On 6th October, Kempston Park Indoor Bowls Club located in Hillgrounds Road, celebrated its 30th anniversary with a special match and dinner with a visit from the President of the English Indoor Bowls Association, Alison Welsted. She brought with her a selected team of bowlers from 12 different counties to represent her in a match against members of our club. A full afternoon of competitive, but friendly bowling was followed by some entertainment by a visiting EIBA bowler before both teams and guests enjoyed a meal provided by our excellent catering staff.
There followed a number of congratulatory and entertaining speeches from the Directors of the club and by the visiting guests. Alison Welsted, President of the EIBA presented the club with an engraved commemorative shield to mark its 30th Anniversary. Alan Ratcliffe the President of Kempston Park Indoor Bowls Club then presented all our visitors with a complimentary 30th Anniversary lapel badge to mark the day. All current members of the Club having already received their badges marking the very significant point in the progress that the Club has made.
Our history from the outset in 1989 when the Lawson Park IBC was opened and flourished originally, to its near demise in 2012, was recorded. Then an opportunity for the Members of the Club at that time was negotiated with the Borough Council to take on a 25 year lease. The Board of Directors, the staff and members have built this Club into a successful, thriving, financially secure community facility being the home to over 650 bowlers our Wheelstars and Tibbs Dementia groups as well as 80 plus social members and continues to grow year by year. It is now established as a modern, high standard and well-regarded bowling club with an ever growing reputation for high class facilities, renowned catering at all levels, a very friendly welcoming atmosphere which is open to all both socially and competitively. Future events are scheduled including high level competitive matches and ever more social events for our members and their guests to enjoy.
National Fantastic 5’s Final
Kempston Park Indoor Bowls Club were honoured to be awarded the hosting of the final of the Fantastic 5’s last month. The four clubs who qualified for the final were Wey Valley (Guildford), Colchester White (Colchester), Melton Pork Pies (Melton Mowbray) and Clarrie Dunbar (Frome).
The teams can comprise of up to 12 players, from which 5 are selected to play each round, teams must be mixed, two of one gender and three of another. Pairs and Triples can be played by a one gender or a mixed gender team, it is down to the Team Captain to decide who plays in which discipline. The competition is open to all indoor clubs and each discipline (singles, pairs, triples and fours) won by a team, scores 2 points with one point for a draw, the highest scoring team going into the next round.
In the final all the qualifying teams play each other with the winner being the club with the highest number of points overall. After a full day’s competition with lunch and tea breaks between rounds, Wey Valley triumphed and were crowned Champions 2019. A very successful day for all, with KPIBC being congratulated by the National Officials ‘on the facilities and the professional approach to staging such a high profile event’. KPIBC had entered two teams which just failed to qualify for the final event having lost in the previous round. The teams representing us were Alan Ratcliffe,(Capt) with Sue Webb, Sue and Derek Richards, Sue and Peter Glennon, Pat Robinson, Peter Hawking, Brian Lee, Heather and Mick Page, John Kayne (Capt) with Stuart Procter, Simon Kinns, Lan Croxan, Paul Camilleri, Edweena Church, Les Usher, Margret Maddox, Linda and Paul Grimsey, All are keen to try again next year!
