The winter bowling season is once more drawing to a close which can only mean that it is time for the newsletter to be put together again.

Now an omission in last year’s edition must be rectified.  That was that the death of David Bennett was not mentioned.  He, along with his wife Catherine, was a founder member of the club and was a regular visitor until a few years ago.  He is sure to be remembered by some of the original members.  Another sad event to record is that Edwin Sproat passed away in July 2010.  He had not been well for a while and had been in a care home in the south of England so as to be near relatives, where his widow Dorothy, still is.           

 

 

 

 

                            

Do you recognise the person in this photograph?  It is of course Alastair, the oldest member of the club at 8? years young.  Alastair is not playing at present, but wishes he was able to do so. We were pleased to welcome Elizabeth Taylor to the club on one occasion in December when she was on a short holiday to see her daughter.  Another surprise visitor was Tony Archibald all the way from the Isle of Islay who was bowling with us for two or three weeks during February.  All being well they will be back again before long.  Edna and Tony Porter managed to travel to Spain earlier this year and it was nice to see Edna making such good progress following a very difficult summer of 2010.  Bob and Sandra Kelly are beginning to enjoy their bowling again after serious illnesses, and Alan Bloom is getting back to his old self once more.  Do you remember Rose and George Mist?  Rose celebrates her 90^th birthday this month, April, and George follows in October. 

Soon after the last newsletter was published, Mijas hosted the Andalucian Championships which meant very hard work for the summer residents as all the winter “snowbirds” had flown by then.  Two Mijas members had some success during that competition as Jim Taylor bowled his way through to the semi-final of the Men’s Singles in which he was unfortunately defeated, and Geraldine Robinson won the Ladies’ Singles event.  Congratulations to them both. 

Also during last summer the Thursday evening barbecues were a great success once again for both the members and visitors.  Don and Jackie must be exceptionally good BBQ chefs by now after all the practice they have had over the years.  Mijas bowlers entered the summer League but some games, though enjoyable, were played in tremendous heat. 

The charity day in aid of Lux Mundi was held in very good weather on 11^th November2010.  There were plenty of stalls and bowling competitions to keep the members and visitors happy, and as it was Armistice Day, a two-minute silence was held at 12 noon, to coincide with 11am in the UK.  Pam and Brian Attwood organised the bowling, the Social Committee provided the helpers, and the refreshments during the day were made by Pam Cole and her team.  The prizes were donated by The Sports Shop in Fuengirola and at the end of the day, a cheque for 750€ was given to the representatives from Lux Mundi. 

The Social Committee has been very busy during the winter season, as Hallowe’en was celebrated with a witches versus warlocks bowling competition, followed by a lunch at the club.  Hot on the heels of Hallowe’en and the charity event came the Christmas Draw on 16^th December, when many lucky people won some lovely prizes and also the Christmas Dinner/Dance which was back once again at the Valparaiso and greatly enjoyed by all those who attended.  On 6^th January “Three Kings Day” was recognised, as members and visitors dusted down their crowns and on a sunny, warm day took part in various “fun” bowling competitions before enjoying a delicious paella or a quiche salad prepared by Sandra Kelly and Pam Cole respectively.  March 17^th is, of course, St. Patrick’s Day and, as usual, that was remembered by the Mijas bowlers, who, dressed in shamrock green, entered bowling events before enjoying a meal in the clubhouse.  The Social Committee also organised two theatre visits; the first was in January to “Down Lambeth Way”, when more than thirty members and their friends enjoyed an evening of old-time music hall.  On that occasion, the Master of Ceremonies, Colin Pollard, gave the club some free publicity!  The second theatre visit was in March when a similar sized party saw the well-known musical “The Producers”. 

The first of the main Mijas bowling competitions, The Ball and Chain, sponsored by Francisco Camero, took place once again in October, and was organised by Barbara Land, with the help of Robert Wright.  Brian and Jean Lancaster deserve congratulations on reaching the final which they unfortunately lost by just three shots in a very close and hard-fought game. 

Early January and good weather saw the start of the Mijas Masters, though the weather deteriorated somewhat during the course of the competition and the finals were played in very poor conditions.  Kevin Bloe was the only Mijas victor, winning the Pairs with Jan McManus with whom he played.  The Mijas Masters was sponsored jointly by Peter Male and Megamobile. 

The “In-House” competitions followed the “Masters” in quick succession, with only a week in between; that week, however was very wet and cold and hopes that the event would take place in the allotted period of time seemed to be waning, but then a sudden improvement enabled the competition to go ahead in warm, bright sunshine, although a little cool for the early morning starts and the latish evening finishes.  There were some very close and exciting matches played, which brought about the following results:

 

     Competition                            Winner/s                                     Finalists

Handicap Singles                            Jim Taylor                                 Geraldine Robinson

Men’s Singles                                 Don Smith                                 Franco Tinneli

Ladies’ Singles                               Juanita Case                               Geraldine Robinson

Drawn Pairs                                   Kevin Bloe                                 Geraldine Robinson

                                                    John Fenton                              Roy Graveling

Drawn Triples                                Geraldine Robinson                    Lily Garden

                                                    Brian Attwood                           Dine Warn

                                                    Frank Richardson                       Robert Wright

         

Juanita and Don went on to represent Mijas in the Champion of Champions which was held this year at Miraflores Bowls Club early in April.  They both did very well, but particularly Don, as he finished in third place, only losing by one shot to the eventual holder of second place.                                                          

 In other competitions which have taken place along the coast, Mijas members have had a good share of successes.  The first of these was The Summer Championships which took place in September 2010 at Benalmadena where Joe Stamper, who was still a Mijas member at that time, won the Men’s Singles event and Kevin Bloe, Don Smith, John Warn and Doris Mellor won the Rinks.  (It was soon after that when Doris had her accident and has not bowled since, but she is hoping to be back soon.) 

Following that was the Miraflores Open in which Rob and Geraldine Robinson with Jim Taylor unfortunately lost the Triples final after an extra end, but Rob and Geraldine came through a hard-fought final to win the Pairs competition. 

The winners of the Francisco Camero Trophy, a Pairs event held at Benalmadena, were Kevin Bloe and Joe Stamper.  A Mijas member, Don Smith, had success in the Benalmadena Open in March, when he, teamed up with John Sullivan and Dorrien Ives, won the Triples, their opposition in that final conceding defeat after only fourteen ends. 

In mid-February the Belplaya Open took place where Tony Land along with John and Dine Warn won the “Plate” competition.  More recently, Barbara Land and Geraldine Robinson were the winners of the Ladies 2 Wood Pairs which was played at Los Amigos. 

At the time of writing this newsletter the Winter Championships are under way at Miraflores; it is hoped that it will be necessary to add a “Stop Press” at the end of this newsletter so that the Mijas successes can be recorded.

 The Lions League team did particularly well this season, finishing in a very creditable 3^rd place.  Unfortunately, because of weather conditions, (this photograph was taken on one very dark, very wet, Friday afternoon when they should have been playing) they were not able to complete all their matches, otherwise they might well have finished in a higher place.  Well done to the Tigers team who also finished in 3^rd place in their league. 

Once again there have not been as many visiting teams on the coast as would have been liked, but those who have enjoyed the Mijas facilities have gone away having enjoyed the experience.  It is hoped that they will all return very soon.  Some bookings are already in the diary for October. 

Having stated in last year’s newsletter that no major works were going to be undertaken, it was then decided to paint the inside of the clubhouse and the green wall alongside rink 1.  While Juan did the painting of the ceiling and the walls it still meant that the summer residents did not have their well-earned rest from the year before as they had to be there to do the moving of furniture and the cleaning.  During this winter Juan seems to have cured the problem of water getting into the clubhouse by digging another channel across the car park behind the building and diverting the water straight into the river.  This venture looks unfinished at present as it is being left to make sure it is working successfully before the trench is covered over.  Juan is now looking very intently at the places where the rain water is coming through the ceiling as he has every intention of putting that right also.

The garden is now bursting into colour again.  The climbers planted a few years ago against the wall are now “climbing”  towards the top and other plants are spreading well below them.  Juan also continues to keep the outside area and the green looking good and that is no easy task as long as the bamboos grow on the river side of the rinks and the wind continues to blow their fronds over the netting. 

In the year finishing at the end of March, three new full members have been accepted into the club; they are Des Huddleston, Maureen (Mo) Harron and John Kiddle all of whom are warmly welcomed.  It is hoped that they will enjoy many years of bowling and friendship at Mijas. 

During this winter there have been more than twenty members who, for whatever reason, have not been bowling at Mijas, and have asked for what has come to be known as “retained membership”.  We sincerely hope that come the beginning of the next season in October they will be back within the Mijas “family” once again, enjoying all that membership of the club has to offer. 

Stop Press One:  On the third page of this newsletter it was stated that Doris Mellor hoped ‘to be back soon”.  Whether it was telepathy or not will never be known, but the very next day Doris was back at the club as though she had never been away.  Welcome back Doris. 

Stop Press Two:  There are Mijas successes to report from the recent Winter Championships at Miraflores:  the Men’s Pairs event was won by Don Smith and Kevin Bloe, and the Ladies’ Triples was won by Lynda Hall, Dine Warn and Pam Cole.  Unfortunately Geraldine Robinson could not manage to win the Ladies’ Singles competition, but she was a very worthy losing finalist.  On a lighter note, not many “hot shots” are scored, particularly in major competitions, but your President and Vice-President no less, Rob and Jim, scored one in the Men’s Pairs at the Winter Championships! 

Two more events which must be mentioned, both of which have taken place very recently, are the Santa Maria Open and the semi-final and final of the President’s Fours.  In the first of those, Barbara Land finished as the losing finalist in the Ladies’ Singles, only being defeated by the lady who is the number one bowler on the coast, and in the Open Fours the winners were Geoff and Lynda Hall along with Tony and Barbara Land.  The semi-final and final of the President’s Fours were played on the same day when the Mijas four consisting of Tony and Barbara Land with John and Dine Warn came through the semi- final, but unfortunately lost the final.  Well done to all! 

Wherever you are spending the summer, be it in the heat of Spain or in different parts of the United Kingdom and Eire, enjoy good health, good weather and good bowling.  When the time arrives in autumn 2011, we hope you will be ready and eager to be back in Spain to enjoy the winter sunshine and a new winter season of bowling.