Second Saturday

Today's post is from Chuckle 2 - you can easily tell as it's not as funny

With the weather promising rain and snow over high areas it was no surprise that there were less at the green this weekend. Lowey in particular could not run the risk of getting his hair snowed on.

Still, a large group of hardy souls showed up to try and catch the eye of the onlooking club captain. I was pleased to see some of the borderline selections like Wiggy and Jack duke it out. Their fighting though was much more impressive than their bowls - that left me colder than the time i sat on the ice blocks for the infamous BRMB competition that left the winner with an arse like a babboon's.

Catherine Crane - our resident Alan Whicker - was freshly returned from her sojourn in Vietnam. Thankfully she decided not to invade Laos and Cambodia on behalf of the Olton Tavern and returned home inside 18 years with something more than a tenuous grip on a draw. Glad she didn't tell them her name was Cat though.

The green has been a pleasant surprise and is already bowling better than it was in July last year. Apparently that's no surprise as the carpark is also bowling better than the Tavern last July and we would have been looking jealously at the Brookhills new green this time last year too. Credit must go to our dynamic green keeping team for this, or luck, or some form of bowling deity. Whoever is responsible I thank you.

The biggest topic of discussion on week two was the curious incident of the disappearing advertising hoarding. I have photographic evidence it was there last week and, as it's too big to fit in your bowls bag, we were at a loss to explain its unexpected departure. The sign was later spotted on the Junction of Wagon Lane and the Coventry Road,apparently trying to cross the road to go to Aldi. If you see the sign shopping at a local discount store or see it entering a local shelter for abused signs would you please send it back home. Tell it we miss it and don't care if it's spelt incorrectly, we shall never make fun of it for that again.

Next Saturday is, High noon,High Chaparal, High Plains Drifter as i pick the first team for our first game. All bribes encouraged but i am not cheap - bidding starts at the Barbie and Midge 50th anniversary set.

Inception

Two brother's attempts to generate some interest in bowls by moaning a lot.

In it's many years of existence, the Olton Tavern has had two famous players. Both Derek Carran and Richie Dingley left the club to find fame and fortune (both ending up at our lesser known neighbours The Greville), and many years ago I decided to follow their example - unfortunately for my brother, I can't go anywhere on my own so he had to come with me.

Together we have seen some great greens and some great people. From helping both The Bell and Kings Norton into Division One (twice) and helping them out of Division One (Twice), to playing with Stourbridge Labour as they reached Division One of the Dudley League and seeing Craig dragged out for Woodfield in the Staffs Premier League, we have been around a bit.

In all those years we have played in the top two divisions on a Saturday - Craig as the talented underachiever and successful captain and me, well, me as the thin skinned nitwit who could be relied on to shout a lot and win the odd big game at number 12.

Anyway, for some reason that is difficult to fathom we have decided to ignore Fleetwood Mac's advice about never going back again, and we have turned up at The Olton for a glorious reunion. Actually, Craig's return was glorious (they made him club captain before he'd even been accepted as a member), mine was more like Nick Cotton creeping back to borrow money off Dot.

As part of our efforts to raise The Olton's profile and to encourage local interest, the clubs twitter account @OTBC21 has been actively engaging with organisations in Solihull, so we decided to run a Blog over the course of the season. We intend to have results, reports, pictures and hopefully be able to showcase some successful community engagement and bring a few new people into the game.

As well as the twitter account (@OTBC21 - follow it) The Olton has a Facebook page - just search Olton BC, and there is also a website which has some information http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~hoz/otavern/welcome.html We will also continue to contribute to the Talkingbowls Forum

We will try and keep this as amusing and informative as possible, and will try and present a hopefully positive picture of the nether reaches of the local bowling scene!