Frant Bowls Club

	The Club Frant Bowls Club is a village bowls club maintained as a CASC (Community Amateur Sports Club) by its members. It is easy to find the green by Frant Memorial Hall on the Bells Yew Green Road on the opposite side to the cricket pitch. The post code is TN3 9ED or go to the location page for a map or directions. Or use What3words ///reject.ships.closes Indoors There is an associated short mat club which is based in Frant Memorial Hall where roll-ups are held on Tuesdays during the winter season. The short mat club is not playing league matches this season. What's occurring? Last Match Last match: Wed, May 21st versus West Hoathly Next Match Next match is against Crowborough on Sat, May 24th at 14.00 at Crowborough Dress: Whites, format: 4 mixed triples. weather Forthcoming Events On Fri, May 30th at 18.30, Quiz Night. Venue: Frant Memorial Hall. Notices Recent changes to the website include the addition of a Competition Calculator for public use. You can find this under the Fixtures menu. It allows formats and time estimates to be calculated. The 2025 season As I write this the outdoor bowling season is almost upon us. The AGM in January did manage to recruit a full committee for 2025 following the standing down of the Captain and Chairman and the unfortunate demise of our Secretary. Plans were set in motion for several fund-raising events and a Quiz Night and Magic Evening are in the season's programme of events. As before, the season will open with a Roll-up and Barbecue - this year on April 15th. Last year's first roll-up was bravely attended, but was marred, to say the least, by a hailstorm. Looking almost a month ahead at the Accuweather website, the forecast this year is for 13°C, 71% cloud cover and a 25% probability of precipitation. I suspect this forecast is based more on historical probabilities than actual meteorological conditions so we wait with crossed digits. Your website correspondent, no longer being a serving committee member, is unable to provide more detailed information on the committee's plans for the coming season "straight from the horses mouth". However, offers of contributions for the website from better informed sources would be very welcome. The Green Crossed fingers are required for the condition of the green. Over the winter there has been a severe attack of pearlwort. This manifests itself as a very low-growing, dark, wiry, dense covering and when removed could leave us with bare patches. We'll re-seed as soon as we can, but we just have to hope it looks reasonable and bowls satisfactorily when the season starts. The Allett mower has been repaired and serviced. This is one of the significant items of expenditure for the club and we are determined to minimise wear by avoiding mowing the green when wormcasts and sticky conditions prevail. Cold weather has reduced the worm activity as well as the need to mow frequently but as the temperature rises and watering increases this should now change and we'll get some grass growth to improve the green's appearance. The green has recently been aerated and should be being scarified as I write this. Have a go Some clubs, particularly in a more urban setting than ours are offering evening pay-and-play deals so that non-members can have a playing session and use of the licensed bar. This is becoming popular with a younger age group and helping to dispel the "old man's game" image. This would not work at Frant because we are not regularly open to casual visitors. What we have done and can do again is to arrange corporate sessions. A typical arrangement would be for a group to arrive at lunchtime (optionally with their own lunch as we don't have catering facilities). We can supply drinks and we would give a short introductory demonstration for beginners in the clubhouse. We then move out to the green where we split into up to four groups in each of which club members help to get everyone started with a practice session. We follow up with a challenge match by dividing into two teams. Ideally there will be some departmental rivalry such that bragging rights for the winning team is adequate motivation. We finish in the clubhouse bar for the bragging to begin... Teas survive! Several clubs have now returned to the custom of providing proper bowls teas at weekend matches. This practice virtually ceased at the time of Covid lockdown but Frant maintained its high standards as soon as matches resumed and it is always appreciated by visiting teams. This website The website has been enhanced in several ways of late. As usual this process keeps me busy but usually results in a few glitches before it all works well again. Competitions There is now a publicly available function to help arrange bowls competitions. It will tell you how many rounds you need for n-player knockout competitions and how many entrants get a bye in the first round. It will tell you how many matches you need in each group for round-robin competitions and given the number of woods per person and number of ends, all the estimated timings are given. Registered users (not necessarily club members) can now set up competitions and the site will generate complete match schedules and league tables for round robin competition stages and a draw for knockout stages or complete knockout competitions. These competitions allow results to be entered to maintain league tables and knockout progress. Notification emails The emails that are automatically sent from the website to members (and registered users) who have subscribed to them are now in a more aesthetically pleasing form (although work still needs to be done here, I have to admit). A site for your club Potentially, all the functions of the website are available to other bowls clubs. Currently only Frant Bowls Club and Frant Short Mat Bowls Club use the site but to set up another club is relatively straightforward. The club colours can be specified and a club administrator must be nominated and a modest fee agreed with the developer. The club administrator can then set up the members, the clubs with whom fixtures are held and those fixture arrangements and regular events. The club's home page can be drafted and configured online and updated as frequently as required. Feel free to ask for a trial. Tuesday Cup On Tuesday roll-up evenings, we run a season-long competition for which a cup is awarded to the winner at our awards dinner in November. The rules are such that members can play as many of these games as they wish, with the shots scored by their team in their best 8 games counting to their season total. There is a larger element of luck than is usual in bowls games because teams are drawn randomly from those who want to play each week. The format can be pairs, triples or even rinks on up to three rinks. If we have an odd number of players we can even end up with the dreaded three-against-two arrangement! These rules mean that everyone is required to play in the position drawn and may have the advantage of being teamed up with strong team mates or struggling with weaker bowlers. It evens itself out over the season and as long as enough games are played, the low scores don't count anyway. Good character-building stuff!

The Club

Frant Bowls Club is a village bowls club maintained as a CASC (Community Amateur Sports Club) by its members. It is easy to find the green by Frant Memorial Hall on the Bells Yew Green Road on the opposite side to the cricket pitch. The post code is TN3 9ED or go to the location page for a map or directions. Or use What3words ///reject.ships.closes

Indoors

There is an associated short mat club which is based in Frant Memorial Hall where roll-ups are held on Tuesdays during the winter season. The short mat club is not playing league matches this season.

What's occurring?

Last Match

Last match: Wed, May 21st versus West Hoathly

Next Match

Next match is against Crowborough on Sat, May 24th at 14.00 at Crowborough Dress: Whites, format: 4 mixed triples.
weather

Forthcoming Events

On Fri, May 30th at 18.30, Quiz Night. Venue: Frant Memorial Hall.

Notices

Recent changes to the website include the addition of a Competition Calculator for public use. You can find this under the Fixtures menu. It allows formats and time estimates to be calculated.

The 2025 season

As I write this the outdoor bowling season is almost upon us.

The AGM in January did manage to recruit a full committee for 2025 following the standing down of the Captain and Chairman and the unfortunate demise of our Secretary. Plans were set in motion for several fund-raising events and a Quiz Night and Magic Evening are in the season's programme of events. As before, the season will open with a Roll-up and Barbecue - this year on April 15th.

Last year's first roll-up was bravely attended, but was marred, to say the least, by a hailstorm. Looking almost a month ahead at the Accuweather website, the forecast this year is for 13°C, 71% cloud cover and a 25% probability of precipitation. I suspect this forecast is based more on historical probabilities than actual meteorological conditions so we wait with crossed digits.

Your website correspondent, no longer being a serving committee member, is unable to provide more detailed information on the committee's plans for the coming season "straight from the horses mouth". However, offers of contributions for the website from better informed sources would be very welcome.

The Green

Crossed fingers are required for the condition of the green. Over the winter there has been a severe attack of pearlwort. This manifests itself as a very low-growing, dark, wiry, dense covering and when removed could leave us with bare patches. We'll re-seed as soon as we can, but we just have to hope it looks reasonable and bowls satisfactorily when the season starts.

The Allett mower has been repaired and serviced. This is one of the significant items of expenditure for the club and we are determined to minimise wear by avoiding mowing the green when wormcasts and sticky conditions prevail. Cold weather has reduced the worm activity as well as the need to mow frequently but as the temperature rises and watering increases this should now change and we'll get some grass growth to improve the green's appearance. The green has recently been aerated and should be being scarified as I write this.

Have a go

Some clubs, particularly in a more urban setting than ours are offering evening pay-and-play deals so that non-members can have a playing session and use of the licensed bar. This is becoming popular with a younger age group and helping to dispel the "old man's game" image. This would not work at Frant because we are not regularly open to casual visitors. What we have done and can do again is to arrange corporate sessions. A typical arrangement would be for a group to arrive at lunchtime (optionally with their own lunch as we don't have catering facilities). We can supply drinks and we would give a short introductory demonstration for beginners in the clubhouse. We then move out to the green where we split into up to four groups in each of which club members help to get everyone started with a practice session. We follow up with a challenge match by dividing into two teams. Ideally there will be some departmental rivalry such that bragging rights for the winning team is adequate motivation. We finish in the clubhouse bar for the bragging to begin...

Teas survive!

Several clubs have now returned to the custom of providing proper bowls teas at weekend matches. This practice virtually ceased at the time of Covid lockdown but Frant maintained its high standards as soon as matches resumed and it is always appreciated by visiting teams.

This website

The website has been enhanced in several ways of late. As usual this process keeps me busy but usually results in a few glitches before it all works well again.

Competitions

There is now a publicly available function to help arrange bowls competitions. It will tell you how many rounds you need for n-player knockout competitions and how many entrants get a bye in the first round. It will tell you how many matches you need in each group for round-robin competitions and given the number of woods per person and number of ends, all the estimated timings are given.

Registered users (not necessarily club members) can now set up competitions and the site will generate complete match schedules and league tables for round robin competition stages and a draw for knockout stages or complete knockout competitions. These competitions allow results to be entered to maintain league tables and knockout progress.

Notification emails

The emails that are automatically sent from the website to members (and registered users) who have subscribed to them are now in a more aesthetically pleasing form (although work still needs to be done here, I have to admit).

A site for your club

Potentially, all the functions of the website are available to other bowls clubs. Currently only Frant Bowls Club and Frant Short Mat Bowls Club use the site but to set up another club is relatively straightforward. The club colours can be specified and a club administrator must be nominated and a modest fee agreed with the developer. The club administrator can then set up the members, the clubs with whom fixtures are held and those fixture arrangements and regular events. The club's home page can be drafted and configured online and updated as frequently as required. Feel free to ask for a trial.

Tuesday Cup

On Tuesday roll-up evenings, we run a season-long competition for which a cup is awarded to the winner at our awards dinner in November. The rules are such that members can play as many of these games as they wish, with the shots scored by their team in their best 8 games counting to their season total. There is a larger element of luck than is usual in bowls games because teams are drawn randomly from those who want to play each week. The format can be pairs, triples or even rinks on up to three rinks. If we have an odd number of players we can even end up with the dreaded three-against-two arrangement! These rules mean that everyone is required to play in the position drawn and may have the advantage of being teamed up with strong team mates or struggling with weaker bowlers. It evens itself out over the season and as long as enough games are played, the low scores don't count anyway. Good character-building stuff!

What's occurring?

Last Match

Next Match

Forthcoming Events

Notices

Home page