Sunday 30th May.
day 3 of our open weekend sessions

Vince Taylor RIP

Vince was a member of Tarring Priory and will be remembered by our oldest members for his contributions and enthusiasm for bowls. Vince was well known throughout Worthing as one of our sporting greats. In his twenties in the war years he played right wing for Arsenal before injury cut short his professional career at just 27. He did play football for Worthing FC after that and was also an excellent batsman and wicketkeeper for Broadwater CC.

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He was ever a traditionalist and when Tarring Priory as a club decided to modernise with the introduction of coloured shirts - it was time for Vince to move on.

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He continued to bowl indoors at WIBC in his whites and greys and was a regular weekender. Age and health finally caught up with him in his 94th year and we honour his memory here. RIP Vince Taylor.

Vince's funeral will take place on the 24th March at 1pm. In these difficult times attendance at funeral services is by invitation only. 

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If you wish to say goodbye to Vince the funeral cortege will drive around WIBC at 12:15 before driving up to the Crematorium.

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It will also be possible to view the service by video link using the details below.

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Time of Service: 24-Mar-21 at 1:00

Place: Kingswood Chapel - Worthing

link to screencast: https://www.obitus.com/

User Name: Xusu0834

Password: 858909

We have to report the sad news that Derek Hutchings, one of our older members, has passed away on the 14th January 2021. He had been struggling with diabetes and its complications for  some time. Unfortunately Derek caught the Covid-19 virus in the New Year to which he succumbed.

He first joined the club in May 2006 but Derek hasn't been on the green for several years now. When he played he was mainly involved in Spoons and Roll ups. When he stopped playing he continued to pay as a Full Playing Member right up to this season. Derek was true testament that our club is for everyone, regardless of aspiration and we thank him for that.

We send our sympathy to his family.

Derek Hutchings RIP

New picture from Kevin our mobile roving reporter (that's his bike in the picture!) 

The Promised Hedge to the South of our Green is now being Planted

and does any one know what this grub is?

Ray Roberts RIP

It is with the deepest regret that I have to share the news that Ray Roberts lost his fight with cancer on the 22nd July 2020. It had been a very hard few years for Ray as the illness took its toll on one of those guys you just couldn’t ignore. Love him or otherwise Ray was not a man to hide his light under a bushel.

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Yes, Ray Roberts was a man who definitely wore his heart on his sleeve. When he was bowling you always knew what sort of day he was having, good or bad, through his body language and he wasn’t afraid of calling a digging implement a shovel either!

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These attributes were brought well to the fore when refereeing in the FA County League. This was indeed a good standard of refereeing and Ray continued to keep the peace on pitches around the county well into his 60’s. He was in fact the longest serving ref at this level. He did love his football and for many years he was in charge of Beckett Athletic FC.

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In his working life Ray was an electrical engineer specialising in catering and industrial refrigeration and working all over the world. He happily leant his skills to our bowls club if we needed him to. It is really as a bowler at Tarring Priory BC, Worthing Indoor BC and with the West Sussex Tourists that we all knew Ray. As well as his electrical skills he also brought his own brand of man-management to Priory by first running our Friendly squad and then our West Sussex Bowls League Div 2/3 side. He succeeded in taking the side up from Div 3 in his first year in charge. Ray was a good draw bowler,  evidenced by his name against the 2 wood Singles Championship at Priory in 2012.

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Ray leaves behind 3 sons, Mark, Nick and Paul, who between them gave him 5 grand kids who he loved dearly. Ray lived for a long time with his partner Norah Fisher- an inspirational lady who was Mayor of Worthing not too many years ago. Sadly, Norah died and Ray’s life was less without her.

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Gus, Ray’s surviving brother, is also a stalwart of the bowling scene and they made a good partnership. Gus had the cunning to keep Ray’s ‘more to the point’ attitude in check – they were quite a team.

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Ray Roberts – we will miss you. RIP

Joe Peters RIP

Our one and only Joe Peters has passed away. His daughter Denise phoned me advising me that he died in the nursing home on June 17th. He had had a scan around 2 weeks ago and the doctors gave him around 2 months to live. He only had a fraction of that and is now at peace with his lovely wife that he missed so much after her death.

Joe was a life member at Tarring Priory and I don't think we'll ever find another Joe. He just did so much - Bar work, Pavilion maintenance, Working on the Green, Crowd control, Friendly Captain, Stracey Captain - if it needed doing Joe was always first in line. Nothing was ever too much trouble. 

If you met Joe you'd be hard put not to remember him - he was a truly remarkable man - the roughest of diamonds - but what a gem.

Joe's funeral took place on the 6th July at Worthing Crematorium. Any donations in Joes memory should go to the RNLI or to St Barnabas c/o Ian Hart Funeral services

A good turnout of club members assembled by the tennis courts to pay their respects to Joe on his final journey past the club on the 6th July.

Green Update April 2020

Sadly we are not allowed to play on the green yet, but Worthing and Adur District Council are doing their bit to make sure we have a good surface once we are allowed on the green.

A hedge is planned for the south side of the green. This will act as a natural barrier to access the green from the south and a small visual deterrent to some of our less welcome visitors. The shrubs will be planted by the council in the first week October and are currently in store by them until we are ready.

The search goes on .....

Derek Ridley (President), Keith Brinsmead (Chairman) and Kevin Tester (Accounts Examiner) visited The Crouch Bowls Club in Seaford in January 2020. 

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Their visit was to share The Crouch's experience in successfully gaining funding for a new Clubhouse - and very smart it looks too!