Well, where do I start.
What an unbelievable 24 hours, started by Tom Langford at 6pm Friday night and finished by so many club members and friends at 6pm Saturday night.
The Premier team led by Ian Gaut and Tony Rhodes produced a great result beating Bylet 12 – 2. The generosity and support shown by all of the Bylet team was outstanding and this contributed to raising a massive £450.00 on the night. (Brilliant work Mirjana for rattling the bucket). As the game concluded and with the returning Div 1 and 3 sides, the green was packed, and at one stage (1:00am) there were 35 people playing spider on the green. It was fantastic to see so many people putting themselves out at such an unsociable time and we were all having a great laugh as you can imagine.
This continued until round 3am, numbers reduced steadily and it was down to the hard core 12 or 14 bowlers (sorry guys too many to mention but great effort) led by Ali Cotton to see it through until the morning. A very big shout up for Pete Gaut who started bowling at 3am, Cheryl who was on the micand kept up the motivation in her own exuberant style and Mike Potter who went home to bring back a sound system. This was fantastic and kept the mood flowing brilliantly through the early hours.
Morning came and so did the sun and on a beautiful summer’s morning, the hard core were still at it, dedication and commitment personified, nothing else to say. Tango, John Potter, Hollie, still going for it well past 9am and then on to their morning Inter League games. Sausages and bacon were the order for the day and as you can imagine these went down very well with lots of strong coffee.
With bowlers coming and going through the morning the sun kept shining and with the addition of a few of Ian’s work colleagues and Ian Pessall walking off some pre-wedding nerves the green was always busy. With the addition of the BBQ set up and manned by Ashley (Brilliant work Ashley and Norma, many thanks from all those hungry bowlers) things were looking very good, most bowlers on their 3rd / 4th wind by now, the energy was relentless (for you Chopp).
The Saturday League game with Bowring led by Tom and Robbie started on time at 2pm and went on to 4pm with a good win for St. George’s in a very good game. Many thanks to Bowring for your very kind donations.
Well the last 2 hours:
Games, fun and what a laugh, everyone there had smiles on their faces and a tired spring in their step for the home stretch.
A few spider games which incredibly made a further £70 towards the total we drew it to a close on the church clock striking 6:00 pm.
Tony said a few words on behalf of Mandy, Matthew and the Rhodes family and the superb charity very close to all our hearts. It was then left to Tom to announce that the early signs are that collectively, as a Club, with support from friends and family, we have all raised an outstanding £5000.00.
Not a dry eye in the house.
To all involved throughout the event, whether it be bowling, supporting or fund raising, this has produced some outstanding individual achievements. Take a bow and rejoice in that as a collective we have produced an amazing result.
I am proud to say that St. George’s is a fantastic Club with an incredible group of people, which it is my privilege and honour to know. This makes me a very proud man. Well done St GEORGES BOWLING CLUB
A personal thank you to Ian Gaut, we could not have got this going without your help commitment and support, I really appreciate it mate.
Tom Langford & Fozzy