The club’s annual Friendship Cup went, fittingly, to ever-willing stalwart Anne Bosman for constantly helping everybody “with a smile on her face”.

But arguably the true reward for friendship went to the club itself and its welcoming members, whose kindness to one of our newer players has prompted a generous gesture of his own.

Ray Howell, who joined just a couple of seasons ago, was so taken by the way he has been treated since turning to Haywards Heath and Beech Hurst to fill a void in his life after moving to the town that he decided to buy a new mat for our winter short-mat clubhouse events.

The mat is now in place – and its donor received another warm reception from members at the annual general meeting after he explained why he had bought it.

Ray, who confessed to being shy, told the meeting: “I wanted to repay the kindness of everyone at the club for the welcome they gave me when I joined.”

The idea of a bowls club came from a friend, who had told him that joining one had helped him settle in a new area. Ray said: “I googled it and found three clubs locally.”

He opted for us and hasn’t looked back. “The welcome, warmth, encouragement and friendliness has been absolutely wonderful and for somebody like me has been absolutely crucial,” he said.

Crumbling

In turn, the club owes its good fortune to a piece of serendipity - when Ray helped stow the existing mat away at the end of the indoor season last April. He said: “I noticed the edges were crumbling a bit and I thought, I can help here.”

He approached chairman John Milsom, who was so taken aback by his offer to buy a new one that he continued to check with Ray over subsequent months whether he really meant it. “I think he had convinced himself that I would change my mind,” he said.

John admitted he needed to be convinced before accepting Ray’s offer. “I did go through nearly eight months of making sure that he was OK with it and he really wanted to do it,” he said.

But Ray wasn’t backing down, and John says everyone at the club wins. “Our mat was originally second-hand when we got it more than six years ago. Short-mat hasn’t been going here all that long.

Social benefit

“But it has built up quite a number of players within the club in a short time. Our social members (who don’t play on the outside green) can play short-mat. You can see how much they are enjoying it and the difference it is going to make to them.”

It should also be noted that treasurer Basil Larkins’ accounts report to the meeting underlined just how valuable the income from short-mat participants is to the club.

John added: “We make quite a lot of money through the season from short-mat – and that makes it possible for us not to have to put our prices up, like other clubs are having to do.”

Despite the considerable personal expense, Ray is confident it has been worth every penny. “I think that if I hadn’t come to this club, I could have become very hermit-like. The bowlers and this club have been a saviour.”

The other award presented at the annual meeting, the Skips Cup, went to John Box, who was praised by club president Jill Saunders for being “very helpful” and a regular at games, home and away.

Officers 2024/5:

President – Jill Saunders (elected for a five-year term in 2022)
Chairman – John Milsom
Captain – Graham Brown
Honorary secretary – Jennie Evans
Honorary treasurer – Basil Larkins

Other committee members:

Match secretary – David Leach
Bar steward – Bob Sutton
Vice-captain – not filled
General committee – Peter Nicholls; Maurice Benson; Tara de Silva; Anne Bosman

Other post-holders:

Competition secretary – Maurice Benson
Green Ranger – Phoom Saihom

Any other posts will be appointed by the new committee