Our latest news, dates for your diary, match reports and more.
PPBC Bowling Matters Issue 2 April 2026
At last, the time has come to dust off your thermals and wet weather gear in preparation for the start of the outdoor (summer?) season, although many of you have done this already (see match reports, below).
News
Work on repairing the clubhouse roof will (hopefully) start this month, disruption should be kept to a minimum.
Reminders
- Don’t forget to sign up for Opening Day.
- The 2026 Fixture List (Yellow Booklet) is now available from the bar.
- Entry forms for club competitions will be available from the bar later this month, you should only enter club competitions if you will be available for finals weekend (5-6 September).
1.0 Dates for the Diary: April – May
Please find below a summary of events, friendly matches and opportunities to assist our club. Details concerning Southampton and District League matches are published in the annual fixture list and are not repeated here.
PPBC Events
| 8 April | Short Mat Finals | 7:00pm Pairs Final, 8:pm Singles Final |
| 11 April | Opening Day | Dress code Jackets and Whites, Club Photo 14:00, followed by the spider and the first competition of the season Chairman v Captain, Post-match tea, biscuits and cake £3. Sign-up sheet on the noticeboard. |
| From 11 May | Monday Morning Mixed Triples League | A sign-up sheet will appear on the noticeboard later this month. |
Friendlies
| 17 May | County (Away) | Dress code Whites. 6 rinks of mixed triples. A sign-up sheet will be posted on the noticeboard |
| 24 May | Bristol v SDBA (Home) | One full rink from PPBC |
Advance Notice – 7:00pm 22 August Southampton Salty Sea Dogs
An evening of shanties and songs of the sea. Southampton’s equivalent of Fisherman’s Friends is a crew of thirty men that perform locally and raise money to support the Hamble Lifeboat.
More details to follow
2.0 Match Reports
Totton and Eling (outdoors away 25 March)
Thanks to our reporter, Eddie, for the following well-balanced report:
The first outdoor friendly of 2026 was held at Totton and Eling on their all-weather green, which was useful as over the course of the match our intrepid team of 24 experienced hail, wind, rain and sunshine. It was a very good performance by Pirrie Park considering it was our first time outside for quite a while. A special mention should be given to new bowlers Pat Lawtry, Martin Leach and Pete Galton, all of whom did very well. Overall, we finished second with an accumulative score of 95 to 114.
Our best rink with highest score, was expertly skipped by Eddie and also included Lenny and Barry Digweed. Remember the art of good bowling is to treat it as a learning curve…(Eddie that’s enough – Ed)
The Editors would also like to thank a ‘Mr John Smith’ who filed the following short but factual report:
“It was cold, we lost, the bar wasn’t open”.
Skittles Night (Pirrie Park 28 March)
The first club social event this year was very well attended and everyone had the opportunity to demonstrate their prowess at skittles. Many players managed to knock over all nine skittles with their three balls but no one managed to do this with just two or one. However, after three rounds there were clear winners without the need for any further attempts. Congratulations to Wayne and Mia who are the new Champions and also a mention to Steve and Angie whose kitchen is now graced with two additional wooden spoons.
The skittles were briefly interrupted for a fish and chip supper which was enjoyed by all. When the skittles resumed the pace of play definitely slowed.
3.0 Thank you
The windswept bowlers would like to thank Eddie for organising the friendly at Totton and Eling last month.
The club would like to thank everyone who helped with the Skittles night, specially Martin and Mo for collecting the fish and chips, Rachel, Lloyd and Keith for running the competition with the assistance from the team that returned balls and set up skittles. Not forgetting the team of volunteers that set up the alley and afterwards packed it away so efficiently.
When we do get outside, we all will be grateful that Martin and Mark have repaired the sentry boxes -thank you both.
If you want to thank someone for their contributions to the club please let the editors know.
4.0 And finally…
Following an emergency committee meeting, the club has taken swift and immediate steps to ban the use of Australian Artificially Intelligent (AAI) woods, both indoors and on the Green. Garishly coloured, very straight, capable of responding to commands from the bowler, they officially retail at £500 each but are significantly cheaper if ordered from the dark web – where they are marketted under the tradename ‘Possion d’Avril’.
The committee are also aware that during matches some bowlers can be heard calling instructions from the mat and then complaining that their woods refuse to listen to them; it should be assumed that although they have unfortunately made the bad decision to try to obtain ultra-straight AAI woods, they have inadvertently become victims of on-line fraud. Obviously, these members can continue to play and talk to their woods without sanction.
All members should remember that ownership and use of AAI woods is like crime in multi-storey car parks – wrong on so many levels.
Fortunately, AAI woods are easy to spot (see scorers report below).
Use of AAI woods at a recent short mat game.
Contact us
All contributions, including better puns, welcome; the editors can be contacted via email (pll@soton.ac.uk) or letter placed on the mail noticeboard in the corridor by the entrance to the bar.
Hello Paul,
Thank you very much for the news letter. Very interesting and I particularly liked the historical information.
Regards
Peter