NEWS AND SOME VIEWS

(see below for History and Principles of the League)

SEP

SEPTEMBER 15TH 2023 

DOWNTON WESTBROOK LEAGUE CHAMPIONS

As explained below, Downton needed just one point with the meeting against Amesbury on 13th September. Amesbury, if unable to get 8 points to win the League, needed four points to have runners-up place.

Downton comfortably managed the one point for the Championship, but unfortunately for Amesbury they missed out on the elusive four points, as they went down 6-2. Good news for Wilton who stay in second place and are therefor the League's Runners-Up.

The Amesbury team,

so close.

HAROLD FORD CUP

The Harold Ford Cup Final was played on Tuesday 12th September between Wilton and Salisbury, One triple match at Salisbury and one at Wilton, the highest aggregate score deciding the winning Club. Well it went down to the wire with both teams' away side winning. The Final result was Salisbury 31 shots and Wilton 30. Congratulations Salisbury the new Harold Ford Cup Holders.

SALISBURY HOME SIDE OF THE HAROLD FORD CUP WINNERS

7th Sept 2023- HOT SHOTS SALISBURY, LEAGUE ALSO HOTTING UP

The Salisbury trio of Alan Biles, Helen Robson and Romney Denning managed all nine shots on one end of their final match. This takes some doing by all involved on that rink, well done.

The League has turned into a two horse race with Downton and Amesbury the only possible winners. They will be playing each other on their final games on 13th September( after many postponements). It looks as though Amesbury need maximum points to topple Downton from the top spot. See the results page.

23August 2023. DOWNTON ON TOP- for the time being!

Downton moved to the top of the table today with a 8-0 win over Sixpenny. This could be short lived as Wilton are snapping at their heels. The two meet next week. Alderbury are to be congratulated on gaining a draw against Mere.

Look at The Results Page to see how things are panning out with just a few matches to play.

6th August 2023. So there we have it,  Harold Ford Cup finalists are Salisbury A  and Wilton.. The two clubs have arranged a date for the final on 12th September. the final will still be Home and Away, so please attend one of the venues to give supprot to the competition.

Look at the Results/table page to see how things change almost by the second. amesbury still hold fast at the top, but lthey should ook out for Wilton and outsiders Mere who always finish the season strongly.

24th July 2023 - HF HOLDERS OUT OF THE CUP. Downton were beaten by a strong Wilton side in the semi-final of the Harold Ford Cup. Downton won the inaugural competition last year.

Due to the wet conditions at Downton, it was agreed to the whole match being played on the Wilton green.

We are now waiting to see who Wilton play in the final, either SALISBURY A or SIXPENNY HANDLEY.

Meanwhile if you go to the League Table Page it can be seen that Amesbury are holding top spot with Downton second. Wilton have crept up to third, but all could change by the end of the season.

13th July 2023 - CRACKING HAROLD FORD MATCH

The quarter final in the Harold Ford Cup between Mere and Salisbury A went down to the wire. At the end of 18ends of both the Home and Away rinks the total shots scored was level, leaving the Mere end of the tie to play an extra end. Mere were holding with just the Salisbury bowl to be played, and indeed it managed to sneak in to gain the winning shot. 

Salisbury go on to play Sixpenny in the semis.

1st July 2023 - The Results are not totally up to date, but as it stands with the information to hand AMESBURY are leading the pack with DOWNTON in second position. There is however a big gap in the number of games played by Clubs so far, never mind it is Amesbury who are front runners at the moment. Please see the League TAble- Fixtures page for full details.

JUNE 17TH 2023 - WILTON TO FACE DOWNTON. Wilton BC won throught to set up a match against the holders Downton. Wilton were the overall winners when they played a Salisbury team, drawing at home. 15all, but their away team managed a 22-8 victory.

MAY 22ND 2023- SIXPENNY ARE THROUGH TO THE SEMI-FINAL. Sixpenny Handley went down 14shots to 19 at Alderbury's Green, but were able to scoop the win on their mat by 33 - 7. Overall win of 44shots to Alderbury 26.

DOWNTON ARE ALSO THROUGH TO THE SEMI'S. Downton managed a winover Amesbury by just two shots, 37-35. They will meet either Wilton or Salisbury B.

MAY 17TH 2023- RESULTS FOR THE NEW SEASON are rolling in, so please see the LEAGUE TABLE page to stay up to date. 

The first round of The Harold Ford Cup knockout competion has been played. SALISBURY A played ALDERBURY A, Salisbury came out as winners for this Home -Away match. Salisbury will play MERE in the next round.

APRIL- 2023 - CHANGES FOR THE NEW SEASON

The League has taken the decision to run with three triples in League matches. This gives the opportunity of a total of eight points maximum to be gained in any match. As always with the Westbrook, an extra triple can be fielded by arrangement between the two opposing sides to allow more players to join the party - the extra triple, obviously does not accrue points in the match.

NOVEMBER 2022 - DOWNTON PRESENTED WITH HAROLD FORD CUP

Downton BC, The winners of the Harold Ford Cup, were presented with the Trophy on 3rd November at the DBC Presentation dinner.They had the honour of having Harold's wife, Joan Ford, to do the presentation to Steve Allen( Downton Captain) and the rest of the team. The cup itself is a fantastic trophy which was genorously donated by the League Chairman, Peter Harding.

Needless to say Downton were overjoyed to have won the knockout competition, but also to have Joan and Bob Hayes as their guests.

OCTOBER 2022 - THE RESULTS ARE IN - SALISBURY TRIUMPH

At last the final League results have arrived and can be seen in the Results Page.

Salisbury are the runaway League Champions with a gap of 16 points over their nearest rivals. Mere put in an explosive performance over their last two games to gain fifteen points of a possible 16, to jump from 6th to runner up position. Congrats to both the winners and second place.

HAROLD FORD CUP

The very first season of the Harold Ford Knockout cup saw combat with those old rivals Amesbury and Downton in the Final. The format was played on teams playing one triple at home and one away. 

Downton rallied enough shots at Amesbury to take the Trophy for the very first time. Well done both Downton and Amesbury B for making the final so enjoyable.

AUGUST 2021 - REPORT ON GALA DAY 2021 by Bob Hayes

 Arriving at Sherfield English (hereafter referred to as SE) just after 9:00 though I found the Green and clubhouse fully set up and manned. The teams for the 10:00 group arrived in good time and after being welcomed by SE and the rules detailed play started on time. The 8 ends were all played within the time period all day so the event went to schedule. Although the heavy local shower around SE at 9:00 meant the first round was played on a damp green, the day stayed warm and sunny and in the afternoon all players were able to reach full length jacks. The green played well and the bias was the same as on most greens this season. Well done SE on giving us a good surface to play on.

Traditionally a spider was held at the halfway stage and the winner Roy Best received £6.

After all teams had finished their three games there was a clear winner from each group with 3 wins each.  This final was between the Downton 1 team of Alan Waters, Marie Clark and Lewis Ambler against the Amesbury team of Lz Rose, Steve Hibbs and William Crook.. Unfortunately, many people were unable to watch the final but they missed a very good match. The result was Downton 7 shots to Amesbury’s 6  To the winners went a bottle of wine.

After the final I gave a speech; the main points being

Our thanks to SE for hosting Gala Day mentioning Roy and Jenny and Mike Stock in particular.

Also, the ladies who provided tea, coffee and other drinks throughout the day and a wonderful selection of cakes and pies, etc.

And the people who brought prizes for the Raffle and the ticket sellers.

Lastly our thanks to all Clubs and their players who played and made the day so enjoyable and worthwhile. We do understand why some members thought it was unwise to attend and hope next year we can all meet under safe conditions.

 Finally, I looked forward and hoped that 2022 will be a normal year and that the AGM votes for Fordingbridge to join us. I wish you all a good remaining season, 

APRIL 2021 - ACCOMMODATING AN UNUSUAL SEASON

These times of virus influences have had their affect on the WMXTL.

At least three Clubs are accepting that their duty of care to members results in no match play in the MTL until mid - may or later in some cases. Sherfield English sadly cannot commit themselves at all to the season.

Full credit to the Committee as they have worked a way around the imbalance of some teams inevitably playing more games in the League than others.

An averaging of the points system will be used, so if Team A plays 18 games with a total of 72 points, their average will be 4. Team B who played only 14 games and totalled 70 points, average 5, Team B sit above A in the table.

Three cheers to the Westbrook League for their usual flexibility in encouraging competitive but fun bowling.

MARCH 1ST 2021WILL WE PLAY??

With the government annoucing the first stage of the Roadmap out of lock down, the answer is YES. All formal affiliated Bowls Clubs are allowed to play their sport from 29th March.

Good news, but the dots and crosses have yet to be announced by Bowls England. There are almost certainly going to be restrictions in the way we play at the beginning of the season. So keep an eye on the Bowls England website.

Fingers crossed for 2021 in the Mixed Triples League.

AUGUST 2020 - WHAT ARE CLUBS DOING IN THE EASING PROCESS

Most bowling clubs have been able to play some form of bowls since the beginning of June, Singles were allowed at first, then pairs and since the end of July triples are in order as long as all the safety requirements are put in place and followed.

Some of the WMXTL Clubs have been happy with this while others are a bit more reluctant. Below is how I understand the position to be with members of the Westbrook League. Perhaps some freindlies could be put in place.

Wilton - Opened for bowling on 20th July, although many members are settled on not playing this season.

Mere - are fully operational for playing internal games, but are not considering playing any other Clubs.

Tisbury - are not open at all.

Sixpenny Handley - They are open for internal play for a few members who wish to play. The Clubhouse is being used.

Downton - Have been playing from the earliest opportunity and have a very popular Wednesday and Friday Triples sessions with a maxim of 24 bowlers competing. The Clubhouse is out of bounds. They have also played some external fixtures.

Salisbury - They have also been playing at the first opportunity running various internal competitions. This Club has played quite extensively with freindly fixtures.

Sherfield English are open for play.

Alderbury are open for play.

Amesbury- having been playing from June.They hold regular Pairs, social roll ups and Singles Ladder. The bar and toilets are open, but seating is outside.

MARCH 19TH 2020 - CORONAVIRUS HITS BOWLS LEAGUE

The Clubs in the Westbrook Mixed Triples League have had to halt all operations until further notice as the Government Directive of no Sporting Gatherings is adhered to.

The League will review the situation as time goes on with the most optimistic continuation halfway through the season. This seems very unlikely at present.

The League wishes all the members and their families good health over the coming months.

If you have Bowling withdrawal symptoms, then search for The Virtual Lawn Bowls app, and bowl away.

February 27th 2020 - ALL 2020 FIXTURES PUBLISHED

A list of fixtures for the 2020 season can be seen on Fixtures page of this website. The page is super smart this year, with a splash of colour - thanks to our Results Secretary, Christopher, for doing this.

February 2020 - Westbrook Announce Knockout Competition

As confirmed in the winter break the WMXTL is to run a knockout competition throughout the season. Clubs will compete with two mixed triples each, one playing at home and the other away, the total aggregate of shots deciding the victor who procedes to the next round. A Trophy will be given to the winning finalist. Our chairman has genorously donated the cup which is to be named "The Harold Ford Cup" in memory of our long serving Treasurer.

The Draw for the Cup is:

1. A.  AMESBURY ARCHERS v ALDERBURY ARROWS

 

1. B. DOWNTON PUFFINS v SALISBURY a

 

1. C. MERE MARAUDERS v WILTON

 

1. D. SHERFIELD ENGLISH v SALISBURY b

 

The first round has to be played by June 15th.

The semi-final will be:

WINNER A v WINNER B

WINNER C v WINNER D

 

This has to be played by the end of July.

 

The Final will be played by the first week in September.

Please look at the Constitution Section to see the full set of rules for this competition.

31st August 2019 - Mere are this year's Champions

Mere were worthy Champions of the Westbrook League this year, having accrued 111points and over 1111 shots. For the sake of symetry it would have been nice if this was the 11th Mere Championship, but they can celebrate their tenth winners Cup. Their nearest rivals were Salisbury who finished with just under the 100 point mark. Congratulations to Mere and Salisbury.

19th August 2019 - SALISBURY HAVE DOUBLE WHAMMY AT GALA DAY

Salisbury Bowling Club became the 2019 Westbrook Mixed Triples Laeague Gala Day Champions on Sunday. Salisbury and Sherfield English won their respective sections to play off in a final.

The Salisbury trio of Pauline Watts, Pat Dibben and Ed McConnell' took on the Sherfield side who fielded the youngest skip to play in the WMXTL - Jake Palmer. Jake showed great skill and good decision making in this role, but could not crack the experienced Salisbury team.

The second "success" for Salisbury was the event itself which was brilliantly organised with a fantastic crew managing the day, congratulations to them.

28th July - Mere Sherfield Ding Dong

If you look at the top of the table you can see a battle royal taking place between Mere and Sherfield. Sherfield are one point in front of the western boys and girls, although Mere have the advantage of a game in hand. Book tickets for the face off on 8th August when these two gladiators of the Green meet at Mere.

3rd June 2019

In a close contest Salisbury, with 31 points, retained their position at the top of the Mixed Triples Bowls League Mere and Sherfield English are in second place with 29 points. See results Page.

20th May 2019 - The first results are in.

Look on the results page to see the starting results. Nice to see the come back kids, Tisbury, showing their form.

3rd March 2019 TISBURY RETURN

Good news for the Westbrook Mixed Triples League is that Tisbury Bowls Club have rejoined us. They have progressed enough with their membership to field three triples rinks for their matches. Ofcourse Tisbury have made a super effort to bring their green up to a better standard over the last couple of years, so we all are looking forward to the coming season to find out how much has changed.

16th November - HAROLD FORD

Sad that news of a loyal Gentleman's passing has to be reported. Harold Ford of Wilton Bowls Club served the local bowling community as a bowler and administrator. Harold was such a likeable fellow with a terrific sense of humor, which always kept you guessing as to what would happen next.

Harold has been the only elected Treasurer of the Westbrook Mixed Triples League( the finances being dealt with by the Chairman before him) and he took this place in 2001. Thank you Harold we shall miss you.

November 2018, Presentation Evening

What a night, lots of shenanigans going on as Sixpenny Handley entertained the audience at the Westbrook Presentation Evening. We had aquiz, a comedian, a Catch Phrase interlude and you had to know how to PLAY YOUR CARDS RIGHT, with the participants nominating higher or lower. This all added to a memorable evening with of course Harold's Raffle thrown in. Thank you for all those that attended and thanks to Sixpenny who were wonderful hosts.

Sixpenny -League Runners-Up                           

9th Sept. 2018, Mere are back as Champions

You just cannot keep them out of the Limelight; Mere have won the League Championship of 2018. This title. their nineth, has come after relinquishing the coveted prize last year to Sherfield English. Mere were 13points clear of Runners-Up Sixpenny Handley, a fair margin having lost only four matches throughout the season.

24th August, Wilton Gala Day Winners HATRICK

Wilton became the Westbrook Mixed Triples Gala Day Winners for the third succesive season, which is incredible considering the vagaries and permutations that make the Gala Day so much fun.

This successful combination of Judith Wibberly, Bob Hayes and Hanabalian Leader, Mike Stone, glided through a final of eight ends against a Sixpenny Handley side skipped by Paul Chalmers.

All expected a winning side to come from Sixpenny Handley as they were more familiar with their artificial surface, but as the teams became use to the pace then the games became more competitive.

Congratulations to Sixpenny who put on a great accomodating venue for the flagship event of the Westbrook League.

More images on PHOTO PAGE.

Mike Stone Celebrates.

28th July, Table update and Results

The results have been updated on the League Table page. Our Result's Secretary submits a summary to the Salisbury Journal every so often and here is his latest report.

"In the Mixed Triples Bowls League Sixpenny Handley went down to Sherfield English and although still retaining top spot Mere are close on their heels having beaten Downton. This loss meant Downton dropped to fourth behind Sherfield who are in third place. Wilton moved off the bottom with a win over Salisbury."

27th July, Tescos Bags of Help for Downton Bowls Club

DOWNTON Bowls Club calls out for votes to bag a share of Tesco’s bag fund.

Downton BC is bidding to bag a massive cash boost from the Tesco Bags of Help initiative.

Three groups in every Tesco region have been shortlisted to receive the cash award and shoppers are being invited to head along to Tesco stores to vote for who they think should take away the top grant.

DOWNTON BC is one of the groups on the shortlist.

COACHING EQUIPMENT AND OPEN DAYS

We need the correct equipment to promote the rewarding sport of bowls for the benefit of all the community of all generations, gender and physical ability.

Voting is open in all Tesco stores in July and August and customers will cast their vote using a token given to them at the check-out in store each time they shop.

Tesco’s Bags of Help project has already delivered over £52 million to more than 16,000 projects up and down the UK. Tesco customers get the chance to vote for three different groups every time they shop. Every other month, when votes are collected, three groups in each of Tesco’s regions will be awarded funding.

Alec Brown, Head of Community at Tesco, said:

“Bags of Help has been a fantastic success and we’ve been overwhelmed by the response from customers. It’s such a special scheme because it’s local people who decide how the money will be spent in their community. There are some fantastic projects on the shortlists and we can’t wait to see these come to life in hundreds of communities.”

•The Bags of Help initiative is supported by money raised from carrier bag sales in Tesco stores.

•So far Bags of Help has awarded £52 million to over 16,000 community projects.

•For more information please visit: www.tesco.com/bagsofhelp.

21st June, Secretary for the Westbrook Required

A new Secretary of the League needs to be put in place for the 2019 season. The position will be filled at the AGM next January. The task is not that onerous, but the candididate has to be resonably computer literate as most of the communication is carried out electronically. Any volunteers can contact the present Secretary. This post must be filled for the League to continue running smoothly. The new Secretary will be given all the support possible by their predecessor.

13th May, First Results are in.

Go to the 'League Table and Results' page to see the opening movers in the League, with all teams having played at least one game.

Fixtures all Fixed

 The 2018 season run of play has been published on the 'League Table and Fixtures' page. Have a quick run down of where you will be playing and when other Clubs are playing.

You never know you may fancy a relaxing warm summer evening watching someone else doing all the hard work at some other Club.

( 31/4/2018)

Presentation Evening 2017

This year's Presentation Evening at Wilton BC brought together about 40 smiling MTL players form most Clubs apart from Tisbury and Amesbury, who fortunately had the Chairman as an Amebury member to collect their Runners- Up Trophy.

Gala Trophy was presented byPeter Harding, our Chairman to the Gala Day Winners of Wilton.

Sherfield English were presented with the Westbrook League Winners Trophy to a big cheer from the eighteen SE members.

Barmy Bingo then ensued with tricks of swapping the bingo cards around in the middle of a game and winners receiving a prize only after they had correctly answered a quiz question.

Halfway through the entertainment we took partook in the Supper with loads of food brilliantly presented by the Ladies of Wilton.

SHERFIELD ENGLISH 2017 LEAGUE CHAMPIONS 31/8/2017

Sherfield English became Champions after Amesbury failed by two points to have the officials go to shot difference. Amesbury beat Tisbury 8 - 2 which cemented there place as runners up. Well done to both teams for making the title race so exciting.This is the first time SE have won the League, which is not surprising as they only joined Mixed Triples four years ago.

WILTON GALA DAY WINNERS 24/8/2017

Wilton Bowls Club were the winners in more ways than one at the WMXTL Gala Day. The Club hosted a fantastic day of bowls and entertainment. Twenty Teams competed, from eight clubs; the day being extremely well organised by Wilton which ended with a feast of an American Supper.

Two group winners came through to the Final. These weresides from Downton and Wilton. The weather was comfortably dry all day apart from the final in which the players got a soaking. Wilton on the day wre just to strong for the Downton side and came out 8-3 victors over the eight ends. Well done Wilton.

The Wilton team of Mike Judy and Bob, being presented with the Gala Day Shield by Wilton President Barbara Ansell.

23/7/2017 SHERFIELD STILL ON COURSE FOR THE TITLE, TRY TO BEAT THEM AT THE GALA DAY

A gap of five points at from the top two of the table has developed with Sherfield English riding high over Mere. There is are still isx weeks left for this to change.

The Gala Day flagship event for the WMXTL takes place on 20th August, so we can all get together and chat about the season during play and the American Supper afterwards - get your entries in.

2/6/2017 HOTSHOT SHERFIELD LEAD THE WAY

Sherfield English seem to be doing very well on their new green as they top the table at this early stage, having played five games without a defeat. Things are going so well for them that they have also thrown in a HOT SHOT for good luck.

When they played Salisbury on 16th May the Triple of Pam Possotti, Martin Dovey, and KevinStokes managed to gain all nine shots on one end; this is probably the first time it has been heard of in the WMXTL. Well done to them.

HISTORY AND PRINCIPLES OF WESTBROOK MIXED TRIPLES LEAGUE

In the 1980's bowls clubs had healthy memberships, unlike today.  New bowlers found it difficult to get competitive games so often only had roll ups and friendly games.  They needed support to develop their game and Stan Westbrook, a bowler with Alderbury, spoke to other clubs and offered a Trophy so these bowlers could compete with like minded player from other local clubs. This led to the MXTL in 1985 and has never looked back.

One of the guiding principles behind the setting up of the Westbrook Mixed Triples League was to provide new / novice bowlers with an opportunity to experience competitive games played in a friendly manner, whilst playing with experience bowlers from both sexes.  

Another key element when the League was established and still maintained today is that all Triples are Mixed, being either two Ladies and one Man or two men ad one lady.

The matches are usually played with four teams from each Club, however if a club has a shortage of either sex they may elect at the beginning of the season to field only three triples for the whole season.

Another benefit of the Mixed Triple League - MXTL - is that it enables husbands and wives to play bowls together, which is not generally the case in competitive games.

The league is made up of teams from S.Wiltshire plus a couple in Dorset and another in Hampshire; there are eight member clubs and the games are played outdoors between April and August.

Games are generally played during the week in the evening - although they may be some afternoon games as well. The League defines the fixtures to be played in a specific week; what day and time in that week is down to the Clubs agreement.

For more information, please contact the Hon. League Secretary - Alan Waters

e-mail: alan.j.waters@hotmail.co.uk