The club started in April 1990 from a meeting of local villagers, mainly retired, attending a coffee morning at the Village Hall, who wished to use their village hall for short mat bowls rather than travel to other venues which often involved driving at night. The first committee meeting on the 24 May 1990 set out to get funding from a number of sources to cover the setting up costs. 
Sherington Parish Council & local companies. Bucks Playing Fields Association. Age Concern with Operation Enterprise funding projects for seniors. Bucks Council for Voluntary Service. Milton Keynes Community Trust. Donations from local individuals. 
The committee managed to obtain a three month loan of mats and other bowls paraphernalia via Milton Keynes Sports Council to cover the initial period whilst waiting for the funds to be received from the various sources.They also decided to name the club "Sherington Indoor Bowls Club" this later became "Sherington Short Mat Bowls Club" to prevent any confusion.
The meeting on the 2nd April 1990 shows 18 attended the inaugural bowls session at the village hall and the first competitive match was with Stoke Goldington in August 1990 using the new equipment.The result was a win for Sherington. Membership As space was limited the group has to restrict the membership. When the attendance exceeds 24 people, some will have to sit out for part of the session and arranging to swap for the after tea session, offering them a chance to catch up with essential gossip. When odd numbers are present we introduce a fictional player “Fred” and his other team members then bowl additional woods to balance the opposition. This problem was acknowledged in the clubs’ constitution and even today we have a maximum of just 36 members. The club has recently become affiliated to the Northampton Region of the Short Mat Bowling Association. We now play planned regional matches on a regular basis, much to the delight of dedicated bowlers. 
Our Game As some may be unaware of what exactly we get up to we should come clean. Contrary to belief we use full size bowls (woods) just like the people on outdoor bowling greens and as you may have seen on television; however not quite as colourful. We use normal black or brown bowls aiming at a smaller yellow jack situated towards the end of a 45 ft mat, bowling with the help of the bias within the bowl around a small wooden block positioned across the line of fire half way along the 6 ft wide mat. This block plays a strategic role by increasing the difficulty of a direct shot on the jack, giving players a more even chance. The bowler’s aim along with the correct pace of bowl towards the jack is judged by skill gained from practice. 
Our particular mats are said by most people to be very friendly offering a slow pace with a fair chance that the bowl will stay on the mat and not fly into the ditch, as is the case with some other clubs’ mats. When we play at other venues we initially test the pace of the mat with a two trial ends, called roll-ups. Then each team confirms the playing order, with the skip being the last to play and responsible for deciding a strategy for each end played.
Team members with consistent and careful delivery will aim to place their woods at the best position, whilst endeavoring to improve their team’s score. The scoring is simply the number of a teams bowls closer than the oppositions nearest bowl to the jack. At the Sherington we mainly play friendly games within our own club but with a high level of camaraderie. We insist that having fun is as important as the event, and we keeping coming back! The Venue 
The group meets regularly most Monday afternoons and Friday evenings at the Sherington Village Hall.
Sherington is a village between Newport Pagnell and Olney, just to the north of Milton Keynes. The wallhanging shown here is an interpretation of the village and displayed in the village hall. Why not come down to the Sherington Village Hall to one of our club meetings? If you would like other information we have a poster outside the Sherington Village Hall. To find out more about the village and villagers access their web site:- Click here to open the Sherington Village web site.
Click here to open the Sherington Historical web site.
The committee set out in 2004 to give back to our members a range of things that help to develop the club and make us feel proud that we belong to such a fine group. They provided a club badge for members, bearing the village coat of arms in our club colours and also donate a group photograph. A copy is to be found in the village hall along with the results of our annual single & doubles competition. Outdoor bowls myths This may have a crusty, "old people's game" image due largely to the use of sponsors like Saga and over 55's insurance companies. The reality is somewhat different and as an example at county level in Scotland the average player's age is somewhere in the thirties. Competitive bowling can be an exhausting game (21 ends) and in matches players are expected to perform for three to four hours without a break. During these games they can walk two or three miles and bend up and down about 100 times. The outdoor green is about 3 times longer and lanes seem wider as carpet edges don’t exist! Fund raising Over the years the group has donated monies to worthwhile local causes. As an example we have raised in excess of £2500.00 for the Myrtle Peach based charity providing essential scanners and other expensive equipment for the Cancer unit at Milton Keynes Hospital. The link to Sherington was as a result of Myrtle being diagnosed with cancer too late for successful treatment and, being a local Sherington resident for most of her life, the villagers are very keen to see this succeed. The club became involved with the Community Foundation many years ago and regularly raises monies by selling raffle tickets. This is a very important venture for Milton Keynes and is supported by VW donating a vehicle as the first prize. Monies raised is both shared by those involved and other local voluntary groups needing pump priming. Competitions and prizes 
We decided to hold the competitions early each year so as not to clash with members holiday commitments i.e. the cruises, world flights and exotic holidays. Sometimes Sherington bowls club seems more like “Club Med” or perhaps some members are busy spending their kids’ inheritance. 
Over the years the club has either purchased winners cups or had them donated and as a memento of the achievement a small shield is presented and is retained by the finalists. To promote attendance we present at the AGM a souvenir for both ladies and gents with the most meetings attended over the year. Recently we had a fine cup donated and is now engraved “Patterson Memorial Trophy" Our fixtures secretary tries to include two competitive events per month with other local bowls clubs. Celebration During December the club members and some honorary members join in the bowls club’s celebrations, either a formal group attending a meal at a local hostelry or an informal one arranged by members and held during an extended bowls afternoon: - fun and games with a festive bowling flavour to keep the Christmas spirit alive. The fun element is an essential part of our meetings; we have bowlers with many abilities. Some treat the game as a chance to socialise with others of a similar mind but find that the more serious members play to win! One year the usual fun bowls event also included a “Where am I?” photograph quiz showing sixteen places in England produced eleven entries and a joint entry won with a score of nine correctly identified locations. We also have the inevitable raffle and seek useful prizes as donations from members – some end up under the Christmas tree whilst others are often consumed prior to Christmas. 
A local article about short mat bowls
There comes a time in every scribe’s career when he or she looks for inspiration and none more so than for a bowls club chronicler. Playing short mat bowls is a convivial pastime - sociable, gentle exercise, friendly repartee - but the recounting of it is a walk in the descriptive wilderness. Besides it crossed my mind that many of too-numerous-to-mention readers have no idea what it is all about, so perhaps I should explain. During the winter Olympics we all watched spell bound that other hypnotic game, curling. Well short mat bowls is similar to curling, without the ice. 
Anyway, all you have to do is place a white or yellow ball, called the jack, in the designated area, and then bowl your own bowls called woods to it, and the nearest teams’ bowls score the points. It can be played with 1, 2, 3, or 4 players on each side, usually bowling just 2 woods but you may use 4 when playing singles. So far so good; but then come the pitfalls for the sceptical or unwary. The bowl has a weighted bias on one side, which has to be allowed for, and the mat – carpet – upon which the game is played, is narrow, and made narrower by a block of wood placed across the centre which has to be negotiated on one side or the other. Games are played mostly in a village-hall-type venue, where the floor was installed more for a Saturday night hop than the pristine level required for bowling. Over time it may have developed its own peculiarities. Lastly, as the mat is only about 40ft long, judgment of pace of delivery of the bowl from the bowlers hand is essential and, if you think that crouching down to deliver a bowl is easy, especially after a night partying with perhaps a few beers and the inevitable Indian extra strength
vindaloo,
you might have to give thought to a more appropriate stance.
The game is open to all ages, colours or creeds, the genteel or the bucolic, the ego-tripping experts or the skill-under-achievers, the taciturn or the verbose and as long as you have arms, short mat bowls is a game you should enjoy, so come along and join in. It may be the inspiration-impetus for a new hobby. Inspired by an article by: - C.W.N. Denton bowls scribe |