Guildford Dragon

PRESENTATION LUNCH 1ST NOV 2019

Knaphill Triples League winners 

Shelagh Spencer

Andy Jones

Nina Challens

Alan Mogg

Peter Challens

Dave Newton

Barry Macbeth

Rod Spencer

Glenda Mogg

click here for final table

Knaphill League winners 2019

Visits

Background

Sir Francis Drake famously prepared to defeat the Spanish Armada in 1588 by having a game of bowls at his local Plymouth Hoe club.   Established in 1990 Burpham Bowling Club isn't quite that old but you can still have a relaxed game of bowls at this mixed club, one of the largest the Guildford area. New members from beginner to experienced are always welcome.  

We have our own clubhouse, with licensed bar, plus access to the amenities pavilion of Sutherland Memorial Park and free parking at weekends (up to 5 hours weekdays).  Our green is looked after by Guildford Borough Council and is one of the best maintained in the area.

Our season runs from April to September.  We take part in a variety of competitions at regional, county and national levels.  We also have an extensive programme of mixed league and friendly matches against other clubs in the area.  And there are programmes of mens and ladies matches.  

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We also have a programme of internal club competitions every year, and casual club matches (i.e. roll-ups) when members can simply turn up for a friendly game of bowls in the company of other club members.  

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Membership is available to playing and social members and we have a very active social programme in the clubhouse throughout the winter months.  We have good links with the local community - for more information see the About Us section.

If you'd like to try bowls we can help you to get started and quickly enjoy bowling at Burpham Bowling Club.  Free tuition is available to new bowlers from our in-house qualified coaches.  You can also join as a social member.

You are very welcome to browse the website and visit the club.  If bowls was a good enough game for Sir Francis Drake.....???

Clubhouse refurbishment fund raising

update 15 November 2019

The story so far

Fund raising activity started in May with our participation in the Guildford Lottery. So far 37 members have bought tickets and the club will have raised £1900 by the time existing tickets have expired. Thank you to Geoff Sheldon for initiating this and to everyone who has taken part so far and it is hoped that each participant will renew their ticket(s) when they expire next year. However there are still 77 members who have not yet participated and I would like to encourage them to think again about doing so. Half of the cost of the tickets is donated by the lottery to the club so we all benefit from that, it’s very easy to register on our website, but if anyone would like some help, do give me a call. The more of us who participate, the quicker we will achieve our objective.

Thanks also to each of the five members who, without being asked, made a personal donation to the fund this year. This is much appreciated.

Well done to the ladies who raised over £600 at the cream tea and sale. These and other initiatives have raised a total of £4300 including the money we have yet to receive from the lottery. This supplements the £13,000 allocated by the club to the project, which included the £5,000 Keith Crossman legacy, and is a very encouraging start, but we have a long way to go.

What’s next?

John Kershaw and I are currently working with our existing sponsors – Lodge Brothers and Seymours – to extend the scope of our sponsorship arrangements. We are also seeking new sponsors. This is something which will not only improve our financial position, it is also something which external grant providers expect us to be doing. I am pleased to announce that we have found a new sponsor. Guildford Financial have agreed to sponsor the club for £700 in 2020 and we hope that this will continue in subsequent years. Guildford Financial is a small firm of financial advisers based in Burpham who specialise in advice for people in later life, which applies to most of us. I hope that we will be welcoming them to the club at some point next year. In the meantime, if anyone is seeking this sort of advice, I would be happy to put them in touch with Guildford Financial.

Plans are being made for three important fund raising events next year. They are:-

- a wine tasting evening/ploughman’s supper on Thursday March 12th which Bob Hughes will be running.

- a charity walk, called the four greens challenge, which John Kershaw is organising to take place on May 31st.

- a dinner or BBQ which Catherine and I will be running to take place in July/August.

Details of all these, and a date for the latter event, will be announced during the coming months. They are additional to all the usual bowling and social events and I hope that as many of you as possible will support them, and their organisers, and help the club to reach its objective of an improved clubhouse. Their success depends on all of us. The committee have agreed that guests will be welcome at any of these fundraising events.

Further updates

I will keep you posted as to further developments during the coming months. In the mean time, I and the rest of the fundraising team (Glenda Mogg, Bob Hughes and John Kershaw) are always interested to hear any ideas YOU may have to fill the coffers, particularly things that you could do yourself to raise money, no matter how large or small.

Alan Hughes

Internal Fund Raising Co-ordinator