End of 2024 Season Captains Reports
Below is the Captain's reports as recorded in the AGM
Ladies Captain:
My second & last year as Ladies Captain, I know it probably seems to you that I have been here forever but I can assure you it is only 2. It is now someone else’s turn to be the force to be reckoned with that gets you all playing in matches. It wasn’t a position that I ever thought I would hold when I first joined the club. But I am very glad I did even though bribery and corruption played a part.
I have really enjoyed being the Ladies captain but I couldn’t have done it without the support from Charlie giving me confidence & playing alongside. Thank you to Marilyn for all her advice, support & knowledge throughout the year. Thank you to Paula as vice captain. Thank you to Diane for joining us for selection every Monday.
We have a very welcoming and friendly club here at Dorking; even captains from other clubs have said what a great bunch we all are. I am extremely proud to be part of this club and hope that you all are too.
The Captain’s charity day was a great success and what fun we had. A big thank you to Mary and her Son’s Paul, Kieran and their partners for cooking us a fabulous meal to have after our game, her lovely grandaughter’s Amelie & Erin for their part as well.
The NDL this year, we did finish one position up the league table from last year so congratulations to us. As I said last year in my report there is always room for improvement and better luck next year.
Sadly we were not the winners of the Surrey Ad cup this year. We did very well but Bookham beat us to the post. We did host the finals here whereby Bookham went on to win the final as well. Congratulations to them. Thank you to all those who helped out on the day with providing tea/coffee cakes the parking. Or just your friendly welcoming selves. We even managed to make some money for the club which was a bonus.
We had our second bowls tour to Bournemouth. This is beginning to look like an annual event! But you didn’t fail me in our bowling we did get our Gold at Dorchester Congratulations Dorking. What a great time in Bournemouth. There was Steve’s birthday!! I think he enjoyed himself? Even our singing was a success however I haven’t received any recording contracts as yet! But I am sure Dorking is definitely on the map now. We always leave something behind in Bournemouth not only what went on there but normally during the 4 days someone will have left something behind!! Not wishing to mention any names.
Thank you to all of you for making it such a success. Without you all it would have been very dull. I look forward to our tour next year.
Huge thank you to our Green Keeping team led by James (Only those who came to Bournemouth would have seen his numerous other talents). The team who give up their time to work so hard at providing us with a fantastic green to play on. The Comments from other clubs of how good our green is this year you should all been extremely proud.
Thank you to Eric and his team for keeping us lubricated. Thank you to Marian and Pat for keeping us well fed. Thank you to our President and Vice President (David and Sonia) Men’s Captain (Peter) and the whole of the Management committee for all their support and hard work for the club.
Lastly thank you to all our members for all the help and support in whatever role you do. The club couldn’t run so well and wouldn’t be such a great place to be without you all playing your part.
One last thank you to all for your Donations to the Captain’s charity The Children’s Trust. We collected a grand total of just over £850. Thank you all so much.
Lastly I would like to wish my successor good luck & offer any help or support I can give.
Men’s Captain:
The season has flown pass again and hopefully you have all enjoyed it. Looking back, I think the weather was so unpredictable, either hot (very at times!), overcast or very wet.
Welcome to all our new members I hope you have enjoyed your introduction to our club and welcome back to old friends who have returned – it’s good to see you all.
My thanks as always to:
• The green-keeping team – the green continues to improve season on season and introducing the Saturday mowing has improved our enjoyment of the weekend games;
• The maintenance team – for all the repairs and improvements that go unnoticed by all of us;
• The catering team – for all the fine fare delivered at the club events, our games and the roll-ups.
Now I would like to pass my thanks to some of our more unsung heroes whose hard work keeps the club going from strength to strength:
• The recruitment team, coaches and helpers – another great year. Not only introducing the new members but undertaking extra sessions for anyone who requested it;
• The match secretaries – Chris Morris and Marilyn Macklin who arrange the fixture schedule and deal with all the adjustments required so we can just turn up and enjoy ourselves;
• The social roll-up organisers who work tirelessly during the season for so many members. The Monday Afternoon, Tuesday night and Friday night have been the backbone of the club for many years, but we now have a Sunday morning so special thanks to Alan Wall;
• Our league representative David Macklin – David monitors all correspondence from the various leagues and ensures DBC feedback is provided where appropriate.
A quick summary of our leagues follows:
East Surrey League: We started the season so well, leading the table after 8 games however we did not manage to keep this momentum and finished in 4 th place. We won 8 games and drew 2 others.
Border League: We came so close to promotion. A defeat at Redhill in the last game of the season meant we missed out to them by 2 points. This game came down to the last end to determine the promotion – well done to all the players who represented the club in the league this year. Given our slow start losing 2 of our first 3 games, it was a creditable place to finish in third place overall.
Guildford triples league: We had an excellent finish with wins against Ewhurst, Castle Green, Stoke Park, and Bookham plus one rink against Burpham, that meant we rose from 7th to 3rd in the league. This lead to a Dorking team going to the play-offs for the second season where they put in an excellent performance narrowly winning their play-off game against Woking Park.
New Surrey league: Dorking had a bit of a rollercoaster performance; storming to early wins, we lost our way in the middle of the season before reviving our fortunes with scorching performances. Dorking finished mid-table in a very strong league.
Across the leagues we have utilised 41 different players – 40 men and many thanks to Pat Thomas for playing in the pouring rain at Horsham Park and helping DBC to a strong victory. We have a strong squad of experienced match day players, and I hope we can challenge for promotion again next year.
Didn’t we have a wonderful weekend for the competition finals? The good weather was matched by some very exciting games. Well done to everyone who participated and especially the victors. Organised so well by Trevor Thomas and John Stenton “again” – I think this should be a job for life!!
Congratulations to our new club champions – Barbara and Hugo. Both games were very close hard-fought affairs. Best of luck to you both in the “2025 Surrey champion of Champions”.
Before leaving competitions, I must mention Nick Roos who did so well in this year’s “Surrey Champion of Champions” and reached the area semi-final.
My thanks to Vicky, Paula, Marilyn, Ray and Trevor for your support, advice, help and assistance this season.
Finally, a big thank-you to everyone for your donations to the “Children’s Trust” Captains Charity. We raised over £850 which was in no small part to Mary and her family who provided a feast for us to enjoy on our Captain’s Day.