Thirty one Congresbury bowlers packed their woods and headed off for Spain on a 10-day jaunt of sea, sun and, of course, bowls.
The journey went smoothly and the hotel was beyond expectation with smiley staff, heaps of food and drink and comfy rooms.
But then we had to play bowls!
It was hot out there, and there were pesky little flies and, as ever, the artificial green was diabolical.
But we struggled on bravely – and it all paid off. Congresbury scored some stunning results against 48 bowlers from Nailsea, Winscombe, Bristol, Surrey and elsewhere.
Dawn Harrison won the prize for top lady bowler and Richard Jones for top male bowler.
Richard and Dawn joined Dave Byett and Chris Lewis as winners of the highest scoring rink in the first game. And again they and Malcolm Huggett were highest scorers in the second game.
Lloyd (or should we say Vincent?) Beck, with Anita Purnell and Esme Stenner won a triples tournament. An amazing result when we consider that Lloyd also won a prize for delivering most woods furthest from the head. Was it the heat? The green? Who knows.
In second place in the triples contest, were Jenny and Dave Byett and Peter Reay.
In a 4s tournament, Peter Reay’s team (Roger Stewart, Rob and Eila Archer) came second and Steve Eastment’s team (Geoff Wilcock, Tony Lewis, Richard Jones) came third.
Tour organiser Idris Lewis awarded Jenny for her hard work on the Congresbury side of the trip.
In a good humoured awards ceremony, Dot Davis won a prize for waking up room-mate Daphne Whiskin by singing a Country and Western song (John Denver’s Country Roads, if you want to know) while asleep.
And the suave Michael Greaves, usually dressed in raspberry coloured trousers and brightly striped shirt, was presented with a prize for gallantry after losing his underpants.
He had exchanged rooms with Dot and Daphne in order to get a better sea view. After missing his pants, he asked the two ladies to search every drawer to find them for him.
Our lips are sealed about what happened next.
Luckily, we were not called on to play bowls every day. There were wonderful trips to Gibraltar, mountain lakes and an old hillside village plus time to laze by the pool or on the beach.
It was a tough time for Jenny, however. She was constantly being nagged to organise a 2014 return tour to sunny Spain. Well done, Jen.
Many thanks too to our lone supporter – Richard Petty.
