Oxfordshire County League 2021

 The confirmed and updated fixtures for the 2021 season have been posted on this site.

Please note the temporary changes to the rules for 2021:

1.  The format will be 3 x Rinks & 1 x Triples (The Triples from each side will play each other)

2.  To enable a full team to be selected, all club members can be considered for selection. Alternatively, you can play with 12 bowlers but in the event that the triples play against the rinks, the triple will lose 25% of their score (as in world bowls laws of the sport of bowls Section 2.4 39-2.2). Triple against triple: a point to the winner or half a point each if the game is drawn.

Letitia Batten, Secretary of South Oxford Bowls Club writes:   It is with great sorrow we report  the death yesterday of Dougie Califano. A Life Member of the club, he will always be remembered for the loving care he gave to his “baby”, our Triples League. Our condolences go to Beryl and his family.

Peter Willers  (CNBC)

It is with sadness that Chipping Norton Bowls Club reports the death of Peter Willers at the grand age of 95.

Peter was one of nature’s Gentlemen in every sense of the expression. He was quiet, unassuming, always calm and unruffled by anything, the first to respond to any request for help and usually didn’t even need to be asked.

Although a keen golfer, upon retirement he and his late wife Joan joined the bowls club and quickly settled into the bowls scene.  Within a short period, Peter started a partnership with the late Bob Ellis as joint greenkeepers ensuring our green was amongst the best in the County.  For many years Peter was a County grade Umpire and officiated in many matches, games and competitions throughout the County and beyond.

Quietly working behind the scenes Peter, if not working on the green, could be found behind the bar, hoovering the indoor carpet orputting his hand to other jobs required. A fountain of knowledge it was always a pleasure to be in his company and he will be, as well as Joan, sorely missed by many here at Chippy.

   Bowls England have changed the traditional round robin matches for the inter-county competitions to a straight knock out competition commencing with area groupings, for this year only:

   The draws have recently been announced and the fixtures for Oxfordshire Ladies, Men and Juniors is as follows:

Middleton Cup - 10 July - v Buckinghamshire (at a neutral venue). - 10.30 am at Tilehurst BC, Reading.

Walker Cup  - 27 June  -  v Middlesex (H) - 1.30 pm at Banbury Chestnuts BC

Balcomb Trophy - 11 July - Middlesex (H) - 10.30 am at Headington BC

White Rose Trophy - 20 June - Buckinghamshire (A) - at Gerrards Cross BC, at 1030 hrs.

 The Home Counties Bowling Association has decided that the Home Counties League will not be played this year, but will be replaced by a straight knock out competition.

The first games will be played on Saturday, 17 July and Oxfordshire have been drawn at home to Kent. Further details will be published when arrangements have been made.

For information, the Junior Home Counties League will continue as planned. 

  This is a late reminder that Affiliation fees and lists of club members must be returned to      Peter Cross by 24 April, 2021, at the latest.  Thank you in anticipation of your support.

 On 25 March 2021, we received notification of changes to the rules for National championships and National Competitions. We also received new dates for inter-county matches within the National Competitions.

 National Championships will follow the Commonwealth Games format for 2021, with the exception of inter-county fixtures. This means that apart from singles events, all others either have fewer bowls per player or less ends. Full details are contained on the information page under Competition rules for 2021.

The Middleton Cup, Balcomb Trophy and White Rose Trophy will now become knock out events for 2021, rather than starting with regional round robin games. The fixture list and diary pages have been altered to reflect the new programme.

Similar changes have been made for the Ladies, for their respective inter-county competition fixtures.

The programme for all National Finals has also been changed and will be over a shorter period (Aug19-Sept5). As a result only the winners of county finals will go forward to represent Oxfordshire this year. Details of all finals are shown on the diary pages.

Further details can be found on the Bowls England website.

GORING AND ALMSHOUSES BOWLS CLUB

We are delighted to learn that Goring Bowling Club and Goring Heath Bowls Club have successfully amalgamated into a new club to be known as Goring and Almshouses Bowls Club. Congratulations to David Watson and both sets of officials for managing this change and good luck for the work ahead of you.

Both clubs had been experiencing low numbers of members in the recent past, which made the two previous clubs difficult to sustain, so this was a very sensible solution, even though not easy to achieve. That process is now almost complete, with all necessary member voting completed in favour of the merger.  The exact mechanism is that Goring Heath Bowls Club (Almshouses) has changed its name to "Goring and Almshouses Bowls Club" and Goring Bowling Club has voted to dissolve and transfer all assets and members to the new Goring and Almshouses Bowls Club.

A new committee has been elected and has held its first meeting (virtually, of course).  For this season at least, both the original greens will be kept in operation, with Oddfellows Triples League matches played at Goring and friendlies at The Almshouses. David Watson has been elected secretary of G&A BC.  He would appreciate all communications coming to their new email address:  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

They have a new website up and running at:     https://gabowls.weebly.com

Details of key appointments and contact details have been updated on this website under the “Affiliated Clubs” tab.

Current members and potential new bowlers in the Goring area, will be eternally grateful to club officials for this initiative and we look forward to seeing the new club thrive in the future.

OBA Bowls Clothing

We are pleased to offer the ability to purchase OBA bowls attire online for people that intend to play county matches next season or to assist those established players that may have lost weight or gained a few lbs. 

Please take a look at the "SHOP" tab and plan ahead rather than purchasing on the day you intend to play.

We hope to extend the clothing on offer on this site, to save bowlers from having to search for their requirements in the future.

Please take a look.

 A timely reminder

Entries for the 2021 National Competitions & County Domestic Competitions are now closed and details of the draw can be found on this website

To enable clubs to more accurately predict their membership for 2021, given the fact that the pandemic completely disrupted the last season, the return date requested by Bowls England is 1 May. Therefore can all clubs please forward your list of players, togther with the fees due to Peter Cross by 24 April 2021 to ensure we meet this deadline.  

 The forms were sent to the Club Secretaries some time ago.Thanks.

As vaccines will be available in the New Year, we are optimistic that we should have a full programme outdoors in 2021.

Please make this a new year’s resolution to send these important details to us by the dates shown. Thanks for your anticipated assistance.