It is with great sadness that we report that Gunnersbury Park has been forced to close.
The club was formed in 1930 and was a founder members of E&DBA in 1945. Through their history they have won many outside honours, with E&DBA and Middlesex, along with various other associations.

The loss of clubs is something we have become used to seeing (one look at the history section of this site will indicate how many have gone over the years), their loss is usually down to insufficient members. However, whilst not over-burdened with numbers, Gunnersbury Park BC had enough to continue. Their loss seems to be down to the greed of the quango that runs the park on behalf of Ealing and Hounslow councils. It is unbelievable that a park of that size cannot find the relatively small area required for a long-standing (and self-supporting it must be said) club to continue. It seems to make a mockery of the pledges of both councils to support exercise for all, irrespective of age. When will people who have this power recognise that bowls is an ideal way for people OF ALL AGES to exercise and have social interactions?

E&DBA wish the Gunnersbury Park bowlers every success for the future, and hope they continue to bowl. We also hope they continue their links with E&D via their new club(s).

New Club

Hounslow Conservative have joined the Association (subject to confirmation at the AGM). We welcome them to E&DBA.

Victory Shield

The draw for the groups for 2020 is as follows:
Group A - Ealing Central, Featherstone, North Greenford, West Ealing
Group B - Brentham, Gunnersbury Park (**), Isleworth, Springfield
(** See later post)
Clubs must arrange a fixture against the other clubs in their group, on which date they will play one rink home, one rink away. These group games MUST be played by Sunday 2nd August.
Before the season, clubs must advise the V.S. Secretary (Rob Green) of their fixtures.
During the season, clubs must advise V.S.Sec of their results. CLUBS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR ENSURING THEIR OWN RESULTS ARE SUBMITTED.

Winners and runners-up in each group will qualify for the Semi-Finals (to be played on Sunday 9th August).
Semi-Finals winners will qualify for the Final (to be played on Saturday 15th August).
Venues for the Semis and Final will be confirmed before the start of the season, with the following pencilled in - Semi-Finals @ Springfield and Finals at Ealing Central
Clubs are reminded  that the Victory Shield is a fully mixed competition now.

3-2-1

After promotion/relegation, the following are the divisions for the 2020 3-2-1:
Division 1 - Brentham, Ealing Central, Featherstone, Isleworth, Springfield
Division 2 - Gunnersbury Park (**), North Greenford, Pitshanger, West Ealing, West London

Clubs must arrange home and away fixtures against the other clubs in their division. These can be played at any time during the season (obviously evening games are more tricky in September owing to light).
Before the season, clubs must advise League Sec (Rob Green) of their fixtures.
During the season must notify League Sec of their results. IT IS THE RESPONSIBILITY OF EACH CLUB TO ENSURE THEIR RESULTS ARE SUBMITTED.
Clubs are reminded  that the 3-2-1 is essentially an men's competition, but a woman can be included in an emergency, but must play lead in the Triple (this is to mirror the rule in the women's Monday Night League).
Clubs are further reminded that in the event of one (or both) of the teams being short on the day, only one element can be played with reduced numbers - if you are one player, short concede the singles; two players, concede the pairs; three players, concede the triples; more than three short would not constitute a game. In all cases, the points are conceded but no shots. This assumes the opponents have a full team. 
Failure to implement the above will result in the outcome being voided and clubs having to replay the fixture (or if this is not possible owing to the date, the defaulting side conceding the full 8 points).

Monday Night League

It is expected that Ealing Central will rejoin the MNL for 2020. Details of fixtures, etc, will be available closer to the new season.

Competitions

Semi Finals will be played on Sun.13th Sept at Brentham and Finals on Sun.20th Sept at West Ealing.

Featherstone took the 2019 Victory Shield title, with a 41-29 win over Brentham. Full scores and teams can be seen here.

 The draw for the Mixed Singles Plate is now on this site. Click here
Competitors will receive notification pointing them at this site ASAP.

Just a quick reminder that this Sunday August 18th is the Women's Two Wood Singles Day, to be held at Hayes B.C.
Anyone who did not originally put down for this, but would now like to play, please contact Joyce Westlake ASAP.

The semi-finals of the Victory Shield provided a couple of surprises, with both group winners losing out and the group runners-up progressing to the final.
Brentham beat Islewoth 45-28 and Featherstone beat Ealing Central Utd 52-25.
The two victors will meet in the final to be held at Ealing Central on Saturday August 17th, 10:00am start.
For full scores, see here.

The match-ups for this weekend's Victory Shield semi-finals is now confirmed as follows:
Isleworth v Brentham
Ealing Central v Featherstone

Matches will start at 10am on Sunday 11th August at Springfield B.C

Sadly, Pitshanger have decided to withdraw from this season's 3-2-1 (Division 2). They have been struggling all season to get sides out owing to illness, and were forced to postpone many fixtures. With just a short period of the season remaining, they have taken the decision that it is not practical to got those outstanding matches played. The results of those games that were played have been removed from the league table. E&DBA hopes Pisthanger'scurrent situation is just temporary and they can resume for 2020. 

Congratulations to Ealing Central and Brentham who have finished first and second respectively in their Victory Shield group. They are through to the semi-finals at Springfield on 11th August. Their opponents are yet to be confirmed, owing to outstanding fixtures in the other group.

The draws for the E&D competitions are now available on this website. Copies will be sent out by Bob Worley over the next few days to club secretaries and/or competitors. This will contain contact details for competitors, to enable you to arrange your ties.
Please note, if possible please notify us of your results via the forms on the relevant competition page on this site. This will ensure that your results reach both the respective competition monitor and also the webmaster (to enable this website to be kept as up-to-date as possible). Obviously, those who don't have web access will still be able to let us know their scores by phone (numbers on the drawsheets from Bob).