News

Our Fixtures and Events list is now available! Please click on the link or go to our Fixtures page.

Spectators are welcome to all games and when home, our bar is open and there are lots of places to sit and watch! We look forward to your visit.

SEPTEMBER 2026

As we prepare to conclude our playing season, we’d like to thank all the clubs and supporters who have helped make our Centenary a huge success and one we will all remember for many years to come. The following months will see lots of social events, so please check this page or our Facebook page for news of what’s on next!

September 2026

Our Finals Weekend started off with the finals of our Interclub Competition, with 4 matches being held – The Barry Holder Mixed 2 Wood Memorial Cup, Men’s singles, Men’s 2 Woods and Mixed Pairs . The winners were: David Askew in The Barry Holder Memorial Cup, Adam Ellis in the 2 Wood, Martyn Mellor retained his 2025 Men’s Singles title and Keith Sykes and Heather Annetts won in the Pairs. Congratulations to all and thanks to Marion Pope for a fabulous Ploughman’s Lunch afterwards, Dave Stonham for manning the bar and George Hedges and team for ensuring the Green was at its best!

Sunday September 6th, saw our Scratch Triple tournament – playing for The Charlie Hodge Cup. 24 members made up 8 teams and fought out a well planned tournament designed by Norah Holder.

A thrilling final made from the last 2 teams of Tony Boffin, Phil Linstead and Brian Stain vs Chez Annetts, Heather Annetts and Peter Burton. The latter team winning by 1 shot on the final wood of the final end!

It was a brilliant fun afternoon and really pleasing to see so many of our new and novice members taking part – 2 of which made the final too! Well done everyone.

AUGUST 2026

What a fabulous day! Thanks to everyone who played or came to watch our Gala Day event.

We hope everyone enjoyed themselves and will come and visit us again.

Congratulations to winners Sue Crowther, David Buckland and Sue Patel of Bassetsbury Manor Bowls Club, and runners up Three Mile Cross Bowling Club.

Thanks to all our helpers, chefs, cake makers, bar staff, sponsors Finli (Thames Valley) Ltd, green keepers, raffle donations and all that made it happen! And thanks to the all the other teams too that made it such a competitive day – Tilehurst, Sunningdale, Reading Bowling Club, Maiden Erlegh Bowling Club, Maidenhead Thicket Bowls Club, Hurst Bowling Club, Twyford Bowling Club.

We made £300 on the raffle for Macmillan Cancer and The Alzheimer’s Society and we hoped you enjoyed your Goodie bag including gifts from Thames Wood House Care Home.

Happy Centenary to us!

GALA DAY 23rd August 2026

Our next event is our Centenary Gala Day to celebrate our 100th Anniversary. Clubs from all over the area are coming to compete for £600!

Come along from 10am until 5pm to see a few games or maybe stay for the day!

Our Gala Day is kindly sponsored by Finli (Thames Valley) Ltd

July 2026

What an evening! The Daws Cup came home!

Wargrave played Twyford Bowling Club this evening in the Daws Cup, the first of our two our annual local Derbys. Our opponents were lots of fun and it was a great entertaining match for all. All Wargrave rinks performed well, winning with a decent margin on each, which accumulated in a Wargrave win and the Daws Cup came home to Wargrave for the first time since 2019.

Final score 89 – 46

June 2026

Wargrave hosted Bowls England in a special Centenary friendly 6 rink mixed 2 woods game on June 22nd. We welcomed many former Wargrave players back in their Bowls England shirts and it was a glorious event for all. 10 counties were represented within the Bowls England team.

The final result was 66-83, with 3 winning rinks to 3. The highest winning Wargrave rink was Maurice Freeman, Vic Waite, Martin Mellor & Norah Holder who were presented with a Bowls England commerative boxed pen.

Bowls England and member of Presidential Team, Jennie Cole, gave a wonderful tribute speech to Wargrave acknowledging President Marion Pope’s father in law, Frank Pope, who was a founder member and that it was Marion’s generation of women that fought for the women’s game.

She made reference to the volunteers of every bowls club who help provide maintenance of a club, whom without clubs wouldn’t survive. Every member is vital to a club’s existence and its the community that makes a bowling club purposeful and important to all, through sports and friendship.

Every Wargrave player was presented with a Bowls England badge. President Marion Pope was also presented with a commerative banner.

June 2026

David Askew took part in a County Open Singles match On June 5th, home at Wargrave against Jason Carr from Bracknell Bowling Club

It was a close game to begin with but at end 8 Jason began to pull away with consistent 2 or 3 shot wins.

David made a short comeback with a few consistent wins between ends 10 and 14 however only by a single shot each time so couldn’t make up the difference. Jason reached the winning 21 shots on end 19.

It was great to see David supported by friends and family too.

May 2026

A wonderful afternoon was enjoyed as we welcomed The Royal County of Berkshire Bowling Association to join us in a 5 mixed triple friendly match to celebrate our Centenary.

Many members attended as well as the players including several executive members of the RCBBA.

We started with a Spider game. This was won by RCBBA member Steve Issac. Donations by members to play the game went to Thames Valley Hospice.

The game then began.

Rink 5 started well, staying even on points until end 10. RCBBA then pulled away by 2 and stayed in front. On end 16 Wargrave came within 1 point but a rookie mistake by their lead on end 17 produced a very long jack which gave away 5! Wargrave won the final end with another 1 but the damage was done. Final score 12 – 18 On Rink 4 RCBBA started well, Wargrave had a good flurry of wins in the middle of the game but the opposition proved too tough and the game finished 14 – 19. On Rink 3 there was an outstanding Wargrave performance, who lead from the start with Wargrave Skip, who also plays for the County, Norah Holder. RCBBA couldn’t counter and the final score was 22 – 10. Rink 2 saw a tough challenge for the Wargrave team who fought valiantly but couldn’t match the County players skills. Final score 5 – 20. On Rink 1, President Marion began the game, her first competitive game for a year. After a few ends she relinquished her role to Captain Roger. For the first 10 ends Wargrave were losing but then they drew level. A few last end losses resorted in a final score 16 – 17. Final result 69 -85

The afternoon ended with a lovely salad meal provided by Phyl Edwards, Val Simms and Joyce Heathman.

A prayer was said to bless the meal and then a toast to the King was given, followed by speeches by both Presidents and Chairmans.

A plaque was presented to President Marion Pope from the County as well as a special rose to plant in the grounds. Chairman, Roger Prew gave an emotional speech regarding being proud to reach our Centenary.

It was a very special day to be part of. Thanks to everyone who attended

April 2026

We spent a lovely warm afternoon in the grounds of Windsor Castle, playing a 4 mixed triples with very friendly and welcoming hosts at the Royal Household. The green was a little bumpy in places which made for some interesting shot behaviour however our hosts were without doubt outstanding players. Many 2 or 3 shots up were saved by highly talented skips, especially the team captain which ended in a 36 – 103 defeat!

The afternoon ended with a lovely tea, beginning with a toast to the King.

Their top rink was rink 2, where a Whisky glass were given to the losers Philip, Heather & Maurice.

Lynnette was presented with a “wrong bias” certificate.

The Club then presented Captain, Norah Holder with a Royal Household shield to commemorate the special event.

A brilliant afternoon towards our 100th celebration season.

We are devastated to hear the news of the passing of member Barry Holder.

A player for the club and county for many years he will forever be remembered for being a gentleman and the kindest and most generous man you could meet.

His banter during matches were legendary and win or lose you could guarantee a fun game if you shared a rink with him.

October 2025

We had a formal visit from Provisional Grand Charity Steward, Brian McCormack and Deputy Provisional Grand Master Mason, James Payen from the Berkshire Masonic Lodge today, to present the cheque donation on behalf of The Mark Benevolent Fund to fund our new mower. The new Dennis was unveiled and George is already making full use of its various facilities. We are so grateful to the MBF for the generous donation that will help us maintain our green to the highest standard for years to come.

Marion, Roger and George were on hand to receive the cheque at the formal ceremony.

September 2025

Our Finals Weekend started off with the finals of our Interclub Competition, with 3 matches being held – 2 wood singles, 4 wood singles and the mixed pairs. The winners were: Brian Turnbull in the 2 Wood, Martyn Mellor retained his 2024 singles 4 wood title and Martyn & Peter Burton won in the pairs. Congratulations to all and thanks to Marion Pope for a fabulous Ploughman’s Lunch afterwards, Dave Stonham for manning the bar and George Hedges for ensuring the Green was at its best.

Sunday saw our Scratch Triple tournament – playing for The Charlie Hodge Cup. 18 members made up 6 teams and fought out a well planned tournament designed by Norah Holder.

Our final teams were Dave Stonham, Ray Gardiner and Peter Burton vs Lynnette Linstead, Stan Crooks and Brian Turnbull. The latter team winning out.

It was a brilliant fun afternoon and really pleasing to see so many of our new and novice members taking part – 2 of which made the final too! Well done everyone.

AUGUST 2025

On a balmy August evening we hosted Twyford Bowling Club in our annual derby competition, the Hedges Cup.

With a fair and enjoyable game across all 5 rinks we had a brilliant result of a 71 – 69 win meaning the Cup comes back to Wargrave in 2025. With a mixed team of novices and experienced players we are so pleased to hold the Cup again!

APRIL 2025

What a fantastic opening day to the season.

Congratulations to the winners of the Michael Pope Memorial Game – Heather Annetts, Tony Boffin and Ray Gardiner and to the runners up – Brian Stain, Philip Linstead and Ray Trussler

The new season starts on April 19th!

We will opening the green with a special memorial match in honour of Michael Pope.

All are welcome to join us for our first “Two Wood Triples” Match.

Come and join us to view our new benches and tables and to celebrate the start of the new season.

The Green will be open from 1.30pm, match starts at 2.30pm

DECEMBER 2024

Our end of year Quiz Night was enjoyed by over 40 members. Themes included Sport, Christmas, Pot Luck and the Alphabet.

Team "3 Boys and A Girl" were victorious!

Thanks were given to Marion as Quiz Master, Norah for arranging the nibbles and Barry for managing the bar.
£133 was raised in the raffle for vital club funds.

NOVEMBER 2024

Our AGM was well attended - minutes and officers to be posted later.

The evening also saw our end of season drawn tournament winners awarded their trophies.

Martyn Mellor won the Gentlemen's Singles and new season member Tony Annetts along with Norah Holder won the Drawn Pairs. Maurice Freeman, Jim Thompson and Brian Turnbull won the Triples. Maurice Freeman was also awarded the Richard Bedford trophy for an outstanding contribution in the Kennet League. Hon. Secretary Brian Turnbull was made an Honorary Life Member.