BOWLS: THE opening of the 2011 season at Batchwood Bowls Club was marked by the mayor of St Albans Maxine Crawley bowling the first wood of the new season. This was followed by the president versus vice president match which was narrowly won by the vice president’s team.

The first Saturday match of the season saw Batchwood travel to Radlett to play a mixed friendly, which this year consisted of six triples. The rinks were tied three all, with Batchwood winning overall by 10 shots - Batchwood 92 Radlett 82 (top rink: Lionel Clarke, Patricia Chandler and Peter Jarvis).

Batchwood Men played their first competitive match at home to St Albans. At the tea interval most of the Batchwood rinks were behind but in the end the home side came out on top winning the match overall by 13 shots - Batchwood 82 St Albans 69 (District League points: Batchwood 57� St Albans 22�).

n Thirty-two members of St Albans Bowling Club took part in a skills development day at Clarence Park last Tuesday. Coaches from Herts Bowls Coaching Society had arranged a very comprehensive programme for both inexperienced and experienced bowlers. This included a session on ‘bowls ballistics’ that was very informative. In the afternoon rinks of mixed ability played together to encourage tactical thinking, communication and team discussions.

In the first mid-week match of the season on Wednesday St Albans Men got off to a poor start against local club Batchwood. Batchwood took the honours to win by two rinks in a four-rink league match. St Albans managed a win and a draw on the two remaining rinks. The top rink for St Albans was A. Curran, C Smith, J. Bartlett and D Kiff 23 – 15.

On Sunday St Albans beat Whitethorne 94–73. The top rink was Peter Kay, Andy Kay, Maureen Rylands/Maureen Grimward, and Ron Smith winning 25–11.

If you would like to join St Albans BC contact Tricia Gascoine on (01727) 860298 or contact her by email a.gascoine@ntlworld.com