Essex County Bowling Club

Did you know?!
The original green of Essex County Bowling Club was situated in Chalkwell Park (established in 1906) - the initial popularity and rapidly rising membership numbers of the Club necessitated a move to our current site in 1907.
Today, our original green is now home to the Garden of Remembrance, created in 1952 to honour those lost in the Second World War - you can still see the tell-tale 'square-ish' shape on the overhead (inset) of the garden, showing our original site.

A huge thanks and congratulations to Alison and Natasha for their efforts yesterday fundraising for Breast Cancer Now - £1,113 - superb ladies 🙌

Bowls for Beginners 2025

Our FREE sessions for newcomers to indoor bowls are back!

- Sept 17 (Wed) & 18 (Thur)
- Sept 25 (Thur) & 26 (Fri)

All sessions commence at 6:45pm - a great way to give bowls a go, obligation, hassle and cost free!

For more information please just comment on this post, or visit our Club website!

Leamington National Finals - Write Up

Ladies Junior Pairs
Gracie Patient teamed up with Evie Mills (Braintree) to take on Cambs and suffered an agonising 15-16 defeat - a great showing from Gracie on her Nationals debut!

Mens Two-Wood Singles
Edward Morris looked to regain his title from 2018 and started excellently with a 17-6 win against Vinnie O'Neill (Yorks). However Jordan Philpott proved too much in the 2nd round, a 9-14 loss.

Balcomb Trophy
Congrats to Club members Jack Butcher, Ray Bone, Steve Gunnell & Edward Morris on reaching the final with the Essex team, sadly losing out to Leicestershire 🥈

Mens Junior Singles
Allan Eldridge took to the greens as Essex champion and won his first round match 21-15 against Dylan Butt (Beds) but unfortunately lost narrowly in the second round, 16-21 to Will Vizer-Allen (Surrey)

Ladies Triples
Laura Robinson, Elaine Score & Emma Chapman had a very creditable run to the Quarter-Final of this competition - Rd 1 16-15 v Berkshire, Rd 2 20-10 v Cambs, Rd 3 17-12 v Worcs, before finally succumbing to eventual winners from Lincs 14-18 - well done!

Mens Senior Fours
Richard Spriggs, Barry Stone, Nigel Smith & David Dar showed their intent with a victory of 24-6 over Hertfordshire, however narrowly missed out in the following round, 16-17 against Hampshire.

Mens Pairs
Steve Gunnell & Edward Morris maneuvered their way through an always-tough field all the way to the final, but as they found in 2023 too, fell at the final hurdle - a fantastic tournament nonetheless, taking out many national champions along the way:
Rd 1 - 12-11 Derbyshire
Rd 2 - 16-11 Suffolk
Rd 3 - 23-14 Kent
QF - 15-14 Oxfordshire
SF - 19-9 Devon
Final - 11-15 Devon 🥈
The last 2 games (as well as Edward's Champion of Champions Singles final - see below) can be rewatched on https://bowlstv.bowlsengland.com/

Mens Singles
Edward Morris looking for a third title in this event laid down an opening round marker 21-6 against Lee Young (Oxfordshire) but came up against an in-form Glen Adams (Middlesex) in the second round - in a very high quality game that swung back and forth he ultimately perished 20-21.

Mens Top Club
Essex County qualified for this event for the first time since 2013, however due to holiday and a schedule clash were without their 2 usual singles players. Those who filled in gave it their best but we found ourselves 0-2 down against a young side from Cheltenham, yet somehow we rose from a bleak position to win the Pairs and Triples by plenty, with the tie coming down to the Fours. We entered the last end level and unfortunately dropped 1 shot to lose the whole fixture 2-3, by 1 shot - a truly fantastic effort given the circumstances, well done to all involved.

Mens Champion of Champions Singles
Edward Morris qualified in this event for the first time in many years and was looking to add a new title to his collection.
Indeed this is exactly what happened, with 3 great performances against top quality opponents:
QF - 21-10 v Shaun Jones (Herefordshire)
SF - 21-16 v Chris Beard (Bedfordshire)
F - 21-7 v Chris Hanslip (Lincolnshire) 🥇🏆
Edward noted that it was his first National Title in Club colours and was cheered on rinkside by his compatriots from the defeated Top Club team - CONGRATULATIONS to Edward

Well done to all who played a part in the above, another great season for the Club!

Congratulations to our men's Top Club team who have qualified for the National Finals with a win over Norfolk BC.
Well done to all who made the trip up to Suffolk and our thanks to Felixstowe for hosting and providing a fantastic playing surface 🤝

Club Open Day
Sunday 25th May
10:00am - 4:00pm

Come and try bowls (outdoors & indoors - come whatever the weather!) for free in a relaxed setting.
We have all the equipment, just bring yourselves!

Club Open Day - Visit Southend Club Open Day (in conjunction with Bowls England’s Big Bowls Weekend) for all ages to...

We were honoured to host the Bowls England Balcomb Trophy regional over the weekend.
Teams from Essex, Suffolk, Hertfordshire, Middlesex and Kent battled it out over 5 high quality sessions on our 2 greens.
A very big congratulations to Essex for qualifying for the National finals with 4 wins out of 4 - including 4 of our own members - good luck at Leamington in August!

Mark Wilson Pairs 2025 – Write Up

For the first time since the tournament’s inception 5 years ago, we filled every entry – meaning a full field of 128 pairs battled it out over the Early May Bank Holiday weekend for the Trophy and Plate titles.

The field, as usual, included a number of International players, as well as plenty of fancy dress enthusiasts, all of which created the usual laid back and fun atmosphere, with music playing throughout and plenty of sun (on the Saturday anyway!).

We were fundraising for the South Essex branch of the Motor Neurone Disease Association – our thanks must go to Natasha and Gracie Patient (and a few others who hopped on to help at various times) for their efforts in managing the raffles all weekend – we have raised over £2,500, which is also a new high-water mark for the tournament. THANK YOU EVERYONE!

We are grateful for the support of Mark Royal and his shop Jack & Bowl, who were in attendance all weekend and donated to the charity also.

From a Club-perspective we had a bumper weekend, taking roughly £6k over the Bar – thanks to all who worked so hard – it never really stopped all weekend! Also a big thanks to T & K Catering who were busy all weekend.

The Trophy final saw a mouthwatering clash between the past 2 Mens National Singles champions: Lee Chaplin (Essex) & Jamie Walker (Devon) taking on Paul Barnicott & Lewis King (Kent). Lee and Jamie were 5-4 up going into the last end of an extremely tight first set and held before last bowl, but Lewis played a perfect take out to secure a count of 4. This galvanised the Kent pair who went on to build up a large lead in the 2nd set, eventually triumphing in straight sets – congrats to Paul and Lewis.

As with previous years the final was live streamed on Facebook and is now available on the Club’s YouTube page.

The Plate final saw David Ross (Bucks) & Nigel Smith (Essex) taking on Ken & Dex Weyand (Kent). Both sets were tight, but David and Nigel nicked them both, winning the Plate 2-0.
We look forward to seeing everyone again in 2026!

Great to have a new sponsor of the Club, which is already proving beneficial to our members :)

We’ve teamed up with Essex County Bowling Club 😍

We’re proud to be official sponsors, supporting local sport and healthy living in our community. As part of our partnership, club members receive exclusive discounts on private healthcare services at Southend Private Hospital.

We’re thrilled to support our local bowlers. 👏

Image description: A graphic featuring the logos of Southend Private Hospital and Essex County Bowling Club. A bowler’s legs and several black and yellow bowls are visible on a bright green lawn.

Coastal Cup 2025

On the 16th of February (as last year’s winners) we hosted the 2025 edition of the Coastal Cup.

Teams of novice bowlers from Clacton, West Mersea, Falcon, Jacks Centre, Colchester, and Essex County competed across the day for the title.

Our team consisting of Mukesh Parekh, Mike Bunker, Charlotte Hardman, Stephen Cole, and Dean Johnson did the club proud but sadly it was not meant to be their day against some strong opposition.

The format of the round robin tournament was each team played 5 games of 7 ends – The eventual winners being Colchester with 37 points out of a possible 50, congratulations to their players on a convincing win.

Final Standings:
Colchester 37pts (2026 Coastal Cup hosts)
Falcon 27pts
West Mersea 25pts
Jacks Centre 23pts
Clacton 20pts
Essex County 17pts

Including spectators there were well over 100 people present throughout the whole day, thanks for everyone’s incredible support.

Finally, thanks in particular to the following members for their efforts - John Warman and Ray Cooper for coaching, Kevin Robertson and Natasha Patient for coordinating the bar and kitchen, John Fry and everyone who helped with the raffle (£550 raised for Fair Havens), Luke Francis as photographer and of course Mike Birch for umpiring.

Bowls for Beginners
FREE SESSIONS

Our popular Bowls for Beginners sessions return on
Wed 18th & Thur 19th Sept
and
Thur 26th & Fri 27th Sept

All are welcome to sign up, sessions commence at 6:45pm each evening and are free of charge. We supply all equipment, a hassle & commitment free way to try the sport of Indoor bowls!

For more information, including an application form - https://www.essexcountybowlsclub.com/membership/coaching/

Essex County Bowling Club Essex County Bowling Club is one of the largest bowling clubs in Essex, based in the centre of Westcliff-on-Sea hosting 6 indoor rinks and 12 outdoor rinks

FINALS SUCCESS FOR ESSEX COUNTY!

Over the weekend our members went undefeated across the Mens and Ladies County Finals, winning the following titles:

Mens County Singles - Edward Morris
Edward claimed a 6th title, beating Kings Chase's Mark Nullmeyers 21-11

Mens County Pairs - Steve Gunnell & Edward Morris (pictured)
The title stays at the Club for a 7th straight season - Steve and Edward winning 26-10 against Silverthorn

Mens County Fours - Simon Kittle, Phil Brandon (sub for Gary Telling), Steve Gunnell & Edward Morris
The single rink title returns to the Club for the first time since 2019, with a 24-10 triumph against Romford

Ladies County Pairs - Elaine Score & Emma Chapman
Elaine & Emma retained the Pairs title for the 4th consecutive year, against Liberty of Havering

Ladies County Triples - Sue Kemp, Elaine Score & Emma Chapman (pictured)
The weekend was finished off in style, with a fine win against Clockhouse

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Also,
Mens National Senior Singles - David Dar
David qualified for Leamington with a 21-16 win against Alan Warner (Harold Hill)

Mens National Senior Pairs - Richard Spriggs & Steve Gunnell
Richard and Steve qualified for Leamington with a 23-4 win against Wanstead Central

Ladies Senior Pairs - Sue Kemp & Elaine Score
Sue and Elaine qualified for Leamington with a 21-10 win against Writtle

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Not forgetting....
Good luck to Elaine in the National Senior Singles area final
Congrats to all Club members involved in Group 6's triumph in the Ashford Cup final