Friday 18th July 2025
Cloudless skies and warm sunshine greeted members on arrival at Leigh Park, the home of Fareham Bowling Club, for the first of three matches in South Hampshire. Brian, the Club President, sensibly welcomed us on arrival inside the air conditioned clubhouse, and the bar was open for those who declined the offer of tea and coffee from the ladies of the club.
As the club had a league fixture later in the day, the match commenced at 1 p.m. and everyone welcomed the plentiful supplies of cold water placed at the end of each rink as the temperature continued to rise as the game progressed. The Fareham club enjoys excellent facilities in a tranquil setting, including a superbly maintained green, and as the match progressed, looking at the scores across the rinks, it became obvious that our hosts were being very hospitable to the Friends players! As always, the result came second to enjoyment for most of us, but unfortunately for Fareham they came second on five out of six rinks as the Friends were victorious on a very warm afternoon.
One of the Friends was heard to remark that he would have preferred to play the game in the air conditioned clubhouse, which was indeed a welcome relief from the heat when everyone enjoyed the after match refreshments provided by the club.
President Brian presented the two top rinks with some liquid refreshment, as did the Friends Captain of the Day. Gina, Norma, Sally and Charlie topped the chart for Fareham and Maddie, Paul, Tony and Gerald for the Friends. Brian then rewarded those who were less successful with a packet of nuts while Graham softened the blow for these two rinks with Wispa bars that had spent the afternoon in the club fridge!
Brian then accepted the framed certificate recording the game from Graham, who gave a brief outline of the Friends history before being prompted (again!) to propose a toast to the Fareham Club and thanking everyone for their excellent hospitality.
A brilliant start to the three days in Hampshire!
Graham Annetts
Captain of the Day