We would like to Celebrate the 40th anniversary of the founding of the club with a tour in May 2027, but need to organise this soon if it is to go ahead. Colin Cradock and Howard B have agreed to organise a short tour, probably around 4 days in the third week of May next year, but need to know who would be interested. They will advise what is possible soon to see what response they get.
We are pleased to announce that Tony Walker has taken over from Paul Stretton as Greenkeeper. Paul has worked tirelessly on our green, but his health has recently deteriorated and we could see that he was struggling to carry out his duties. Tony has undertaken the necessary course in handling the chemicals, and has worked with Paul for the last few years.................
Many thanks to Paul for all the hard work maintaining the green for the last 8 years, we trust his health will improve and he will be back bowling soon !
Gillian Burchell (Chairperson)
The Tickle Trophy, otherwise know as the Marldon World Cup, will take play on Saturday July 4th. It has been added to rink diary so you can add your name, but as always the teams will be drawn at around 10am on the morning of the game, from the players who are present. We have to have the right number of players to run the event with 8, 10 orr 12 teams, and it can be triples or 4's depending on the number of attendees. All full members are welcome to join in.
The Apple Pie fair is an annual village event that attracts a lot of people, and most organisations in the village are usually represented there. Unfortunately it is on September 5th this year, so it clashes with our finals weekend, but if anyone not involved in competitions thinks that thy could help out with some kind of display or stall there, please let the committee know. The event raises funds to provide a maintenance budget for for the Village hall but groups can also fund raise for themselves. Someone would be required to attend in the morning to put a tent and display up, someone to attend for afternoon from 1 - 5 pm and someone to tidy up and remove tent and all Marldon BC/s stuff at the end. I believe we have a small tent we have used there before.
In addition, there is a flower festival at church on June 26-28th? They have lots of professional flower arrangers doing lovely displays for the wow effect, but they're also having small displays by groups in the village - from preschool -maybe with flowers in jam jars - through school with seeds planted in cast off shoes - to the bellringers doing something with bells....?!
The scouts are showing their group with a go at a camp fire- blacked twigs and a bit of flame flowers at the base! I don't know what the cricket club are doing but the WI are definitely there with 'Jerusalem!
Anyway, the theme is something to reflect a song of your choice from pop song to whatever- maybe to reflect the club (is there a song about bowling??) so the organisers wondered if our club has anyone who might have a go?
We have introduced a page to the web site called Coaching Corner, which we intend to update with useful tips which may improve your game, why not visit it now?
Our next open day for potential new bowlers is on Sunday June 14th at 10am.
Our first open day of 2026 was on Sunday May 3rd and a few new people came to try the game, the second session on May 10th attracted several new potential bowlers. Anyone is welcome to come along to try the game, see the notice below for details.
We have fully qualified Bowls England Coaches available to assist at these sessions.
Let them introduce themselves:
We would like to introduce ourselves.
Graham is a Level 2 Bowls England Coach & Kay is a Level 1 Bowls England Coach & both Regional Umpires.
We are pleased to update you with news that our 2026 Sessions will run weekly through to the end of August. These sessions are for both beginners wanting to "Try Bowls" and those looking to improve their bowls skills.
All equipment provided, all we ask is that you wear flat soled non heeled shoes.
We would also like to encourage any club members that are considering taking a Level 1 course to have a chat with us about what's involved.
Here's to a successful enjoyable season.
Graham & Kay Sowerby
Mobile: 07971 882125
We are pleased to note that Graham and Kay have both joined as full members.
Another member is currently attending a coaching course and will soon be a qualified coach.
Just a polite reminder that should you make yourself tea or coffee in the clubhouse, your payment should be put in the honesty box in the clubhouse
The Draws for the County matches have been made, see Competitions page for details.
The Club Competition draws have taken place and the draws are on Competitions page and in Members group on Facebook.
We are still having issues with new mower and will be taking it for repair while it is still under warranty. Thanks to Graham Sowerby who has offered to transport it to the repairer in Moretonhampstead.
The Sunday morning coaching sessions are going well with a number of new bowlers trying out the game. after watching them this morning I was impressed how well they are doing.
Exciting news, we are being given a lot of support by Devon Bowls and other local clubs to enable us to
start a JUNIOR SECTION - hopefully this season.
Although we would still like more members to train as coaches we do now have enough Bowls England trained coaches for the time being. Please let Gillian Burchell know if you would like to take on this essential role and all will be arranged.
The Heath League started on Friday 15th May from 5.30 for a 6.00 start.
Teams and the fixture list can be found in the Members Area of this website and are also posted on the notice board in the Captains Office. Your team captain should be in touch about the rota for playing in the competition each week. There will also be vacant rinks for those who have a bye that week, or are not playing, to come along for a roll-up.
Howard intends to retire as Club Secretary at the end of this season, so we are looking for a member who will take on this role for the future. Other Committee members may also wish to stand down, but the club cannot function without people who will take on these jobs, so please consider if you could volunteer for any of these important jobs.
We also need a team of members to organise the Marldon 4's tournament in 2027 as Les and Anne have stated that this year is the last time they can organise it. It is a very good event for the club to host, we would not like it to cease to exist. Please advise the secretary (Howard), if you would be willing to help, and what job you could do, ie car park marshall, scorer, umpire. catering, raffle, bar, etc.
Please note, we will continue with the cashless bar this season, as it makes life much easier for the
team of bar volunteers and the bar manager.
Members can purchase rink fee vouchers in packs of 10 to save having to find change for every game.
Phil Toms, from Plymouth Retired Civil Servants BC has arranged a tour to the Isle of Wight and has invited
Marldon Bowlers to join them on the tour. About 18 Marldon bowlers have taken up this invitation, but there are still a few
spaces left.
You will need to become an associate Member of Plymouth RCS BC at a cost of £10 to cover insurance,
added to the cost of the tour which takes place from August 25th to 29th 2026. Further details from Phil Toms
on 07737 744 872
The committee have agreed that the Minutes of Committee meetings will be available on the website as well as at the club.
To keep them confidential they will be located in an area of the website, which will require a username and a password.
Members are reminded that it is against the rules to give this password to non members.
Password can be obtained from Bob Tame (Comms Manager) or by looking in the Members Area of this site.
The 2026 Committee meeting minutes are here Meeting minutes
Congratulations to Logan, on being awarded the Devon indoor Bowls title of "Young Bowler of the year". Logan received his award from DCIBA President, Leighton Burston, at Torquay United Bowls Club in March 2026.
We have a Members only area of this web site which is password protected. Members should contact Bob Tame for the password or to advise of any content they would like to see in there.
Our President for 2026 Season, Les Clarke, announced that his charity would be
"Rowcroft at Home".
At the coffee morning on 17th Jan we raised £157. (Total £388.00 so far).
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Our Presidents for 2025, Dave and Sue, raised funds for the
Devon Air Ambulance Trust.
At the AGM in October they revealed that they had raised £1500 during their year as Presidents and presented
a cheque to a representitive of Devon Air Ambulance.
Rink Diary is now populated with summer games.
Look in the TEAMS section for the games now available and get your names down early, please. The selectors/Captain does not wish to spend his summer chasing people to play in Games because there are not enough names down, please.
Rink Diary can be accessed from Computers,Tablets or Smartphones. If you don't use a computer we can assign you a "buddy" who can do it for you.
The link is www.marldon.rinkdiary.co.uk.
If you have forgotten your Rink Diary password then you can generate a new one by using the 'Forgot Password' option:
https://www.marldon.rinkdiary.co.uk/forgot-password/
Please do not register again if you are already registered.
Training and support is still available for anyone who still requires it, contact Les Clarke or Bob Tame to arrange or have a look at the training information below.
Training 1 - How to register and put name down for games. Register/Name down
Training 2 - Booking a rink (for competitions etc) (Note Booking a rink for a rollup is is optional.) Booking a rink
Maintenance sessions continue on Tuesday mornings. The green will not be open for Roll ups on Tuesday am, if you are free that morning, why not volunteer for one of the maintenance jobs.
We have a small team of volunteers to assist in keeping the grass cut regularly.
Unfortunately some of them are no longer available, so if you can spare a morning a week, or if we get enough volunteers, one morning a fortnight,
to cut the grass on the bowling green, please ring Tony Walker to let him know when you can come.
Many Thanks,
Management Committee.
Les has also issued an appeal for more volunteers to attend to lighten the workload of the current Tuesday Maintenance session attendees. So please go down and see what you can do to help. Les Clarke (Site Manager) would be very grateful!
Volunteers continue to sweep the green daily as this should be done every morning, if weather permits, throughout the year. More volunteers are needed, please contact Tony to Volunteer.
We opened for the summer on Saturday April 25th, from 10am, with our president, Les Clarke,
bowling the first wood.
Coffee and Bacon butties were available before the game, and we then had a 12 end game of bowls.
The Bar was open and people were invited to bring a picnic for after the game.
Please note the Spring meeting took place on Saturday April 11th at Marldon Village Hall.
Our Directors advised us that they have appointed anonther Director for Marldon (Maple Leaf) Bowling Club Ltd., that person being our current treasurer, Peter Cartwright. We now have three Directors, Les Clarke, Ray O'Brien and Peter Cartwright.
Theresa Cornelius advises me that she will be placing an order shortly for club shirts, jackets so If you need one please contact Theresa as soon as possible.
The summer season has now started so there are no more 'Winter' social events planned until the outdoor season ends in September. The Events page Page will list social events as they are arranged.
Commiserations to our Ladies South Devon League 'A' Team who were included in a shortlist of four for the
Bowls England "Team of the year" prize. Unfortunately they didn't win, the title was taken by the Northants Over 60's Inter-county team.
The Bowls England Presentation night took place on Saturday 21st February 2026 at Athena, Leicester, LE1 1QD.
and Mandy and Karen attended, representing our ladies.
For pictures from the event see
here
Our 'B' Team won Division 4 of the Mid Devon League last season and are promoted to Division 3 for this year. Men's Captain Paul and representatives of the 'B' team went to the MDL AGM in November 2025 to receive the trophy, which is now on display in the Clubhouse. We also received a certificate containing the names of all the players involved, to display in the clubhouse, and the players involved can get a copy if interested.
Regretfully, our chairperson Ollie Abercrombie resigned earlier this year. The committee have thanked him for his good service to the club and have co-opted Gillian Burchell into the role of Chairperson until the next AGM.
Many thanks to Craig Ayres for sourcing club caps, these are £12.50 each and can be ordered from the club.
There are two choices, the cloth one modelled by Craig and the mesh one modelled by Pam.
The band at the back is elastic so sizing isn’t a problem. Please let Theresa Cornelius know if you would like to order one or more.
Please indicate - Cloth or Mesh.
Additional seating has been fitted under the window in the ladies changing rooms, as requested by some of our lady members. Thanks to Les Hartnell and our Maintenance team for doing this.
Page updated 9th June 2026.