The Club holds its own competitions and hosts a range of Regional, Open, Charity and  Fun events in the course of a year.

In 2011/2012 we will be hosting the Costa del Sol Men's Annual Triples and for the last 3 years we have hosted the major Championship on the coast the Winter Championships and the Costa del Sol Men's & Ladies' Singles Champion of Champions. We also hosted the Camero Cup in September and the annual rankings tournament in October. So a very busy season looms ahead! Visit the separate pages for a report on what happened in the 2011 Winter Championships and Champion of Champions events.

The Club holds one Major Championship each year known as "The Miraflores Open" (click on the link above). This year we were pleased to announce that for the first time the competition was sponsored by Caser Seguros (one of the largest insurance companies in Spain).

The palm trees being tidied up in preparation for the Open

The Handicap Singles competition was held in the last week in November and was played out in warm sunshine, always a bonus at that time of year. The handicap committee had done an excellent job as we saw many close matches amongst both experienced and less experienced members, with a few surprises along the way. The semi-finals provided two intriguing matches with Derek Carr (last years winner) up against Dudley Calder and Esther Gatter playing Alan Abel (last years losing finalist and a semi-finalist in the Miraflores Open the previous week). In the first match Derek was quickly out of the blocks accumulating a 7-0 lead after 5 ends, Dudley finally got a shot and then proceeded to dominate a tremendous game with excellent bowling from both sides eventually winning 21-13. The other match was again an intriguing one with Esther going well to lead 17-10 after 18 ends, but Alan pulled his way back into the game and went on to win 22-19 to set up an eagerly awaited final. The final, unusually was played in the morning and a large number of members turned out to watch, they witnessed some excellent bowling from both players, but this time Alan was not able to make his mark leaving Dudley the winner by a convincing 22-9 margin, the score-line not being reflective of the closeness of the match. This gave Dudley his first win in a Miraflores Club Championship and a place on the honours board at the end of the season. The final was followed by a very enjoyable BBQ for those present.

Handicap Singles finalists (From L to R): Alan Abel (runner-up) & Dudley Calder (winner).
 
 

The last week in September saw the running of the first club competition in this year’s bowling calendar, namely the Men’s & Ladies’ 2-wood singles. The competition was played in unseasonably hot conditions which made life especially challenging for the participants. There were a large number of entries in both disciplines this year and during the course of the competition we witnessed many closely fought matches with a number standing at 20-20 going into the last end. The Ladies’ semi-finals saw two of our newer members involved but both Esther Gatter & Chris Roberts narrowly missed out on a place in the final to Dorothy Pilmoor & Pam Shemmings.

The Men’s semi-finals were between Denis Hanley & Dennis Wood and Dudley Calder & Derek Shemmings. In the first of these matches it was very close early on but Denis started to pull away and led 17-11 after 20 ends, Dennis fought back and  with Denis becalmed on 20 the score reached 20-20 before Dennis got the winning shot. The other semi-final between two of the most experienced bowlers in the club saw Dudley picking up points consistently throughout the match to run out the winner 21-10.

The finals saw Dennis and Pam, both previous winners of this competition up against Dudley & Dorothy who were both attempting a first win in this event. In the Ladies final we observed a superb display of bowling by both ladies, Pam started well but Dorothy kept in touch taking the lead after 12 ends. The lead then changed hands many times as the two ladies battled to 18-19 after 30 ends, but it was not to be for 4 times winner Pam as Dorothy sent down a superb bowl which rested on Pam's shot wood to give her the championship 21-18.

The Men’s final saw Dennis take an early lead but Dudley pulled his way back into the match so that it stood at 10-10 after 15 ends. Again we saw the match ebb and flow so that after 26 ends the score was 17-17. Dudley picked up 2 shots on the next end to get within sight of the finishing line, but Dennis won the next 3 ends to win the Championship 21-19. The large number of spectators showed their appreciation for both the quality of play and the stamina of the bowlers in playing so well in such hot conditions.

Ladies' 2-wood singles finalists: Dorothy Pilmoor (winner) & Pam Shemmings (runner-up).

Men's 2-wood singles finalists: Dennis Wood (winner) & Dudley Calder (runner-up).

Mid-September saw the club play host to the Camero Cup for the first time. It was delightful to see the members green full for the event, whilst our regular casual bowlers played on the East Green.

This is the third year the event has been held and on this occasion it was held over 2 days in a "Fives" style competition. This required teams of 5 people to enter playing as a triple and a pair throughout the event and while participants were able to change positions in their unit they could not switch between disciplines. There were 3 matches of 8 ends each day for both teams and the participants should be congratulated on their stamina in light of the unseasonably very hot conditions which were very draining. Entries came from members of the majority of clubs on the coast together with some teams who are not normally seen on the circuit.

The event as always was sponsored by Francisco Camero whose representative Jo Winstanley was in attendance throughout and to present the valuable cash prizes at the conclusion. She also made herself available to answer questions and give advice on Funeral planning to competitors, casual bowlers and spectators.

Over the 2 days there were a mixture of close games, high scoring games and even two drawn games. By the end of the first day only Mike Detheridge's team had a 100% record. Wednesday saw Mike's team continuing to dominate with his triple of Malcolm Greenwood, Barry & Wendy Pemberton winning all their matches, while Mike & Alan Turner were also undefeated until the last match which they lost to John Warn & John Fenton (the only team to win all their pairs matches). Consequently Mike and his team ran out clear winners, but there were 4 teams in contention for the runner-up spot at the start of the last round of matches. John's team had their noses in front of the other 3 by one point but lost their triples match while the teams of Sandy Guthrie & Dudley Calder won in both disciplines meaning that second place was decided on shot difference.

The final results were: Winners with 22 pts - Mike Detheridge, Alan Turner, Malcolm Greenwood, Barry & Wendy Pemberton. Runners-up with 16 pts and a shot difference of +48 - was the Miraflores team of Dudley Calder, Dorothy Pilmoor, Denis Hanley, Bryan & Brenda Collier and in 3rd place with 16pts and a shot difference of +43 - Sandy Guthrie, Dennis King, Neil Marshall, Ken McBride & Jan McManus.

The tournament was closed by Miraflores president Derek Shemmings who gave special thanks to Dennis Wood for all his efforts in organising and umpiring the tournament then the cash prizes and trophy were presented by Francisco Camero's Jo Winstanley. Feedback both during and after the tournament indicated that all participants had thoroughly enjoyed the format and that the event had run very smoothly.

A full green for the Camero Cup.

Camero Cup Winners (From L to R): Jo Winstanley (sponsor: Francisco Camero), Mike Detheridge, Alan Turner, Malcolm Greenwood, Wendy & Barry Pemberton.

Camero Cup Runners-up (From L to R): Jo Winstanley (sponsor): Dudley Calder, Dorothy Pilmoor, Denis Hanley, Brenda & Bryan Collier of Miraflores Bowls Club.

 

The Club singles championships were conducted in a different format this year in that it was decided to run them on a round-robin basis, whilst creating a number of logistical challenges due to the size of the entry we eventually saw 2 champions emerge in the shape of Derek Carr & Dorothy Pilmoor, both of them for the first time at Miraflores, congratulations go to both on a worthy achievement over the 6 months that elapsed from the start of the competition.

Derek Shemmings presents Derek Carr with the Men's Singles trophy.

Derek Shemmings presents Dorothy Pilmoor with the Ladies' Singles trophy.

The annual Pairs competition took place at Miraflores at the end of February with a good entry and some interesting teams were drawn together. The Semi-Finals were between Dennis Wood with Carol Frost against Denis Hanley and Pat Pollard with Dennis and Carol not quite producing the form they had shown on the previous day.  However Denis and Pat played their hearts out to win the game. The other semi was between Derek Carr with Grant Frost and Derek Shemmings with Brenda Collier. Brenda was playing in her first major Semi and put up an excellent performance to help win the game. This was a very close match, after nine ends neither side had scored more than one shot, Derek & Brenda eventually winning 14-12 in a match lasting over three and a half hours.

The only finalist who had previously won a club competition was Derek, so we were guaranteed at least one new name on the honours board. The Final in the afternoon proved a good match with the scores being very even at the start. However, by the 16th end  Derek and Brenda were down by 6 shots. They changed the length and Brenda bowled 4 lovely woods, Derek added another two but with his last wood just nudged the Jack and went one down. On the 17th end Dennis and Pat scored one shot to win their first ever club competition having both been losing finalists in other competitions previously.

 
Drawn Pairs Winners (From L to R): Pat Pollard & Denis Hanley.

Drawn Pairs Runners-up (From L to R): Brenda Collier & Derek Shemmings.

As Valentines Day fell on a club day this year it was decided to make this a bit of a "fun" day for members and non-members. This resulted in nearly 60 people turning up and joining in the fun. The format was 3-wood rinks with the pairs that had entered playing with and against all the other couples on their rink. The winning pair was decided by points gained over the 3 sessions and in the case of a tie by shot difference. With 24 bowls on the rink it did get a little confusing on occasions! There were prizes for the 1st & 2nd couples and a special prize for the best dressed pair. When the final scores were totted up Ron & Pat Pollard were winners with 29 shots with Frank Tofts & Joyce Carr runners-up with 27 shots and a better shot difference than Dudley Calder & Dorothy Pilmoor (who won the prize for best-dressed couple). It seems that a good time was had by all and the weather although chilly held until about an hour after the end when the light rain started.

  Valentines Day bowlers in action!

Valentines Day winners (From L to R): Frank & Joyce (runners-up) and Pat & Ron Pollard (winners).

Fancy dress winners Dudley & Dorothy (Dudley had lost his Cuddly Dudley sign by this time!).

The Club Drawn Triples competition was played at Miraflores at the beginning of February in excellent conditions. After some surprising results in the earlier rounds the final was contested between Brian Hurst, Tony Gatter & Paul O'Connell against Frank Tofts, Grant Frost  Jim Roberts. Tony, Paul & Jim were all appearing in their first finals at Miraflores, so we were guaranteed new names on the Club honours board whoever won.
A large number of spectators turned up to see how things unfolded and were rewarded with seeing Brian's team get off to a flying start, cruising to a 15-1 lead after 7 ends. This left Frank's triple with a huge hill to climb and although the remainder of the match was fairly even the gap proved unbridgeable and Brian's triple finished comfortable 26-10 winners. 
In Derek Shemmings absence on holiday, Carol Frost made the closing remarks, commenting on the good spirit in which the whole competition had been played and presenting the trophy to Brian, Tony & Paul.
 

Drawn Triples winners (From L to R): Brian Hurst, Tony Gatter & Paul O'Connell.

Drawn Triples runners-up (From L to R): Jim Roberts, Frank Tofts & Grant Frost.
 

After a week of cold wet weather it was not looking to promising for the Costa del Sol Ladies Xmas morning on the first Sunday in December, but we were fortunate to wake up to a warm, dry day which enabled 31 ladies from Clubs along the coast to enjoy a morning of fun bowls (even if there was a call for an umpire at one point!). After the bowls the ladies enjoyed a buffet lunch and then were delighted to see the arrival of Santa with a sack of goodies! Santa also selected the lady with the best festive hat, Ros from Los Amigos. Barbara Land from Mijas who had taken responsibility for organising the event presented the prizes to the winning triple of Kate Morris, Lynn Nokes & Esther Gatter who accumulated a total of 60 points from the 3 different activities. He then gave out the pressies amid raucous laughter, with a number of the "ladies" attempting to take advantage of him!

Ladies Xmas morning pictures: (Top from L to R): Ladies in action on the green, Ladies with Santa & his sack & Santa gives Jan her pressie! (Bottom) Santa with Amber the elf & with Ros the winner of the best hat competition!

For information on other clubs and events in Spain visit www.bowlinginspain.com