Never gonna give you up... Never gonna let you down...

End of season bash followed by the AGM. nine and a half teams turned up at City Pavillion for the MPAA Doubles event. New members were present in the shape of Harry Greengrass. pretty much the shape of father Greengrass, but sporting a rather natty (well it was in 1994) Rick Ashley look. No offence Harry, welcome to the club... With nine and a half teams it was club capitano Dan who played with himself. Scores were high with many in the 200 plus average making the event highly contested, but with Jon Greengrass and Ken Francis rolling the highest they were outright winners. It was a day for the right handers who had acres to aim at as the 2nd (Geoff and Dee), 3rd (Clive and Jim Studdard), 4th (Henry and Paul), 5th (Daniel and Daniel) and 6th (Chloe and Eric) spots were all righties apart from the lone Paul in 4th place but ably assisted to the heady hights of 4th by Henry. The bottom however was littered with them. Both the bottom teams were all lefthanders, shut out again! High game of the day went to Clive Knowles back from his recent op with a 275 and pushing his way back up the averages. 37 200+games bowled out of a the total 76 games is good going as well. Alan walked away with the Martin Evans trophy. Congratulations Alan. Well deserved as well. Jim Kenny.. Nearly, but not quite was placed second.

Oops!

Its that time of year, Seaside rock. Fish and Chips and the continued smell of chip oil in the air. As usual a few strange charecters on your travels around the towm, but its Great Yarmouth bowl. Home of broken dreams and theatre of nightmares. Three and a bit teams made the event and all fresh with no one attending Potters. Bowling being tough and no exception this year. Alan making the most of it with an OOM winning 1793 set including placing in team and singles and a winning Doubles with Barry. Team event seeing Club captain, lovely boy Dan and is gold winning world champion partner Truffles Kenny elevated to the first team and not for the first or last judging by the performances ... Geoff making second? in the All events with 1744 was one of the other notable achievenments. HC doubles was completed by Henry and Nigel with his first OOM trophy. Well done Nigel. Just a note about the scoresheets.... Next time the official scorer will be collecting the scores and there is no get out....

New Team Shirts. Headwear optional

Winter League III and IV been and gone. Sorry but not a lot of reporting apart from Paul Hunt was victorious in the WL III at Tolworth and Barry Eason was Victorious at the Airport. LEFT the others for dead! Winner of the Winter League 2011-12 was Jim Kenny nicking it from Alan Hanafin by a couple of points.

Discussions on the long awaited new shirts was a topic for some and a compromise was found. Its a different colour, but in line with the Met Police colour scheme. They are already embroidered, quite loose fittling in a breatheable fabric and for those who must put their WPFG "Stars" on their shirts, a special velcro patch. And an innovative idea of the placing of a little mobile phone holder for other members of the club. The hat is a training aid. If its still on after delivery... then you are balenced.

Anyone else want to do a report?

Steve Summers 2nd All Events decides to celebrate with a night out

Cant hold it off any longer... The 1st OOM event of the year hosted by ours truly.. The Met at City Pavillion. A few surprises as there always is. The first one being that all the Met turned up and the queue at the bus stop remained untroubled for once. The condition was not as high scoring as expected which was born out by the fact no Met player rolled a 200 in the first game even those who rolled in the second squad didnt learn until game two... Success in the Singles for Barry Eason who nabbed a third. The doubles gave us a clean sweep in the scratch and Nigel Brown gained his first National trophy.. Thanks to Henry for taking care of Nigel! The food presented in the Italian style diner was probably the best we have ever had in respect of sitting and eating without the stress of a queue fighting for a handful of chips and the thought of having Audry Hepburn looking down the back of my Y fronts was a nice touch as well!!! The team provided a first win in the OOM for the Regents with a good score placing the team average at 208 and not too shabby and it was nice to also see the first team sit back and allow the Viscounts in on the act with a third place. All Events placed the Met in 1st and 2nd with Geoff Mitchell and Steve Summers. The raffle was also won by the Met and Jon walks off with a Kindle. Our raffles better than the West Yorks bargain hunt as well!!! Thanks to Julie and Eric and Helen for the raffle and help on the day. Pics thanks to Clive on the Met event page with details of the winners.

We can dream a little!

Winter League part deux... Tolworth lanes again although they were a little drier than expected by some. Tough on the left. Yup! Usual easy peasy on the right which was backed up by Julie being the highest placed leftie and the rest a sorry site at the bottom. However Jon managed a credable 886 to push lans 873 into second place. Geoff and Jim K were the other 200 plus averages. As a bit of an aside and naff all to do with us. Tolworth is a little high scoring with the tolworth Doubles league producing a 1604 set for a team and we also had a 600 set. Nothing unusual abot that at Tolworth except that is was a DOUBLES TEAM GAME. Yup the first ever perfect doubles game to be rolled in this country by Peter Cornwall and Paul Dale who both had 300 games. Fun to watch or what... Anyways back to us.. The current Winter League table now has (if you ignore the list) Alan leading from Geoff and Henry showing third.... Well done to all for attending as it was another reasonable showing with 16 intrepid players.

Well if a 290 don't win me the Triplex I'll...

Another top notch turn out for the Met to roll a ball at the Airport. Scores were on the whole up on last year again with some noticable play from Fin (290) and Simon with his high game and kisses in a row with a credible 9 strikes and a 277 game. Two newcomers to the list of eligable players with Nigel and Dick now available for selection. We now have what is probably a record 22 players vying for a place in a team. On the day Simon was top dog with 882 (982) and Alan 929 (969) Barry 888 (908) Jon 822 (866) and Jim 805 (865) in the money. Triplex went to Jon (299) Fin (290) and third was Clive (288) A few Movember 'taches still around (Fin went for the Bevember version and it reminded me of someone, but cant remember who) and most are looking ready to be removed  due to female pressure we are lead to believe. We eagerly await the Ladies version of Vanuary... Just to end this report with a Happy Christmas to all Met players and their families and hey... Lets be careful out there...

It looks harmless enough, but you never know...

Now any met player worth his salt will know that Leeds is not to be mocked. It is our Nemisis. The things that have gone wrong or when the law of sod applies it will ALWAYS happen at Leeds.... Well it all kicked off in Leeds we had so much Truffle with the lanes which were real a real pig, It did all snort itself out in the end, well we believe both ends actually. ;-) and a trip to the Casino for a casino virgin or two was to mbe had on Saturday night. Bowling? Scores were low as were the bowed heads as many were well below par in more ways than one. We did come away with team and doubles and an all event medal or two. ... End of the season. Yup and another start in January... Well done to us for winning the team OOM and having around five or six in the top ten OOM. Long may it last.

Ho Hum Heres he comes. Geoff Michell shows us age is no barrier with a whopping 980 at City Pavillion in the first Winter League. 17 braved the M25 to do battle. Scores were pretty good with four players bettering 800 for the four games (Geoff, Alan, Barry and Jim K) a little ball damage didnt stop Jim as can be seen by his scores. Couple of players took a tumble. Simon, Jon and Dan were the casualties. Geoff was the eventual runaway winner with Alan, Jim K, Barry and Clive trailing by a few dozen pins. Getting close to the end of the season now and only two more events to do. Nationals and Ledner beckon...

Look at me Mum

Onto the penultimate tournament of the year, Worthing. The tide must have been in this year as many people saw their averages increase. Fin led the way in the singles, helping himself to 3^rd place in the scratch event. Geoff and Dan took second place in the scratch doubles. The team event saw a mammoth effort by the first and second teams, each bowling over 850 in the final gameand Steve Summers bowling exceptionally well. The second team took the first place scratch team and the first team took the handicapped title, much to Jim K’s amusement! Dan bowled a 1799 for the day, his highest ever tournament score and took 3^rd place all events behind Mike Cummings and John Greathead. Steve Summers and Henry took most of the pots and most of the furry animals in the machines disappeared into Henry’s car also. So, with the team titles already sealed for the season, it’s onto Leeds to rub West Yorkshire’s nose in it further. Ta to Dan for the report. Who wants to do the next one. 

Hmm should I move a board or two left again

Ah The singles. That time of year again. \all come out of the woodwork to find those six qualifying games. A stunning turn out of 20 players. Alas scores not so stunning with many dropping pins on last year. With a major exception... Daniel Meaton, fresh from badge collecting in America our little globetrotter endeared himself... well to himself I suppose. With a good set Dan topped the scratch and Tony did likewise in the HC section. Geoff Mitchell tried to scrape his way to the top only to have his fingers tramped on by Alan Hanafin, former captain and also a badge collector form afar. The big match was a sight to behold with former and current team capitano fighting it out and a spectacular last frame saw Fins 245 edged out by another virgin singles winner Dans 246 game. On the HC front Henry "Madmen" Sycamore trounced his way to the final from the bottom of the pile to only run out of steam at the end to be beaten by Socrates, sorry I mean Tony Perkins. . Lets hope to see as many at the next event... And on time please..... Proper pic when I get five minutes (as someone actually took one.

Medal ceremony

As we are all aware several met players attended the event and came back with lots of badges. Congratulations to all who took part, Alan, Geoff, Daniel, Jim, Dee and Cliff. Perhaps the team captain could dig himself out from his haul of said badges and do a report for us. A pic or two would be nice as well please.

Hmm anymore Pat?

So for those of us that were not on another holiday and left to fight the honourable cause of Met Bowling... National Singles was contested by 20 odd souls and last years winners Geoff Mitchell and Chloe Bruton were in attendance. The scoring was reasonable and the cut was to thew top eight this year for the men due to the lack of numbers. Paul and Barry were the sole survivors in the last eight. Paul and Barry cruisng through to a semi and we all know how we like a good semi. Unfortunatly for Paul West Yorks Mike Cummings put paid to his afternoon and it was agreed he was mugged (at least it was by Barry and Paul) Barry won his semi and was pitted against Mike again.... mugged! in other words he gave it to Mike on a plate. No more to be said... An evening awaits. Eric (David Bellamy) Von Tersch took us for a late night walk through undergrowth and across (big) roads. At this point I realised what a hedgehog feels like in the middle of the A45 latre at night with a truck bearing down on him... Roadkill was on the menu. A brief respite in the pub with tales of old from Uncle (Jackanory) Eric and then to bed ready for the National event. Again some pretty reasonable scoring, Singles saw Paul top met player, but tricked out of top spot by "Manlove" Scott from Norfolk. Barry and Paul wrestled the doubles from Mike C and Tim Baxter. While Julie and Jim placed well in the HC section. Team event saw us victorious again. Barry, Paul, Geoff and Chloe taking scratch and Steve, Eric, Henry and Pat took a place in the HC section. Pat has now retired, surprised a few as many thought thast happened a few years back! he cakes were welcome by all. Especially by Eric (Mr Kipling). Bet he didnt tell you about that did he Cath... Barry rounded the day up with the All Events just to keep Chloe company who took the Ladies as well. So quite a few badges. The Met can tie up the Team event at Sussex. Best do it there and not have to do it at Leeds eh.

Tra la la, la la la la, tra la la la la la la la. You work out whos actually wearing the costume!

They say Scotland the brave... Hmmm. Good bits. The hotel we found, Browns and some other random restaurant followed by cocktails. On the other hand it was another one of those experiences that could have been avoided. Dan and Julie improved their averages, Barry and Geoff didnt. However Julie and Dan won the HC doubles and together we were second in the team scratch event nearly nicking it from West Yorkshire as they were about 43 pins up on us. Not bad with the weakened team (Barry was the weak bit) Geaff rolling best set of the day with a 691 helping him to a third in the All Events with a 180 average! Julie and Dan were the sniggering duo sharing most of the pots until Geoff woke up. All in all not to bad a showing from the event. A few changes to the average table will provide interesting viewing at the next event as well... See you there.

Was that Tony?

Onto the forth national event of the season and its almost halfway through... Dunstabubble has been scoring higher than a high thing can get! So the the top dog places were going big. Good showings on the individual front from the Met with no less than four players acheiving par or better. Barry, Geoff, Paul and Steve were the players involved. Spoils for the singles went to Barry 2nd scratch and Chloe HC singles for the ladies. Doubles showing was Henry and Steve third with Barry and Alan winning HC section. Team saw all the met teams involved with the Royals of Alan, Geoff, Clive and Barry winning their third straight team event by a "few pins" over West Yorks. The Regents and Viscounts also placing in scratch and HC sections. All Events was always going to one person in the mens. Mike Cummings rolling 239 avarage for the day. Barry placing second with Chloe going one better with a top placing in the ladies. So a pretty good day was had by all. Eric will not be at the next one or two events going into hospital for his op. Boo. Gotta be down to team Captain to administer the pot then! Talking of pots. Steve Summers who had his best set in a while thought he had it won with his sparkling 1870  scratch plus a million handicap and a few witnessed the bottom lip when he realised than a really good days work was spoilt by Barry who snuck in by a few pins. Next time, next time...

Dubble Trubble..

Doubles next on the tour and a return to City Pavillion Colliers Row. As can be seen top gorillas were Barry (tall one on the left) and Mark showing that the scoring at the national event was a one off... thankfully winning by nearly 100 pins. Second was Jim and Jim (Kenny and Studdard) with Jon and Nigel third. minor placings, but still in the cash were Julie and Geoff with Eric and Steve mopping up. The AGM was able to present the group with our new Club Captain... Now to be known as Capt Sir Daniel Meaton DSO and bar. This was in recognition of his sterling efforts for the last season. Mark presented the Martin Evens trophy to worthy winner Alan Hanafin. It was also agreed to reduce qualifying to 14 games after the MPAA singles... No change in Handicapping. Boo. And in case anyone is wondering why we have cartoon characters instead of photos is coz none are taken. Any percieved likeness is purely conincidental

Well it was a tough day....

Another trip to Norfolk for a two tournement challenge for some. Potters beckoned again with it must be said a depleted interest this year. But a good decision for Clive. Clive was crowned PSUK Singles Champion and very well done Clive. A trip to Regent Bowl for Norfolks annual national event saw the met sucsessful again and coming away with a mitful of very nice trophies. All Events saw Geoff Mitchell getting a second place 1804 over Barry by about 54 sticks. Mick Cummings the winner sporting a very nice Sheffield Wednesday replica shirt signed by all the kiddies at the local school. Team and doubles were also well represented with places in both 1st and 3rd team (Royals and Regents) and ditto for the doubles (Barry/Alan - Jim K/Geoff. Geoff winning the singles and Julie in the ladies singles second. A fairly painless exercise apart from alleged lost keys at Potters and the late arrival of Eric and Henry, but they were let off as Eric is the most popular man in the met squad. God bless you Eric!

I do like to be beside the Airport!

Final Winter League of the year goes out with a bang. Alan providing firewworks with his set of 930 scratch. Other notable scores were there to be had as were the notable misses... Clive was missing. Search party sent out, but to no avail we had 3 seconds wait time or until Pat turned up whichever the sooner. Pat arrived we kicked off. It was the closest finish for years as lan and Paul had to have a roll-off last game, Paul victorious 232 - 224. Dan Meaton having an 800 plus set again and eyeing up the second team slot for himself. Also coming from the rear was Alan to take the Martin Evans trophy by a point from Barry and Paul. No Henry... WE HAVE YOUR BALL STILL.

Paul... Eeee Thanks you verrrry mucho

Congratulations to an in form Paul Hunt. Winter League III is his. A few ups and downs on an interesting set of lanes saw a few big scores and one or two not so high scores... Biggest loser of the day Henry. Why I hear you all scream? Because he bought a new ball and left it there behind the lanes. Henry that ball does not hook in the car park... Good placing for Mark Evans in second with Steve Summers, Alan Hanafin and Chloe Bruton in the placings. No pictures of a cheery Paul so this will have to do... I think everything is updated and correct. please tell me it is!

One split, two splits, three splits zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Second event of the year and Dan Meaton continues his good form taking the scratch singles (with an on form Henry taking third) left the usual suspects trainling on a toughish condition. A clean sweep in the Ladies from Dee, Julie and Chloe set the scene for the day. Another clean sweep in the scratch doubles and a HC ladies pairing of Dee and Chloe adding to the haul. Not finished rubbing WEST YORSHIRES noses in the proverbial yet as more was to come. Team event and The royals and Regents taking first and third in the scratch. All events in a similar vein with Alan and Chloe taking top spot in mens and Ladies and Barry making his first individual mark with a third place edging out Jon by a few sticks... All in all a good day with the Met taking 14 out of a possible 27 and the bonus of watching Tom Walsh from Gods country picture perfect face with his 104 game... Still the Maltesers seem to make up for it! Action Pictures to follow so just a placeholder for the moment This was painted in the break and transferred to digital! Heres to the next one. Norfolk... And no 300 game money available now as someone has won it after rolling the first 300 at the Regent bowl in 40 years!

Winter League II and the first event of 2011 comes in with a bang. Barry got it right on and off the lanes with everyone getting the correct placing and money and pulling off the event victory with Paul bringing in second. Lefthanded centre... Nah just toooo good! . Third was Dee and forth Fin. Money strangley went down to fifth place and Jon... After a celebratory Curry was had by a brave few waiting for the traffic to die down. So both winter league have set a standard for winning with both having 900 plus sets to claim the winners podium and Erics cash pot. Qualifying games are now 15 games... Next event Winter League III will be the new level of 16 games...

Simon Webb set the pace at the first winter league with a big big set of 982 inc his HC. (886 scratch) That puts him on the 16 points and top of the shop posting... Big scores abounded in the new venue of City Pavillion which is incidently home of the 2011 MPAA National event. What surprises will that bring we wonder... Two 900 plus scratch sets from Jon (house pro) Greengrass 929, and Geoff Mitchell 905 also notable on the day give them 2nd and third respectively. forth on the day was Dan Meaton and he is still waiting for his winnings as Alan Hanafin who finished a fair way down the list allegedly appears to have absconded with said prize money. Will they be able to maintain the pace at Leeds for the next event??? Incidently the qualifying games now rises to a total of 13 games as the new four game format kicks in...

National Singles T Wells

Geoff Mitchel who took time off from his day job as lane host at the Airport and a slightly concerned looking Chloe Bruton are double Met winners of the National Singles played out at Tunbridge Wells. Geoff and Chloe beat Paul Hunt and Carol Barter (who is current OOM and Potty Champion so does that negate all that and make Chloe Supreme Champion.. hmm) respectively spread their silverware before them. The fruit bowl is Chloes to fill to her delight with bananas and grapes or whatever she sees fit and Geoff will no doubt carry his mug with him to all the events and thrill his grand children with tales of daring do and how he put Paul to the sword... The Butler is Roger Smith who has kindly agreed to be the Plate Champion for the year.. New Shoes Roger. Hope the old ones went to a good home... Where were ya West Yorks?

Eric and Jon. Singles 2010

Eric Von Tersh finally breaks his duck and Jon finally tops the shop. Both MPAA singles virgins show their glee at winning the Handicap and Scratch events at Tolworth on Thursday 16th September. It is Erics first ever event win. Well done to Eric who beat Simon Webb into runners Up position. Jon won the Scratch with a fine show from the start of the step ladder seeing off Barry Eason in the final. That was Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer in the finals. Conspiracy or what! Scores for the whole shooting match will be uploaded as soon as they are received...