The outdoor season is near its end, we know nearly all of the finalists of the club competitions, the Tuesday night floodlit league is in full swing and the nights are definitely drawing in. It would be good to have something to look forward to...
News
Given the level of interest expressed by our members there will be a four day summer tour next year, please save the following dates - from Friday 10 September to Monday 13 September 2027. We will be playing matches on the Isle of Wight and staying at the Norton Grange Hotel in Yarmouth. The fixtures are in the process of being arranged and the cost per person determined. It is planned to provide everyone with more details before the end of September. In line with previous tours, those wishing to go will need to pay an initial deposit by the Club AGM on 3 December.
1.0 Dates for the Diary: Sept - Oct
Please find below a summary of events, friendly matches and opportunities to assist our club. Details concerning Southampton and District League matches are published in the annual fixture list and are not repeated here.
PPBC Events
| Date | Event | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 5-6 Sept | Finals Weekend | Details to be circulated, once finalists are known. |
| 10 Sept | Grandfathers Fish and Chips | Sign up list on the noticeboard, please specify choice of meal. |
| 26 Sept | Closing Day | A signup sheet is on the noticeboard. |
| 29 Sept | Short Mat Meeting followed by first Roll-up | Meeting will start at 6:45pm including information about the winter leagues and short mat competitions. |
Friendlies
| Date | Event | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 20 Sept | Priory (Home) | Last friendly of the outdoor season. Sign-up list is on the noticeboard. Whites. A meal will be served after the match. |
2.0 Club Activities, Volunteers and Members
Several of our members devote their time and effort behind the scenes in support of the club. Often we are largely unaware of what they actually do, so in the hope that this will become a regular feature in future issues our intrepid reporter interviewed John Doyle, club treasurer:
John, what challenges do you face?
It is around this time that I start to prepare for the end of our financial year. As a sporting club we work hard to keep the costs for members to play as low as possible, but rising fuel prices, increased costs to operate and maintain the club plus events outside of our control mean that this is a complicated task. To set membership and other fees I need to predict what our future levels of expenditure and other additional income will be over 2027.
Last year, the club’s committee decided to try to increase our additional income through holding more social events over the year. Primarily organised for fundraising, these events have proved largely successful and have increased club income as has an increased number of private bookings of the clubhouse and bar over 2026.
Is there anything we can do to help you?
There are many ways in which members can contribute to ensuring we remain financially healthy over the next year; from donating raffle prizes to encouraging family and friends to become members and players for the club, or inviting them to attend club social events.
If there is an event that you think would be popular and well attended please let me or a member of the committee know.
Games Night 1 August
Games nights are popular events in other clubs and regularly held, but for Pirrie, this was the first time for us and we combined it with a fish and chip supper. The games involved putting, cornhole, quoits and a modified version of bar billiards, no cues but instead rolling weighted tennis balls up a slope with the aim of landing in a hole for points. Each game had 'local' rules and teams of four took it in turns to cycle through the four events. The organisers originally planned for up to four rounds but we were all new to this and played fairly slowly, so much so, that the fish and chip supper was served after the first round was completed. A second round followed and total scores were calculated and adjudicated. The overall results were as follows:
Best Team: Keith, Carol, Eddy and Marian.
Best Man: Paul (99 points)
Best Lady: Marian (99 points)
Esmae Figg (at 5 years old the youngest competitor) and Nicki (her Nanny) both won a chocolate bar for 'participation', much to Esmae's delight.
It was a lovely evening, there was friendly competition, opportunity to catch up with others when not playing and clearly everyone enjoyed themselves.
Salty Sea Dogs 22 August
Unfortunately, it was decided to cancel this event due to insufficient numbers of tickets sold. All those that purchased tickets have been fully refunded.
3.0 Match Reports
The S and D season finished with mixed fortunes for our various teams: Despite winning their last game 6-0 away at Folland, our Championship team finished seventh overall (above Winchester City) and will be returning to Division 3 next year. Our Combination Triples A team finished a creditable 4th in Division 1, whereas, our B Team, narrowly missed out on promotion, finishing third in Division 2. Our Wednesday night, Mixed Triples Team finished 5th in League B.
Priory Away 2 August
A regular home fixture for us, this year we also agreed to go to Portsmouth to play Priory on their green, as part of their Centenary celebrations. Following team photos and the spider, five full rinks competed against each other. Again, Pirrie played well, winning overall with our best rink being Jackie, Craig, Keith and John B.
The match was followed by a ploughman's meal and after speeches every Pirrie player was given a present that included a centenary badge, beermat, keyring and pen. The club was also presented with a centenary pennant that is now on display above our bar. It was a thoroughly enjoyable day, with a friendly, relaxed atmosphere and was a genuine celebration of the Priory's centenary year. Everyone is looking forward to the return fixture on the 20th September.
Sutton and Kirby 30 August
This fixture has been held for seventeen years and is popular with all, not just for the pie at the end of the match but also the company and friendship on the green of our friends that we meet every year.
The changeable weather and a delay in starting meant that the match was reduced to 16 ends of a mixture of three full rinks and three triples. We also 'lent' Sutton and Kirby three players to bolster their numbers. Also, for our statisticians, this was (probably) the first time that we fielded two full rinks, each made up of members from the same family.
The spider required a measure to determine that Barry Digweed had the closest wood. Overall, for the first time in a friendly match this season, we came second. Our best rink was the Chairman's, consisting of Andy Wilson, Barry Digweed, Keith Harris and Lloyd.
4.0 Thank you
The games Night players would like to thank Eddy and Wayne for organising the event and the Atherley Sports and Social Club for loan of their games equipment. They would also like to thank Martin L and Mo for organising and collecting the fish and chip supper.
A big thank you to everyone who represented and supported the club over the S and D league season, specially the catering/refreshments teams (Angie, Mo, Lloyd, Dave, and Claire), the sundry Captains of the day as well as Mike and John for returning the results.
Everyone who has participated in friendlies and played in club competitions would like to thank Keith for his hard work as fixture secretary, over the last year.
Everyone on the rinks would like to thank Mike for his timely, careful and classy refurbishment of the pushers.
And finally...
Following the Prime Minister's meeting with President Zelensky in Kiev last week, our international news team can exclusively reveal that the UK's offer to supply design details of military equipment to Ukraine also included the blueprints of the recently developed 'Pirrie Park Stealth Pusher'.
According to Major Stan De Teeze, Southampton's military attaché, "It has come to our attention, that Pirrie have stolen a march on other local clubs; their stealth pusher is not only silent but woods will not see it approach", smiling rather manically, he added, "they won't know what's hit 'em".
Clearly the news of our new pushers has raised concerns with the Russians. Several of our members have reported low flying drones buzzing the Green during recent matches, obviously in an attempt to discover more about our latest technological breakthrough. As always we will keep you informed as this story develops (please don't - Ed).
Contact us
All contributions, including drone reports, welcome, the editors can be contacted via email (pll@soton.ac.uk) or letter placed on the mail noticeboard in the corridor by the entrance to the bar.
Club website
https://pirriepark.weebly.com/