The return to hopefully normal action in the League has started with six matches in the Dennis Lewis Thursday Division featuring big home wins for Sir John Bayley and reigning champions from 2019 St Georges, plus a fine away result for Madeley CC.

The match fees per player for the 2022 season were approved at the April executive meeting two days earlier and they are:

Division 1 – 80p; Division 2 and 3 – both 70p

Divisions 4 and 5 and 6 – all 60p; Thursday Division – 60p

The team fee of £10 and 25p per player registration fee remains the same

Clubs can update their player registrations until midnight tomorrow (Sunday 10th April) – after which the system will be locked and all changes must be made by contacting fixture secretary John Palmer

Most clubs will NOT be providing Post Match Refreshments this season – and those that will be are advised to contact their opponents in advance of fixtures to let them know.  

Competitions – the deadline for entries in this season’s Harris Cup and Ashton Cup – both now 5 home-5 away knockouts after an Appendix to the Rules was approved by the executive – is Wednesday 20th April.

And the League’s 90th Anniversary Celebration will take the form of a one-day party on Saturday 4th June with founder member club St Georges having kindly agreed to act as hosts.

The original bottom green will be used for a singles knockout with all 25 member clubs asked to send a representative to play so that all clubs are involved in what is hoped will be a special day.

Plans for an event on the big top green are being worked on, with talks to take place with St Georges – who may use the day as their promotion as part of the Sports & Social Club’s centenary year.

The League springs back into life this week with the first 2022 fixtures in the Dennis Lewis Thursday Division – but first there’s some talking to do.

An executive meeting will be held on Tuesday 5^th April at the Sir John Bayley Club with the match fees for the season to be announced along with more details about the League’s 90^th anniversary party on Saturday 4^th June.

The full agenda for the meeting is:  

1  Chairman’s remarks to open the meeting

2  Apologies & In Memoria

3  Minutes of the February Management Committee Meeting

4  Matters arising

5  General Secretary’s report

6  Correspondence

7  Fixture Secretary’s report

8  Post match refreshments

9  Treasurer’s report – match fees and prize money for 2022 season

10 Competition Secretary’s report – approval of Appendix to Rules for 2022 only

11 90^th Anniversary Celebration – special day at St Georges

12 New ‘Best Kept Green’ competition

13 County matters – report from executive meeting on 14^th March

14 Any Other Business

15 President / chairman to close the meeting

PLEASE NOTE: Any Club failing to send a representative to an Executive Meeting shall be fined £5.

DATE OF NEXT MEETING – Tuesday 3^rd May at SJBC at 7.30pm

Just one week to wait now until the 2022 MSBL season springs into life with the first fixtures in the Dennis Lewis Thursday Division.

But there won’t be the seven fixtures for a full house of 14 teams as planned and hoped for . . .

That’s because Bowring have informed the League that they have had to withdraw, a club spokesperson saying: “This is due to players telling us they want to play, but having since dropped out. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.”

So that means Newport will have to wait another week to open their programme as Bowring’s fixtures now become a bye.

The two Covid hit years have cost the League a total of 10 teams from across the divisions, with only 4 new additions.

But the League and its clubs now needs to strive even harder to make sure that we draw a line in the sand in 2022 and then start to grow back to at least pre-pandemic levels – both in terms of the number of teams and the number of people playing.

That will be the message at a League executive meeting on Tuesday 5th April, which will open with a tribute to Sinclair legend Ken Pritchard, who has sadly passed away, as part of In Memoria.

On a happier note, there will be a big announcement at the meeting regarding the League’s 90^th anniversary party on Saturday 4^th June . . .

The Competition Dates for 2022 so far finalised by organiser Phil King can now be seen on the Competition News section of this website

To mark its 90th anniversary, the League aims to use the greens of founder members clubs like Trench, Horsehay and St Georges

Saturday 30th July is the big day on the calendar – Senior Merit finals day – when £125 from a new sponsorship package from Shropshire Vertidrain & Turf Services will be added to the prize fund

New eligibility rules for the Senior Merit and changing the Harris Cup to a five home-five away team knockout will be up for approval at a League executive meeting on Tuesday 5th April

And two bits of news from the BCGBA – the insurance portal for the renewal of Public Liability and Personal Accident Insurance will go live from Friday 1st April.  The renewal period for 2022 will be from 1st May to 31st December. 

And the updated membership forms (CR1/CR2) are now available to download for the completion of your club details and confirmation of your club members.

 These forms should be returned to your County Register.  You can access the insurance portal and download the membership forms via the Membership link on the BCGBA website.

The 2022 fixtures are now live on this site – and they show that two years hit by the pandemic has not done the League any favours.

New fixture secretary John Palmer reports: “We’ve lost five teams from Friday nights, two from Mondays and two from Thursdays, which is somewhat offset by two new teams on a Monday and two on a Thursday.

“Promotion/Relegation has been dependent on where we’ve lost teams – but, generally, 1 or 2 teams have been promoted and similarly relegated.

“Two clubs requested that their teams play in a lower division due to loss of players. (Albrighton & Donnington Wood).

“Consequently there will be 12 teams in Divisions 1 & 2, 11 in Divisions 3 and also 4, 5 & 6 and a full house of 14 in the Dennis Lewis Thursday Division.

“Friday leagues will start 2 weeks after the Premier League on 22nd April (missing Easter the week before) and finish one week before the Premier on 23rd September.

“This is because I’ve taken the opportunity to move the Queen’s Jubilee fixtures (Friday 3rd June) en bloc to 23rd September rather than play them on Wednesday 1^st June.

“Thanks to Mike Beckett, we’ve been able to match the existing Premier fixtures almost exactly. There is one exception – the division 1 fixture between Wrockwardine Wood A and  Newport A – which has to be rearranged.

“Monday Leagues will start on 11th April and finish on 26th September, missing Easter Monday, May Day and the August Bank Holiday.

“The Thursday league will be the first to start on 7th April and finish on 29th September.”

The pdf within this post contains the MSBL’s divisional structure for the 2022 season produced by new fixture secretary John Palmer, which has already been sent direct to all clubs.

It also details the start and finish dates for all the divisions, plus the plan for dealing with the numerous (and extra) Bank Holidays this year.

This has involved a lot of diligent work by John to try and avoid any clashes with various other leagues and his fellow officers thank him for his efforts.

The actual fixtures for 2022 will be released and go live on this website  on Wednesday 23^rd March – after an officers meeting the evening before, at which any feedback on the divisional structure will be dealt with.

The officers meeting will also set a budget and the match fees for 2022, do a thorough review of the Competition Rules after two coronavirus-hit years and try to set in stone some 90th anniversary plans now that the county dates have been finalised.

The League’s 2022 AGM marked the official agreement of a new two-year sponsorship deal with Local Print Pros.

The Hadley-based company are specialists in top quality printed clothing, including printed t-shirts and printed hoodies. They also print banners – one of which has already been presented to the League – business cards, decals and much, much more.

Well known Horsehay bowler and club secretary Steve Reeves represented the company and is seen handing over the sponsorship cheque to League President Mike Potter and treasurer Celia Miles. The League’s sincere thanks go to Local Print Pros.

Meanwhile, new fixture secretary John Palmer has been working hard since the 2020 teams deadline passed at the weekend to finalise the divisional structures, start dates and the actual fixtures, trying to avoid any clashes with other leagues.

Officers aim to get the fixtures out to clubs and published on the website ASAP so we can get any feedback quickly and deal with it.

Then they plan to hold an officers meeting next week to look at any matters arising, work on a budget, set the match fees and prize money accordingly, and also have a look at various Competition Rules and try and progress 90th anniversary plans.

And if there needs to be a quick EGM before the April meeting – which will be an executive – on Tuesday the 5th then so be it.

The clock is ticking and midnight tonight – Saturday 12^th March – is the deadline for all member clubs to let League offiicials know how many teams they will be entering and in what divisions this year.

John Palmer is the person to contact as the League’s new fixture secretary (email [email protected]) and as of the start of play today he was waiting to hear from five clubs.

They were Chelmarsh, Donnington Wood, Horsehay,  Shifnal and Wrockardine Wood.

All rules have now been updated on the League’s website after changes approved at the AGM – and the Club Contacts section will be updated shortly now that all 2022 Club Info Sheets have been received.

Any orders for scorecards (£13 per 1,000) and captain’s books (31) each) must be received by the general secretary by tomorrow – Sunday – at the latest

Just to remind everyone, in 2022:

*All matches in the Friday and Monday divisions will now be 10-a-side

*There will now be registered 6s instead of 8s for clubs with two or more teams

*Doubling up in fixtures will NOT be allowed

There was a kind of poetic symmetry to the fact that, on the cusp of the League’s 90th anniversary season, the 2022 AGM was one of the most important in its history.

That’s why all 25 current member clubs were represented in a full house at Wellington’s Sir John Bayley Club on Tuesday 8th March when the following key votes were taken . . .

* All matches in the Friday and Monday divisions will now be 10-a-side

*There will now be registered 6s instead of 8s for clubs with two or more teams

*Doubling up in fixtures will NOT be allowed

*Clubs with two teams in the same division will now only have to list 8 players for each team, rather than 10

*John Palmer is the League’s new fixture secretary and he can be emailed using this address: [email protected]

*Clubs have until midnight on Saturday 12^th March to let him know how many teams on which nights they will be entering for the 2022 season

Fixtures will be published as soon as possible after that date – but clubs can now log in and update their registered players on the Mike Beckett system using the same log in code as last year

All other rule change proposals were passed unanimously at the AGM when Steve Wall was voted in as the League’s new vice-chairman and all other officers were re-elected en bloc

Treasurer Celia Miles reported a £436 profit on 2021 and competition secretary Phil King said that 75% of his dates for 2022 were now set in stone

General secretary Malcolm Fletcher added: “There are still plenty of positives for the League to be proud of – Molson Coors continuing their main backing, despite difficult trading conditions, and 2 new sponsorships deals agreed with Local Print Pros and Shropshire Vertidrain & Turf Services Ltd. Our sincere thanks go to all 3. 

“A new and more user friendly website has been launched and will very soon give us everything we could ask for. Sincere thanks go to Steve Wall for this.

“We’ve actually got people willing to stand for office too, in these days when very few put their hands up and most have to be press-ganged into taking on a role they really didn’t want.

“And we have exciting plans to mark the League’s 90th birthday in style, including holding competitions at clubs who have been playing Mid Shropshire bowls since 1932 – and with our very own President Mike Potter serving as County President for a second time.

“As he said at the county AGM 24 hours earlier, 2022 promises to be quite some journey!”