shown below.
At least we're not bottom with one of our arch rivals Portishead RBL propping up the table.
Make the most of this Chew Stoke as we'll be lucky to stay above Portishead for long.
2024 League Results
Clevedon District BA
Clevedon District BA Over 55s League
Both teams in the Clevedon District League finished second from bottom in their respective divisions.
