League Honours 2022

A summary of all the league's prize winners can be found here.

Knockout Cup Finals

The Knockout Cup finals will be played at Broseley on Sunday 25th September. Dress code applies.

Division 2 - Start 1pm

Much Wenlock (+4) v Stockton A (+8)

Division 1 - Start 3pm

Highley A (Scr) v Madeley CC (+4)

To be followed by the Prize Presentation and buffet.

Knockout Cups - Semi Finals

The semi-finals of the Knockout Cups will be played on Tuesday 13th September, 7pm start. The finals will be played at Broseley on Sunday 25th September, Division 2 starting at 1pm, Division 1 starting at 3pm to be followed by the League Prize Presentation and a buffet.

Division 1

Bridgnorth A(+28) v Madeley(+4) at Much Wenlock.
Highley A v Islanders A (both scratch) at Worfield.

Division 2

Mortimer (+28) v Much Wenlock(+4) at Bylet No.1.
Stockton A(+8) v Squirrel(+32) at Bylet No.2.

League Knockouts - Quarter Finals

Ties in the quarter finals of the league knockouts take place on Tuesday 23rd August, 7pm start. League rules state that a green fee of £5 per team is payable to the neutral host club. This used to be 50p per player when we played ten a side. Now at eight a side, I suggest increasing this to £8 per team.

Dave Collins

League officers are deeply saddened to hear of the death of Dave Collins. Dave was until recently the secretary of Highley Bowling Club and had been for many years.

Singles Trophies

League Treasurer Jeanette Bennett presented the trophies following some excellent bowling in the Mark Bennett Memorial and Division 2 Singles at Stockton on Sunday 24th July.

Congratulations to Cheryl Caswell of Islanders on winning the Mark Bennett Memorial and home bowler John Pritchard winning the Division 2 Trophy. Details here and on the Results Service: Mark Bennett and Division 2.

Urgent Request from Squirrel

Squirrel Bowling Club are urgently looking for a greenkeeper. See message below from their Chairman Bill Smith...

Our present contractor who has only been in post for 5 months, will not be able to do any more  work for us, so we will need someone to carry on from the beginning of August. We will then need a green keeper to cut twice a week and apply fertilisers/chemicals as when req'd. Our own equipment, petrol, liquids, etc, will be available for use by an interested person. 

We would be much obliged if you could ask the question for us of the league teams, or if anyone has a contact that may be able to help. 

Thanking you in anticipation. 

Bill Smith, Squirrel Bowling Club Chairman.
Alveley. 01746 780841. 07884148433.

Doubles Competitions - Reminder Entries close Tuesday 2nd August

Entries are invited for the Division 1 & Division 2 Doubles Competitions before 3rd August. Qualifying (if required) will be on Tuesday 9th August and you can pay on the day - £6 per pair.  The finals will be played at Highley on Sunday 11th September.

Entries can be emailed to chairman@highleybowlsleague.org.uk or phone/text 07460267265.

Players are reminded that they can only play in only one of these competitions, not both as they are played at the same time. Current entries can be viewed here.

Singles Qualifying

Qualifiers in the Mark Bennett Memorial and Division 2 singles are now on the Competitions page. Thanks to the host clubs for the use of their facilities and those in charge for organising. Finals (last 8's) are on Sunday 24th July at Stockton, 1pm for Division 2 and 2pm for the Mark Bennett Memorial.

Two Reminders

The Ladies Singles will be played next Sunday at Cleobury, 12.45pm scratch for a 1pm start. Entries taken on the day, £3.

Entries for the Mark Bennett singles need to be in by close of play on Tuesday 14th June so that greens can be selected for qualifying on Tuesday 21st June. No league matches are scheduled for that evening.

After Match Refreshments - Update

Islanders C have informed the league that they will be providing after match refreshments.

Madeley have informed the league that they won't.

One Day Competitions

Dates and venues have now been confirmed for the two one day league competitions. Both competitions can be entered on the day and the entry fee will be £3.

Ladies Singles

Open to all lady bowlers registered to play in the league.

Venue: Cleobury

Date: Sunday 12th June, 12.45pm draw for a 1pm start.

Jim Palmer Memorial Trophy

Open to all league bowlers over the age of 60.

Venue: Chelmarsh

Date Sunday 3rd July, 12.45pm draw for a 1pm start.

2022 League Fixtures Now Live

The fixtures for the 2022 season are now available on Mike Beckett's Results Service. The league will start on Tuesday 19th April.

Sponsorship by Local Print Pros

I'm pleased to announce that the league has been offered a two year sponsorship deal with Hadley based Local Print Pros. Steve Reeves of Local Print Pros and Horsehay secretary said 'personally I have a great affinity with the Highley League, it’s where I’m able to bowl with no pressure'.

Local Print Pros are specialists in top quality printed clothing including printed t-shirts and printed hoodies. They also print banners, vehicle graphics, banners and much more. See what they can offer here.

Horsehay

Horsehay have confirmed that they only have sufficient players to field one team this year.  Captain Steve Reeves has informed the league that 'we won’t be providing any refreshments at the pub after the game but there will be the usual during games'.

Albrighton

Unfortunately, Albrighton have confirmed that they have insufficient players to field a team on Tuesdays and consequently, they will not be playing in the league this season.

Decisions Made at the AGM

Many thanks to everyone who attended the League AGM this evening and thanks also to Bridgnorth Bowling Club for hosting the meeting. These are the decisions made:

• Shifnal applied to join the league with one team and were accepted.

• 2021 mini league prizes were awarded.

• It was agreed to raise the entry fee per team from £90 to £100.

• Clubs were given until March 16th to confirm the number of teams they will be entering.

• This season will not be a President's Cup year, normal knockouts will be played.

• It was agreed that the finals of the 2019 President's and Consolation cups held over to 2020 due to bad weather then postponed due to Covid would not be played and that the £300 prize money would be divided equally among the finalists: Islanders, Horsehay, Highley and Stockton.

• By a vote of 11 to 7 the proposal to reduce teams from 10 bowlers to 8 was accepted.

• The associated change to reduce named 6's to named 5's was also accepted.

• The proposal to ensure that clubs register their own players and named 5's where necessary on the results service rather than providing details to the fixture secretary was accepted.

• The cutoff date for teams registering players was set as the first fixture date.

• Stockton's proposal to allow players to play twice was rejected.

• Officers elected were: President Bob Parry, Chairman John Palmer, Treasurer Jeanette Bennett, Secretary Lesley Burnside, Fixture Secretary John Palmer and Vice Chairman Rob Renke. John Palmer will also act as Safeguarding Officer.

Change to the Results System

Please note that the web address for Mike Beckett's Results System is changing from bowlingresults.co.uk to bowlsresults.co.uk. All the links that I'm aware of on this site have been changed accordingly but if you have any that you've bookmarked, you'll have to amend them.

2022 Season

League officers have been in discussion and were hoping to arrange an Annual General Meeting as usual in February. Due to the Covid crisis however it has been decided to postpone this until March and combine it with the normal pre-season meeting. Club secretaries will be getting a confirmation email in the near future.

One important decision to be made though is whether to continue playing 8 a side this year or to revert to the normal 10. I'd appreciate any thoughts on the matter, either email highleybowlsleague@gmail.com or use the Contact form.