2022 Tour - Bournemouth
'The Back Seat Girls'. Mick was made an honorary member during the trip to Bournemouth and will regret it for years to come - a scarred man.
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After a three year gap we were on the ultimate tour for Colin and Jan and it's now a fond memory, thanks both for all your hard work in creating these memorable trips for us, This time we had all the usual suspects plus some very new ones, hope you enjoyed it as much as we did.
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Monday 15th August
We left the club on time, with the majority of us meeting there much earlier than expected, very eager to be off. There a couple of hiccups on this journey to Bournemouth, first of all the coach felt as though it wasn't going to make it up Birdlip Hill, even in first gear it was floundering and we thought we were going to have to get out and push but thanks to Mike the driver's patience and coaxing we made it to the top. No more hiccups until we got to Bournemouth BC where we were expecting a buffet lunch, the manager was very surprised when 43 hungry bowlers descended on her. How she managed to produce so many sandwiches, salad and cake in such a short time was a miracle. We then went to Argyll BC for a very friendly game of bowls, gaining 167 points against 134. Steve was Captain of the Day and presented the club with one of our 75th Anniversary gavels which was very well received. Cynthia Jackman won the guesser, Martin Askham 2nd and Kevin Crean 3rd.
We left the club on time, with the majority of us meeting there much earlier than expected, very eager to be off. There a couple of hiccups on this journey to Bournemouth, first of all the coach felt as though it wasn't going to make it up Birdlip Hill, even in first gear it was floundering and we thought we were going to have to get out and push but thanks to Mike the driver's patience and coaxing we made it to the top. No more hiccups until we got to Bournemouth BC where we were expecting a buffet lunch, the manager was very surprised when 43 hungry bowlers descended on her. How she managed to produce so many sandwiches, salad and cake in such a short time was a miracle. We then went to Argyll BC for a very friendly game of bowls, gaining 167 points against 134. Steve was Captain of the Day and presented the club with one of our 75th Anniversary gavels which was very well received. Cynthia Jackman won the guesser, Martin Askham 2nd and Kevin Crean 3rd.
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Tuesday 16th August
After a morning of doing what we liked we set off back to Bournemouth BC for another game of bowls. Even though we'd had heavy rain before lunch it stop us having a full game. Again we were made to feel very welcome and enjoyed our game even though we lost this time with 130 to us and 158 against. However we did manage to bag 5 of the raffle prizes. Jan won the guesser with Paul Freeman second and Jim Oates 3rd. Phil Patterson was Captain of the Day and presented them with one of our gavels. The hotel provided entertainment this evening and the girls showed the men how to enjoy themselves. 
Zaphod Beeblebrox made an unexpected appearance today.
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 The fashionable way to weather the storm.
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Wednesday 17th August
What a different start to the day, heavy mist and intermittent showers but it was dry whilst we travelled to Southborne BC where Martin Askham was due to be Captain. However, after 4 ends we had torrential rain and thunder so the decision was made to abandon the game. We were all welcomed indoors with drinks and the raffle and cakes if we wanted, some of us took well advantage of that. We all enjoyed the company of this very friendly club. The evening's entertainment was not to all of our liking and we spent a couple of hours playing "chase the ace". Thanks Marcia for introducing this game to us. 
As we only played 4 ends, we thought about only presenting the Gavel but ultimately gave them the base as well.
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The weather : Not Good.
The cake : Big, but there was only ever going to be one winner.
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Thursday 18th August
This was our free day from bowling and we all went our various ways to explore the area. The tour bus to Poole taking in the sights of Sandbanks was popular as was the bus to Swanage. Boat trips and steam train trips were also part and parcel of the day as were walks along the front to take in the sights. Our last evening in the hotel proved to be very noisy with much laughter after Steve introduced us to his version of Charades. I haven't laughed like that for a long time. |
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Friday 19th August
We said a fond farewell to the hotel before travelling to Poole Park BC for our final tour game. As they could only field 6 rinks we had 4 rinks playing each other, it was all good fun with us gaining 138 points to 154. We had an enjoyable ploughman's lunch and also won some of the raffle prizes. Colin presented the last gavel to their captain and then entertained us with a joke that we all thoroughly enjoyed. The guesser today was won by Martin, with Margaret Evans in 2nd place and Margaret Wallace in 3rd. Thanks once again Colin and Jan for an enjoyable and memorable tour. Enjoy your retirement. |
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Thanks Colin and Jan, you do us proud.
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