Congratulations to Club Member Matt Swift

Matt played his first game as a classified DBE bowler during the Bowls England National Championships. Matt on the far right represented DBE South in a match against DBE North.

Silverware Galore for RLS Lady Members at the 2024 Bowls England National Championships

A successful season for several of our lady members (see previous "News" reports below), saw them qualify to represent Warwickshire at this year’s National Championships which took place at Victoria Park between Thursday 15th August and Sunday 1st September.  As detailed below, thanks to a string of exceptional performances, several of our County winners went on to acheive success at the National level too (reports are in chronological order as played during the Championships).

Women’s Fours – Many congratulations to Michelle Meadowcroft, Ellie Hamblett, Emily Kernick and Kirsty Richards, the new Bowls England Women's Fours Champions !

Women’s Junior Singles – Emily Kernick began the defence of her 2023 title with a 21-6 win over Evie Mills from Braintree BC in Essex and then beat fellow England Junior International Chloe Brett from Brampton in Huntingdonshire 21-3 in the next round.  Three more rounds the following day saw her defeat Chloe Holmes of Norwest BC in Somerset (21-12) and then Yasmina Hasan from Southey BC in Surrey (21-17) to face Ruby Hill from Cleethorpes BC in Lincolnshire in the semi-final.  Unfortunately, in a very tight contest, Emily just lost out 18-21, but a great achievement to reach the semi-final stage.

Women’s Champion-of-Champions – Emily Kernick was one of only 16 players from accross the country to qualify to play at the National Championships in this competition.  Unfortunately, Emily lost 15-21 to Diane Double from Sutton BC in Surrey in her opening match.

Women’s Senior Fours – Many congratulations to Dawn Horne, Anita Cowdrill (substitute Caroline Edwards), Jenny Wickens and Janice White on being this year's Bowls England Women's Senior Fours Runners-up.

They won their first-round match 26-3 against a rink from Lowestoft Railway BC in Suffolk and then beat a team from Ramsey BC in Huntingdonshire by 25 shots to 17.  From the quarter-final onwards, Caroline Edwards played as a substitute for Anita, who was unavailable and after defeating a rink from Barton Le Clay in Bedfordshire 15-10, the team were back out on the green just 45 minutes later to face a rink from Polegrove BC in Sussex in the semi-final.  A very close match ended tied 14-14 after 18 ends, but the RLS quartet won through to the final on the extra end.

Against a rink from Alton Social BC in Hampshire (winners of the title in 2018 and runners-up in 2021), the RLS four were always slightly trailing in a low scoring and very tight final match, but took a 12-11 lead on the penultimate end.

Unfortunately, 2 shots for Alton on the final end saw them take the trophy by 13 shots to 12. However, to finish the competition as runners-up is a magnificent performance from our ladies, so VERY WELL DONE TO ALL FIVE OF YOU !

Dawn, Anita, Caroline, Jenny and Janice would like to thank all the many supporters from both the club and County, who took the time to come along to support them in all of their games played at the Championships.

Women’s Junior Pairs – Many congratulations to Lily-Mae Adams (Welford BC) and Emily Kernick, winners of the Bowls England Women's Junior Pairs title for the second consecutive year. 

After winning their opening match 30-3 against a pair from Berkshire, Lily-Mae and Emily then beat a pair representing Herefordshire skipped by Hannah Smith, by an impressive 25 shots to 1.  In the quarter-final they won 22-11 against a pair from Worcestershire that were the 2022 champions and then, in a very tight contest, defeated a rink from Hertfordshire 16-13 in the semi-final.

In the final they faced a pair from Surrey and retained their trophy with a deserved 19-13 win.  Many congratulations on this great achievement, but unfortunately, having turned 25 years of age in July, Emily will be unable to defend the title next year as she will no longer be classified as a "Junior" !

Women’s 2-Wood Singles – Emily Kernick played Morgan Merryweather from Island Bohemian BC in Berkshire in her opening match and unfortunately narrowly lost, 12-13.

Success for RLSBC Ladies at County Finals Weekend

Warwickshire Women’s BA held their finals weekend at a very hot and sunny Nuneaton BC over the weekend of Saturday 10th and Sunday 11th August with club members involved on both days.

In the “Top Club” final, RLS faced Welford in a repeat of last year’s final.  In the singles match, Emily Kernick took on Moira Parsons in what proved to be an epic match of high quality, lasting 29 ends.  Emily was consistently a few shots ahead, but Moira pegged her back, first to 5-5, then 10-10.  However, Emily then pulled ahead to lead 20-13, just one shot away from victory, but 7 shots from Moira over the next 4 ends took the match to 20-20 before a single from Emily secured the first point of the match for RLS with a 21-20 win.  At that time, the overall match was finely balanced, with the triples and rink both very close, but Welford having the better of things in the pairs.  However, in the fours, Chris Leigh, Michelle Meadowcroft, Jenny Wickens and Heather Mills took shots on 6 of the final 7 ends to finish 22-10 winners and put RLS 2-0 ahead.  Having been 12 shots adrift at the halfway point, Dawn Horne and Kirsty Richards, clawed their way back in the pairs to restrict Welford to a 22-14 win and although that took the overall score to 2-1, with a net 5 shot overall advantage in favour of RLS from those three matches plus a strong finish in the triples by Caroline Edwards, Anita Cowdrill and Janice White which saw them leading 16-11 with just one end remaining to play, Welford were then unable to win and conceded, giving RLS an overall 3-1 win, thus avenging last year’s defeat.  The photo below shows the team with their trophy.

In individual competitions, Emily Kernick (left) faced Maureen Edwards (Rugby Thornfield) in the final of the 2-Wood Singles competition.  After exchanging shots over the opening few ends, Emily gradually eased ahead and with an unassailable 17-4 lead after just 15 ends, her opponent conceded.

In the Champion-of-Champions 4-Wood singles final, Anita Cowdrill faced Alison Boyd from Nuneaton BC.  In a tight contest, neither player was able to pull out a significant lead, with some excellent “saving” shots played by both finalists.  Unfortunately though, in the end, for the second year running, Anita had to settle for the Runners-up shield as she just lost out 17-21.

Lastly, in the Fours final, Michelle Meadowcroft, Bonny Claridge (as a substitute for the unavailable Ellie Hamblett), Emily Kernick and Kirsty Richards were always in control against a Welford rink skipped by Tracey Wheeler and ran out very comfortable winners, ahead 29 shots to 7 when Welford conceded with 3 ends still to play.  The photo (right) shows the team being presented with their trophy by WWBA President, Caroline Harris.

Many congratulations to all our 2024 County Champions (including those who's finals were played last month [see reports further down the "News" page]).

Ladies "Top Club" Update

National Competition (Updated 29/July/2024) - After winning the Warwickshire section of the draw earier in the season, a 3-1 win over Kingscroft BC from Leicestershire in the first round of the Regional stage of this year's competition saw the team travel to the neutral venue of Newark Northern BC on Saturday evening 27th July to face Cleethorpes BC.  With the competition down to the last 16 clubs in the country, from an original entry list of over 250, this was always going to be a tricky tie, and so it proved.

An excellent performance from Emily Kernick in the singles tie, saw her so nearly take the first point of the tie against Cleethorpes' Amy Pharaoh, a 4 times Commonwealth Games medalist and 9 times National Champion-of-Champions winner, but a narrow 18-21 loss restricted Cleethorpes to a shot advantage of just 3.  With the RLS triples well ahead at that time, and Fours too, despite the Pairs trailing, the match was finely balanced.  However, in the end, despite a convincing 22-9 win for Michelle Meadowcroft, Anita Cowdrill and Kirsty Richards in the Triples match, a strong final few ends from the Cleethorpes team saw them take the Fours match 19-12 and the Pairs game 30-8, to secure a 3-1 match win, and dash the RLS hopes of a third appearance at the National Championships in the past 4 seasons.  A disappointing end to the 2024 campaign but many congratulations to the team on reaching the last 16, which was still an excellent performance.

County Competition - In their recent semi-final match against Nuneaton, the team recorded a convincing 4-0 win to set up a repeat of last year's final, against Welford.  In 2023, it was Welford that took the title and having already beaten Welford this season in the National competition, the team will be looking to avenge last year's defeat.  The match will be played at Nuneaton BC on Sunday 11th August, commencing at 10am, as part of the WWBA Finals Weekend.  Please come along to lend your support to the team if you are able to.

2024 County Titles for RLS Members in Ladies' Senior Fours and Junior Singles

Many congratulations to those RLS members who have lifted the trophies in two of this year's ladies' county competitions that have already been played to a conclusion.