This has been a successful year competitively. Congratulations to all who represented the club at
County and National level, including those selected for Over-60s and Essex matches. Our Ladies
teams achieved excellent results, winning 79% of their friendlies, and the Gents enjoyed a season
of strong camaraderie and fair play. We also celebrated achievements across the club, from the
Target Bowls Competition to the Newbies Competition and our successful Gala Day.

The 2025/2026 season is now in full swing. The internal leagues are well underway, as are the various championship matches, which this year have been very well supported. We are pleased to welcome several new members and hope that you are enjoying playing here at Ilford.

Ilford really is a special club with a wonderful blend of strong social connections and impressive competitive spirit! It’s great to see how the camaraderie fosters a positive environment that attracts members, and even more exciting, to see the club’s competitive achievements this season.

We had another successful Gala in February although our footfall was well down as were the taking on the raffle, tombola and White Elephant stall. Our thanks to all those involved in organising the event and helping out on the day, particularly the kitchen helpers, car park operatives, raffle ticket sellers and the few who stayed behind to clear up.

Merry Christmas/Hanukkah to all our bowlers and their families! This year has been another fantastic one for our club, and we’re so grateful for the wonderful community we have. This newsletter is a chance to celebrate our shared successes, reminisce about the good times, and look forward to another year of friendship and bowls. We hope you enjoy reading it and wish you a joyous Christmas and a prosperous New Year.

We’re excited to bring you the latest news, updates, and highlights from our vibrant club. In this issue, you’ll
find information about upcoming matches, social events, club achievements, and more.

Whether you’re a seasoned bowler or just starting out, we hope you’ll find something of interest here.
Let’s celebrate the camaraderie, sportsmanship, and friendly competition that make our club so special.

We hope you are having a fantastic summer despite the less than seasonal weather. For those of you who bowl outdoors, it’s been heavy going but hopefully you are progressing through the various competitions.

So the school has now finished their exam season and handed the keys back to us. This is the time of year when we take the opportunity to carry out essential high level maintenance works whilst the boards are down and we can access the equipment via a tower. This should all be finished by the end of the month, after which we will be asking for volunteers to help lift the boards, ready for the new season which starts on the 16th September.

Where does all the time go? It seems like only yesterday we were preparing the club for opening and here we are, already in April and with the summer ahead of us. For those of you who play outdoors, we hope you enjoy your season and have a safe and healthy spring and summer in the sun (wind and rain). At least indoors you don’t have to worry about the weather.