What a treat, a cup of coffee, a couple of ginger nuts and the Journal. Oh, how we’ve all missed the Journal! With all its local info and bits of news it is such an asset to our community and so it’s great to know that it’ll be back in print and keeping us up to date once again.

On the down side, I think that after all these weeks my brain has got a little rusty. So where to start? Well as you all know we were just getting our bowls out and giving them a pre-season polish when the virus struck and sadly all games had to be cancelled and life as we knew it came to a juddering halt. How did you fill your time? I expect like me you now have a strong smell of new paint in your houses and the gardens are fit to be entered in the Chelsea flower show. There seems to have been a lot of dog walking going on as well judging by the look of dread on some of our canine friends faces when the word ‘walkies’ is mentioned.

Our ladies captain, Kath, kept herself busy on her sewing machine, making face masks which she then sold raising the grand sum of £400 for Dorothy House. Well done Kath. Brilliant job.

The new paint is not only confined to our homes. I think when things get back to normal our members will be amazed at the transformation that has taken place in our clubhouse. It’s been painted to within an inch of its life and is looking very spruce thanks to lots of hard work by several members and in particular Pat and Sue Youngs who have not only painted but spent hours washing all the chair covers and making some snazzy new blinds. Thanks to all of you and also thanks to Paul and his team who have kept the green ticking over during the shut down.

Recently we have managed to open the green for some roll-ups and we managed to play a revised version of the Cecil Jones competition. It was great to see some of our members out there on the green enjoying the sport we all love even if the hand gel and sanitising sprays had to take pride of place on each rink.

Victory in the Cecil Jones competition went to old hand Keith Coombes with newbie Steve Tyler coming second. Congratulations to both lads and well done to all who entered and made it so enjoyable.

Now for the sad news. We recently heard the news that Sue Nott has passed away. Although Sue never played bowls she was regularly at Norwest with husband, Eddie. She was a stalwart supporter of the club and could always be relied on when help was needed. She was a dab hand in the kitchen and always excelled on Presidents’ Day and Captains day when she supplied us with a superb buffet. Sue also helped behind the bar, played in the winter skittles league and helped with the Fish and Chip League supper. She will be greatly missed and our thoughts go to Eddie and his family at this sad time.

Nora