Hesketh Arms Bowling Club

Green Update  10^th May

To The Hesketh Arms BC Committee and Members

I hope this update finds you all well and that you find them informative and useful in getting a understanding of what I am up to and why on the green.

Plenty of bowling has taken place since my last communication and from what I am hearing the green is playing well and we have had lots of positive praise from members and visitors alike. 

I have just returned from cutting the green and I feel its in a very good place. Grass species are good with a little bit of the nasty stuff (POA)still  about, I will attack this with the verticutter in the next 10 days. It had a feed 2 weeks ago with a magic mixture and the grass has responded well to it. Some of you may have noticed the green went black soon after I had sprayed it, this is down to the iron in the mixture and nothing to worry about, although I still have a little panic when I go back a day later and see it so dark….ill get use to it one day!!!

We had some tests done on the green yesterday (9^th May) and the results are promising, the green is no longer hydrophobic (repels water) which is great news. The results did also flag up that the moisture is a little lower than ideal but nothing to worry about… yet!!!! I have some videos on my phone of the hydrophobic test taking place so if anyone would like to see it just ask me if you see me .

So, the bare areas….after a meeting with the committee is was agreed I would take some more drastic steps, I would imagine bowlers are avoiding the two areas so starting this weekend I will be doing a soil transfer.  This will involve me taking cores out and replacing it with fresh new soil and also seed, the area will be levelled off and a germination sheet placed over the pegged now flush to the ground.  I will remove the sheet for league matches but if it could stay in place for leisure bowling that would be a great help.

Once again thanks for reading, I will do another update in a couple of weeks which will focus on watering and bowling greens and dispel some myths about watering and green pace!

Happy Bowling

Thanks, Andy

COMPETITION NEWS

BLOWICK CUP – CHAMPION OF CHAMPIONS

Congratulations to Brian Sutton on winning the Club’s Champion of Champions competition on Sunday, defeating Andy Draper 21-19 in a closely contested

final. 

The trophy awarded for this was originally played for at the old Blowick Hotel Bowling Club, so represents an interesting piece of Southport’s bowling history. The players invited to take part in the “Blowick Cup” are winners of our club competitions and team merits from the previous season. Brian had qualified by winning the Last Chance Cup and the team merit for the Kestrels, whilst Andy had also double qualified by winning the Vice-Presidents Pairs and Championship Cup. 
Many thanks to everyone who supported this event, including those who came along to watch and helped out with marking and measuring. 
ROSE BOWLThe next club competition will take place this coming Sunday, 12^th May, when we will be playing for the Rose Bowl. This is a singles handicap, open to all members of the club. There will be a plate competition for anyone who loses their first game, ensuring that everyone has the opportunity to play two games. 
To enter, please register at the green by 11.45 am, to enable us to make the draw in time for a prompt 12 noon start. VICE-PRESIDENTS PAIRS TROPHYPlease note that the Vice-Presidents Pairs competition, due to be played on Saturday 18^th May, has been postponed due to work being carried out at the club over the course of that weekend. This competition will be re-scheduled to be played in either August or September.

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY – CLUB COMPETITIONS 2024

Saturday 15th June – Ladies’ Championship – ladies’ singles – early stages to be played in a group format.

Sunday 23rd June – Championship Cup – men’s singles, played of scratch with no plate.

Sunday 30th June – President’s Cup – singles handicap with plate.

Sunday 7th July – Chairman’s Shield – non-random doubles with no plate.

Sunday 28th July – Coronation Cup – singles handicap with plate.

To be confirmed – Vice-President Pairs ; Floodlit Trophy ; Last Chance Cup

HESKETH ARMS BOWLING CLUB

NEWSLETTER – MAY 2024

CHAMPION OF CHAMPIONS 2024

The fourth staging of the Hesketh Arms’ Champion of Champions will take place this coming Sunday, 5^th May. For this event, all the club competition and merit winners from the previous season are invited to take part and the trophy presented to the winner is the “Blowick Cup”, which was previously played for at the old Blowick Hotel Bowling Club. Please register at the green by 11.45 am, for a 12.00 noon start.

The qualifiers for 2024 are as follows :-

Kez Adams – Spring Pairs ; Floodlit Trophy

Sue Andersen -Spring Pairs

Dave Bedford – Last Chance Cup

Bill Bloor – Falcons Merit ; Merlins Merit ; Hawks Merit

Andy Draper – Vice-Presidents Trophy ; Championship Cup

Darren Edgerley – President’s Cup ; Floodlit Trophy ; Coronation Cup ;

      Owls Merit ; Vultures Merit

Jim Halsall – Eagles Merit ; Kites Merit ; Ospreys Merit

Alan Hatton – Chairman’s Shield ; Sparrowhawks Merit

John Hughes – Hobbies Merit

Noreen Lewis – Ladies’ Championship ; Buzzards Merit

Steve McManus – Rose Bowl

Graham Meadow – Chairman’s Shield

Mike Milne – Blowick Cup

Brian Sutton – Last Chance Cup ; Kestrels Merit

Fergal Wright – Vice-Presidents Trophy

SOUTHPORT LV LEAGUE PAIRS COMPETITION

Entries are now being taken for the LV League Pairs competition. Qualifying rounds will take place on Tuesday 14^th May at various greens with a 6.30 pm start. The finals day is at Scarisbrick Bowling Club (Falkland Road) on Sunday 19^th May, starting at 1.00 pm. There is an entry fee of £6.00 per pair and if you wish to enter, please let us know as soon as possible.

CLUB MEMBER OF THE YEAR 2023

As he was unfortunately unable to attend the Club’s Awards Night in March, Jeff Brown was recently presented with his Club Member of the Year award for 2023 at the green by committee member and former President, Peter Smith.

OPEN DOUBLES – BERNARD O’MALLEY VICE-PRESIDENTS TROPHY 2024(sponsored by Birkdale Insurance Group)The Club’s annual Open Doubles competition took place on Saturday, when a full turnout of 32 pairs competed for the Bernard O’Malley Vice-Presidents Trophy. This is held to recognise the generous support given to the Club by Mr. O’Malley and Nationwide Produce over many years. The competition attracted a quality field, with pairs coming from Skelmersdale, Leyland, Preston, Liverpool, Wirral, Wigan and Pudsey to take part, as well as players from local clubs.
In the top half of the draw, Ray Bevington and Stuart Hodson from Garswood Hall reached the final, having survived a tough quarter-final match against Mark Holden and Steve McManus, winning 21-20 at the final end. Their opponents in the final were the Skem Park Rebels pairing of Ian Grady and Tim Hodge, who had overcome last year’s runners-up Alan Catterall and Danny Harding at the semi-final stage. The early stages of the final were closely contested, with the scoring being mainly in singles. After eleven ends, the pairing of Bevington and Hodson had built up a lead of 13-7 but at this point the game took a decisive turn as Grady and Hodge scored a three and a four in successive ends to take the lead at 14-13 and although Ray and Stuart counted a double to regain the lead, Ian and Tim won four of the next six ends to run out 21-18 winners. Congratulations to Ian and Tim on winning their first Hesketh Arms open title and to Ray and Stuart for producing some excellent performances throughout the day.

Many thanks to all the pairs who took part in this competition and to all those who came to watch and helped out with marking and measuring. We would also like to thank Gill for providing the sandwiches and Sue Davies for her hard work all day serving the refreshments. Also, thank you to our referee for the day, Keith Andrews, who helped with the smooth running of the  competition. Last but not least, thank you to Birkdale Insurance Group for sponsoring the competition. 

SUBSCRIPTIONS

Now that the bowling season is well underway, anyone who has yet to do so should pay their 2024 subscriptions as soon as possible. Many thanks to those who have paid so far. Please see below for details and methods of payment.

Standard membership subscription – £30.00

Team players’ subscription – £50.00

Payment can be made online directly to the Club’s bank account :

Sort Code : 30 97 88    Account number : 01007849

If paying by bank transfer, please notify Mike Milne by text (07752352065) or email (michaelmilne66@outlook.com)

Alternatively, subscriptions can be sent to Mike Milne (Treasurer) at the following address :-

Mike Milne, 20 Coudray Road, Southport PR9 9NL

SOUTHPORT FEDERATION

Southport’s first Federation match of the season saw the team suffer a 20-12 loss in Division 5 of the National League against a strong Heywood team that had been relegated from the 4^th Division, Southport having been promoted from the 6^th Division.

The home leg was played at Tarleton Bowling Club and the team did well to come back from a disappointing start to win the aggregate by just two chalks. The match ended with 6 winners each and amongst the Southport six, there were wins for Kez Adams (21-14), Andy Draper (21-17) and Chris Porter (21-12).

The away team travelled to play at Hopwood Recs and came away with a creditable 4 winners. Of the Hesketh Arms’ representatives, there were wins for Mike Milne (21-9) and Fergal Wright (21-18).

Southport’s next National League fixture will be in June, when they will look to get back to winning ways against regular opponents Menai. Further details will be announced nearer the time.

OPEN DOUBLES – BERNARD O’MALLEY VICE-PRESIDENTS TROPHY

On Saturday, 27^th April, we will be staging our annual Open Doubles competition for the Bernard O’Malley Vice-Presidents Trophy. The event has attracted a good field and should prove to be an entertaining day of bowling. Play starts at 10.00 am and volunteers to help with marking and measuring would be greatly appreciated. On the day, we will be selling ready made sandwiches and crisps but would be grateful for any help with making tea and coffee in the morning and early afternoon. If anyone can assist with this, please speak to Chris Harding or Mike Milne.

LANCASHIRE MERIT QUALIFIER

The Club is pleased to have been asked to host a qualifying session for the Lancashire Merit. This will take place on Saturday 4^th May. Play will commence at 10.30 am and spectators will be very welcome.

GREEN BOOKINGS

Please note that the green will be unavailable for members’ use on the following dates due to bookings or private events :-

Saturday 27^th April – Open Doubles – spectators welcome and help required with marking and measuring. 10.00 am start.

Saturday 4^th May – Lancashire Merit Qualifier – spectators welcome. Practice from 10.00 am for a 10.30 am start.

Saturday 1^st June – LV League President’s Day – spectators welcome and help required with marking and measuring. 10.00 am start.

Saturday 6^th July – Churchtown Conservative Club – B.J.P.O’Malley President’s Trophy – random doubles competition, open to any of our members who are also members of the Conservative Club.

 Mike Milne

To The Hesketh Arms BC Committee and Members

I hope this update finds you well and you are getting into the swing of the bowls season. 

April has started off where March left off with lots of wet and windy weather, in fact as I write this is looks like we are in for some more blowy conditions early next week.is

My cutting regime for the green is now in full swing and I cut the green on Monday, Weds and Friday mornings.  If there is a competition on a weekend I will also cut the morning of the comp.  I received some positive feedback about the green after last Sundays first competition of the year, which is always nice however I never take it for granted and I am always looking at taking the green to the next level!

At present the green has a large amount of grass coverage, however not all the grass in the green is welcome……if you look closely when you are next bowling you will see some of the grass has little fluffy heads on them. This grass is called POA and is weed grass and one we don’t want too much of in the green.  POA blows in on the wind and takes hold very quickly and has the ability to self-seed itself and those fluffy seed heads impact the roll and smoothness of the green.

So how do we deal with it I hear you ask?

Over the next 7 days I will be attacking the POA by means of Verti-Cutting.  This method involves changing the cassette in the mower to one that enters the green vertically and instead of cutting the grass in a normal way it will pull out all the bad stuff and leaving the good grasses alone, the amount of ‘rubbish’ that will be removed is always a sight to behold especially when you also look at the green and it would seem I haven’t even done anything!! Weather permitting, I will be doing this Sunday 14^th at around 6pm If anyone would like to see it in action.

Following the verti-cutting I will then apply a liquiq feed to help with growth and to give the good grasses (fescue and bent) the nudge to fill in where POA has been removed.

I am conscious that the season has now started and trying to fit in these processes without it impacting a team or match is very hard, so if id does affect one of your games I am sorry!

The bare areas are still slow to get going and if no germination is noticed within the next 7 days I will re-evaluate and think about a soil transfer (remove some cores and replace with better soil) Thanks, Andy

NEWSLETTER – APRIL 2024
SPRING PAIRS

The first club competition of the season was held on Sunday and despite the windy and showery conditions, 26 members took part in the Spring Pairs. This is a random doubles, with pairings drawn on the day.

In the top half of the draw, Pauline Duncan and Jim Halsall progressed to the semi-finals with wins against Laurie Townson and Darren Vincent (21-16) and Peter Smith and Sue Wignall (21-18). Their opponents in the semi-final were the strongly fancied pair of Sue Davies and Steve McManus, who had reached the last four with two convincing wins. However, it was Pauline and Jim who got to the final with a comfortable 21-9 victory.

The bottom half the draw saw Noel Morgans paired with new member Kevin Wilcox and they reached the final with wins against Dave Bedford and Chrissie McManus (21-16) and in a closely fought semi-final, Mike Milne and Gareth Taylor (21-19).

The final seemed to be going the way of Noel and Kevin, as they led 13-9 and 15-11 but Pauline and Jim had a winning run of 6 ends to take the lead at 19-15 and although they were pegged back to 19-17, they were able to score the two singles required to win 21-19. Congratulations to Pauline on her first competition win at the Hesketh Arms. This was Jim’s fourth pairs win at the Hesketh, having previously won the Spring Pairs in 2020. Well done also to Noel and Kevin on reaching the final.

A plate competition was organised for pairs losing their first game and this was won by Chris Harding and Derek Wignall, with a win against Janice Hobson and Kevin Leddy in the final.

The presentations were made by our new Vice-President, Bill Bloor.

Many thanks to all those who supported this competition. We look forward to another good turnout when we stage the Rose Bowl singles handicap on Sunday 12^th May. To enter, please register at the green on the day by 11.45 am for a 12 noon start.

SOUTHPORT FEDERATION

Having gained promotion to Division 5 of the National League for 2024, Southport play their first fixture on Sunday 14^th April, when they take on Heywood.

The home leg is being played at Tarleton Bowling Club and the Hesketh Arms will be represented by Kez Adams, Andy Draper and Chris Porter. Travelling to play in the away leg at Hopwood Rec in Heywood will be Darren Edgerley, Mike Milne and Fergal Wright.

The match starts at 2.00pm and spectators will be very welcome.

SPRING PAIRS – SUNDAY 7^th APRIL

The first internal club competition of the season will take place on Sunday 7^th April, when we will be playing for the Spring Pairs. This will be a random doubles, with pairings drawn on the day and there will be a plate competition for pairs losing their first game.

To enter, please register at the green by 11.45 am, for a prompt 12 noon start.

CHAMPION OF CHAMPIONS 2024

The fourth staging of the Hesketh Arms’ Champion of Champions will take place on Sunday 5^th May, starting at 12 noon. For this event, all the club competition and merit winners from the previous season are invited to take part.

The qualifiers for 2024 are as follows :-

Kez Adams – Spring Pairs ; Floodlit Trophy

Sue Andersen – Spring Pairs

Dave Bedford – Last Chance Cup

Bill Bloor – Falcons Merit ; Merlins Merit ; Hawks Merit

Andy Draper – Vice-Presidents Trophy ; Championship Cup

Darren Edgerley – President’s Cup ; Floodlit Trophy ; Coronation Cup ; Owls Merit ; Vultures Merit

Jim Halsall – Eagles Merit ; Kites Merit ; Ospreys Merit

Alan Hatton – Chairman’s Shield ; Sparrowhawks Merit

John Hughes – Hobbies Merit

Noreen Lewis – Ladies’ Championship ; Buzzards Merit

Steve McManus – Rose Bowl

Graham Meadow – Chairman’s Shield

Mike Milne – Blowick Cup

Brian Sutton – Last Chance Cup ; Kestrels Merit

Fergal Wright – Vice-Presidents Trophy

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY – CLUB COMPETITIONS 2024

Sunday 12th May – Rose Bowl – a singles handicap, with a plate event for players losing their first game.

Saturday 18th May – Vice-Presidents Pairs Trophy – this will be a non-random doubles, with no plate.

Saturday 15th June – Ladies’ Championship – ladies’ singles – early stages to be played in a group format.

Sunday 23rd June – Championship Cup – men’s singles, played of scratch with no plate.

Sunday 30th June – President’s Cup – singles handicap with plate.

Sunday 7th July – Chairman’s Shield – non-random doubles with no plate.

Sunday 28th July – Coronation Cup – singles handicap with plate.

To be confirmed – Floodlit Trophy and Last Chance Cup

BERNARD O’MALLEY VICE-PRESIDENT’S TROPHY – OPEN DOUBLES

Entries are now being taken for the Club’s Open Doubles competition. The Bernard O’Malley Vice-President’s Trophy will take place on Saturday 27^th April.

The fee is £10 per pair with starting times at 10.00 am, 10.45 am, 11.30 am and 12.15 pm.

The competition is again being sponsored by the Birkdale Insurance Group and total prize money will be £540.00, paid out as follows :-

Winners – £200.00 ; Runners-Up – £100.00

Semi-Finalists – £60.00 ; Quarter-Finalists – £30.00

To enter please contact Chris Harding (07761733024) or Mike Milne (07752352065 / michaelmilne66@outlook.com )

All games will be 21 up, with 3 on the card.

LV LEAGUE – HANDICAP SINGLES

Entries are now being taken for the LV League Handicap Singles competition, which is open to our members who play in the Southport LV League.

The qualifying rounds will take place on Tuesday 16^th April, at various venues, with a 6.30 pm start. The final rounds will be held at Crossens Bowling Club on Sunday 21^st April, starting at 1.00 pm.

As the Hesketh Arms Bowling Club holds the Presidency of the LV League for 2024, it would be fitting to have good representation in the League’s competitions this season. Last year, this competition was won by Darren Edgerley.

To enter, please notify Mike Milne or Chris Harding. There is an entry fee of £3.00 and the deadline for entries is Monday 1^st April.

LANCASHIRE MERIT QUALIFIER

The Club is pleased to have been asked to host a qualifying round for the Lancashire County Merit. This will take place on Saturday 4^th May and we will be asking for volunteer helpers a little nearer the time. Although our members cannot enter on their own green, there are plenty of venues staging qualifying sessions. Please see below for full details :-

Qualifying rounds will be held at the following clubs. Practice will be held at 10am and matches start at 10.30am. Entry Fee is £10. Entries to be sent to Graham Royles by 2nd April 2024. Entry fees to be paid 7 days before the date. 1 in 4 to qualify.

13 April – Golborne Parkside BC – WA3 3HG

14 April – Monk Sports – WA1 4NF

20 April – Rivington BC – BL6 7SE

21 April – Padgate BC – WA1 4HU

27 April – Atherton Botanic Gardens – M46 9AE

28 April – Platts Lane BC – WN2 3RA

4 May – Hesketh Arms BC – PR9 7NA

11 May – Leigh BC – WN7 2HA

12 May – Edgeworth BC – BL7 0AP

19 May – FINAL – Grappenhall Ex-Servicemen’s Club, WA4 2QG

To enter contact Graham Royles (07488 266 477) or by email grahamroyles195@btinternet.com. payment can be made by bank transfer to A/C Name: L.C.C.G.B.A., Sort Code: 30-19-56, A/C Number: 00809434 (Quote name in reference field) or by cheque payable to L.C.C.G.B.A. and posted to Mr J.K. Andrews, 64 Shrewsbury Road, Bolton, BL1 4NN.

COMMUNICATION – NEW WHATSAPP GROUP

As a committee, we try to keep our members informed on club matters as much as we possibly can. The website is regularly updated and emails are sent out frequently. If you do not receive our emails but would like to, please contact George Hitchmough at :-

secretary@hesketharmsbowlingclub.co.uk

Over the last couple of years, we have been using our league teams’ Whatsapp groups as an occasional means of sending out information. It has been suggested that we try setting up a group for any of our members who do not play for one of our teams. The group would be used to send out reminders about club events or to assist in arranging working parties. It would be used sparingly and anyone who joined would, of course, be free to leave the group at any time. If you wish to be added to the group, please send a message to Mike Milne on 07752352065.

AWARDS NIGHT RAFFLE

Thanks again to all those who contributed to the success of the Awards Night and to the raffle in particular, which raised £168 towards club funds. In addition, we must also  thank Jon Roberts for his generous donations towards the buffet – apologies for this not being included in the initial report.

ROUND ROBINS

The Round Robins will commence on Tuesday 26^th of March and every Friday and Tuesday thereafter.

Good Friday will be included.

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

Sunday 7th April – Spring Pairs – a random doubles, with pairings drawn on the day. There will be a plate competition for pairs losing their first game.

Sunday 12th May – Rose Bowl – a singles handicap, with a plate event for players losing their first game.

Saturday 18th May – Vice-Presidents Pairs Trophy – this will be a non-random doubles, with no plate.

All the above the competitions will start at 12 noon. To enter, please register at the green on the day by 11.45 am.

Green Update – March 2024

To The Hesketh Arms Bowling Club Members,

Happy new bowling season! With the green now open, I thought now would be a good time to give an update on the green and where I think it is at.

As you will all be aware we have not had the best of winters weather wise, in fact it will go down as one as the wettest ever recorded, so where does this put the green and how does it affect preparation?

End of season renovations went well, and everything seemed to go to plan. The green was heavily scarified, aerated, overseeded and top dressed.  The strike rate on the seed has been fantastic and we just have a couple of weak/bare areas that are the result of the soil becoming hydrophobic during the hot spells we had, more on this later.

With the amount of rain we have had, getting a mower onto the green has been difficult but not impossible, we are very lucky that the green drains well.   The height of cut is gradually coming down, but I have been in no rush to get it to ‘match’ height. The health of the grass has been my priority since the start of the year and I will now start to reduce the height, thin out the sward and increase the speed of the green over the coming weeks.  There could be a few more frosts to come so I don’t want to rush these processes.  You will notice that the run-offs into the gutter aren’t as short as many would like them, this is deliberate and I will rectify this once the green is dry enough to grip the mower properly and not slide off into the gutters causing damage and ripping the turf.

As mentioned earlier, we do have a couple of weak areas that need some TLC.  My plan with these is to seed and dress them in the coming days and cover with a germination sheet, not ideal but it will be just 2 small areas that I am hoping you are happy to bowl around.  The reason these areas are slow to come good is due to the soil becoming hydrophobic during last Summer’s hot spells. When a soil is hydrophobic it repels water and doesn’t attract it.  Throwing seed into these areas will be like throwing it into hot lava.  To combat this happening again I will apply a granular wetting agent on Monday and this will last 4/5 months which will help to keep the green hydrated, whilst not need to water very much at all.

I could talk about grass for hours so if you see me around the green and want to know a bit more about the processes then just ask!

Andy Bate