Friends welcomed at Copmanthorpe BC

2^nd June 2025

The Friends gathered in the village of Copmanthorpe on the outskirts of the beautiful historic city of York. Some Friends were spotted having light refreshments in the village enroute to the club. The bowls club itself is situated in the corner of the village’s Recreation ground that also hosts Cricket, Tennis and Football.

In this our final game of the mini tour we enjoyed some lovely sunny weather.

We received a warm welcome by club members who made teas and coffees prior to the match, whilst the club doesn’t have a bar we were still able to enjoy canned drinks and wine throughout our visit.

Tina Robinson Copmanthorpe’s Club Captain welcomed Steve Atkinson our Captain of the Day on the green. Following the announcements of the teams we had the customary group photograph and ‘Spider’ for a bottle of whiskey, this was won by yours truly – it is a pity I wasn’t as accurate with my woods during the game!

The Match

With only a small membership our hosts called upon players from nearby clubs and County officers to ensure that we had a team to play against.

The green was the heaviest that we played on, but this being our third game of the tour we had got used to the ‘Yorkshire’ pace.  By five ends the Friends had built an advantage of 5 shots which they stretched to 23 shots by the tenth end. The Friends maintained this lead through to the end of the game with a final score Friends 121 Copmanthorpe 84.  ‘Bragging rights’ in the Hunt family going to Carolyn today as she played lead in our top rink whist Andy skipped our highest losing rink.

1 G Ellis 19 J Watson 10
2 M Skerry 22 S Connolly 7
3 S Atkinson 18 R Knight 19
4 L Bangs 29 J Madin 6
5 A Hunt 17 G Hurst 27
6 M Hartley 16 M Watson 15

Post Match
The Ladies from the club had prepared a beautiful buffet comprising savouries, salad and this was followed by homemade cakes for our enjoyment. Thankfully the sun was still shining and this enabled some of the players and guests to sit outside whilst partaking of the hospitality.

Tina then drew the raffle with a good share of the prizes going to our members.

Presentations
Steve thanked the Ladies for the buffet and went on to thank the club for accepting the fixture after Northallerton pulled out earlier in the year. He then went on to present Tina with the certificate commemorating our visit, there was also a small gift for Tina.

Next, to the presentation of coveted BE spoons to Carolyn Hunt, Ian Perry, Janet Farnsworth and Lindsay Bangs our highest winning rink, Steve also presented the winners with a small framed print of York’s City walls. The opposing top rink of S Davies, J Lampard, M Fearn and G Hurst also lucky receivers of BE spoons.

Steve went on to call Barbara Dean, Sylvia Thacker, Frank Botting and Andy Hunt  forward to receive a set of Aeros (Peppermint)!

Steve then explained to our hosts of the work undertaken by the friends and how the monies raised over the last 20 years has helped fund Disability Bowls along with helping Counties and Clubs up and down the country.

Finally Tina presented Steve with his prize of a bottle of whiskey for winning the spider.

Steve Atkinson – Captain of the day