Crown green bowling clubs get ready for Annual General Meeting
The two Winter Merits planned for last weekend, Friday at Dukes Park and Sunday at Whitby fell victim to the weather with snow leading to early cancelations.
There is, however, some news about next year’s programme.
It may come as a bit of a surprise to some that this is the case but for a number of reasons it is necessary to at least start to prepare shortly after the close of one season for the next.
So far as the East Coast of Yorkshire Crown Green Bowling Association is concerned little, if anything, can be done yet in relation to the leagues as clubs do not yet know just what their playing resources are going to be and therefore how many teams they will be entering in each league.
The Association AGM is being held on Saturday, November 29, at Eastfield and there is one change being proposed which, if passed, will make a significant change to the Knockout Cup.
This is the possible introduction of a supplementary competition for teams that lose their first match.
There are also proposed changes to the titles of a number of competitions which are currently referred to as Champion of Champions which is not strictly accurate as they can be won by a player who has not won a single merit in the appropriate category.
If these proposals are accepted these will be referred to as simply Championships and the Mick Jessop Cup, which is restricted to winners of singles merits will become the true Champion of Champions.
Finally a draft running order for next summer’s merits has been drafted, although not yet circulated.
The main reason for this is that some of the dates are dependent on the dates of various Yorkshire competitions which take precedence over local competitions and, in two cases, the Inter-Districts, determine the dates of two local competitions.
There is no Over-60s merit programmed for Friday but, weather permitting, Dukes Park will be hosting an Open Singles on Sunday.
There will also be a Drawn Pairs T&B for first game losers and “late arrivals” provided the weather and light permit.
To ensure entry for this it is advisable to arrive no later than 11am.
Looking further ahead there will be Sunday merits each week, weather permitting, at Borough (December 7), Eastfield (Doubles, December 14), Westgate (December 21) and Dukes Park (December 28).
There will be Friday Over-60s merits, both singles, at Whitby (December 5) and Westgate (December 12).