Winter League
LATEST NEWS: The rearranged Division 7 fixtures scheduled for Monday at RUFC are OFF
Hopefully over the next week we are going to see for the first timeon a 2025 bowling day some green grass on our bowling greens. There have been no matches played in the Winter League since before Christmas, with Thursday 19 December the last set of completed fixtures, that's 23 days ago and the wait promises to be a little longer yet.
The temperature doesn't seem to have nudged up enough to produce the thaw that we need to save some of next week's early fixtures although the BBC Weather forecast talks of +3 degrees on Sunday and up into double figures by Tuesday. At present it appears that most green spaces are still snow-covered although my lawn is more an ice-covering rather than snow. So what does that all mean for our chances of getting any bowling in next week?
What we know so far about the coming week .....
The Management Committee meeting scheduled for 10.00am on Monday 13 January has been postponed and rescheuled for Monday 20 January
Monday's rearranged Division 7 fixtures at RUFC are OFF
The Monday Division 4 fixtures at Primrose Hill Lib are OFF.
Division 6 rearranged fixtures for Tuesday at Netherton Con subject to late green inspection but not hopeful
Green inspection expected on Monday at Cowcliffe re Tuesday's Division 2 fixtures
I have not ventured out of the driveway of my home for 8 days now and that is not just because there are no bowling matches to attend and enjoy. Our road is a single-track, north-facing, with all-day shade, half-way up a mountain, never visited by snowploughs or salt spreaders so not to be tackled by anyone other than key-workers. Frustratingly I can look out of my back door southerly to see free-moving traffic on the nearby Penistone Road.
Even stepping outside my backdoor is a leap of faith with it being like an ice-rink. The parting words from my wife that if I go outside and 'fall and break a hip don't come running to me' warning is not to be ignored especially the irony in her comment. I did step out last Tuesday to put the over-flowing post-Christmas grey wheelie-bin out for collection. No chance of it being collected but you have to go through the motions don't you and there it remains until next Tuesday when I will probably be swapping it for an over-flowing green bin to be ignored as well.
It reminds me of the Covid lockdowns but at least the sun shone a little then. Although 'we never usually watch day-time TV' we have resorted to an afternoon Netflix movie most days this past week out of boredom rather than any great need for a TV fix. My wife warns me that we are running out of food and her 7-day emergency supply is coming to an end. Putting her faith in Sainsburys she has placed a home delivery order with them which would be stretching the boundaries of a safe working environment for these drivers. If that fails then it is a telephone home-delivery order to the nearest Indian Take-Away as they always get through regardless of the weather.
I might sneak out and have a venture down the road to assess the chances of getting out of Lepton sometime soon but even from the safety of my front window I can see that the road is much less passable than it was when the snow first came. Where the wheel-tracks of the brave or foolish have produced a compressed snow surface hardened by the big freeze (down to -11 degrees recently apparently) to leave an icy surface that looks like a hip-breaker looking for business. Here are a couple of photos taken earlier today from my front gate.
What we know about the week ahead so far .....
THE WEEK AHEAD
Monday 13 January
10.00am Management Committee meeting at Primrose Hill Lib is OFF
11.00am Division 4 fixtures at Primrose Hill Lib are POSTPONED
11.00am Division 7 fixtures at Huddersfield RUFC - Green inspection on Sunday
Tuesday 14 January
11.00am Division 2 fixtures at Cowcliffe Green inspection soon, not hopeful
11.00am Division 6 fixtures at Netherton Con rearranged from 9 January Needs a big thaw
11.00am Division 8 fixtures at Lockwood Con
From this point forward greenkeepers are a lot more optomistic about the chances of matches going ahead as the forecast is for a vast improvement in temperatures from Tuesday.
Wednesday 15 January
11.00am Division 1 fixtures at Milnsbridge BC
11.00am Division 3 fixtures at Springwood BC
11.00am Division 5 fixtures at Lindley Lib
Thursday 16 January
11.00am Division 6 fixtures at Netherton Con
11.00am Division 7 fixtures at Huddersfield RUFC
Friday 17 January
10.45am Division 6 Pairs KO Qualifying Round at Thorpe Green
11.00am Division 8 fixtures at Lockwood Con rearranged from 7 January
Here are a couple of photos of the Springwood green as of yesterday - thanks to John Pix for these. He is hopeful that the big thaw comes in time to save the Wednesday fixture programme.
Comments