PRESIDENT'S CUP


For many years the KC4s had an award which recognised those who supported the KC4's Tenpin Bowling Club. In 2000 the award was formalised into an annual award with a perpetual trophy plus a small personal trophy for the winner.

The award is not directly related to actual League bowling or being a registered member of a team. It is made following discussion amongst officers of the club in recognition of a person or a teams contribution to the ethos of the KC4s League. It is intended to publicly recognise the efforts (which often go unnoticed by many) made in contributing to the friendly nature of the KC4s.

Current and Past Winners of the Perpetual Trophy

2010/11 Barbara and Richard Spragg

For 2011, the Presidents Cup has been awarded to two bowlers who have made a difference to virtually every team in the league. Just mentioning the two names to my fellow Officers was like switching a light on, I think we had all been thinking along the same lines.
 
Barbara and Richard Spragg joined our league at the start of the session as bowlers who had enjoyed the game as open bowlers. Early in the season, holidays meant that there were opportunities for Floating Reserves most weeks in one team or another. Later in the season, they traded in house balls for their own balls which helped with the steady improvement in their averages.
 
The fact that Richard and Barbara have been available most weeks and have fitted into teams who would otherwise have a blind has helped both the League and the respective teams. In fact both of them have played as league bowlers for over half the weeks of the season - more than some regular members of some teams! As a league we have gained from their involvement whilst I believe we have helped them in gaining confidence and skills in their bowling.  
 
For the 2011 / 12 season, Barbara and Richard have been snapped up by one of our existing teams which also means teams can no longer count on a regular supply of floating reserves!

 

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2009/10 Phil Reed

This year I have pleasure in presenting the Presidents Cup to someone that all the Committee felt couldn’t be missed - only one person would have the nerve to draw attention to themselves wearing a bright red shirt with a serpent wrapped all round it. 

In addition to being the owner of the brightest shirt in the centre, Phil Reed was a great supporter for the KC4s when we were having battles over finish times with the centre and the Friendship League. When the Garden Care league elected to not continue, Phil was instrumental in getting two teams to join the KC4s..

With Phil as the figure head for the two Garden Care teams, this award is also a recognition of how much Monacos and Calley’s Heros have added to the enjoyment of the weekly matches both in new faces and the additional challenge of two strong teams. Its with great pleasure we can add Phil to the list of past winners of the Presidents Cup.

 

 

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2008/09 Geoff Clapson and Rum Bunch

The Presidents Cup for 2009 is going to one of our long standing bowlers and a team that is always fun to bowl against whether you win or loose.

Back in the early days of our league, a team called Guttersnipes had a bowler who featured in the high awards such as High Average (178) in 1976, High Series in 1978 and 1979 (675 and 687 respectively). Bear in mind these scores were in the days of wooden lanes and none of the fancy new balls. That bowler was Geoff Clapson.

When Guttersnipes finally broke up, Geoff joined a new team called Rum Bunch. At that time Rum Bunch was the Jackson brothers plus others. The name is reputed to have originated from the Jackson’s after they succeeded in drinking the bar dry of Rum at the end of the 1983 season (Tolworth Tenpin News reported it was 3 bottles of Bacardi )- just a rumour but ...... During the 90's and into the start of the new century, Rum Bunch were one of the teams everyone tried to beat (but often failed dismally). Twice they created chaos by forcing an end of season playoff for league champions (both times against Saxons).

Throughout the years, bowling against Rum Bunch is a match that has always been fun - whether they have robbed you of 8 points or you have defeated Peter Jackson trying to put a jinx on your team with his “special stones”. Despite changes in line up over the years, they have always introduced players who preserve their team image of enjoyable bowling.

It is with great pleasure that we are awarding the Presidents Cup for 2009 to Geoff Clapson and Rum Bunch.

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2007/08 Vanessa and Neil Barron

In keeping with the tradition of the Presidents Cup being awarded for contributions to the league that normally go unnoticed, this years award goes to two people who have been a part of the league for many years.

However just being part of the league is not a reason for awarding the Presidents Cup; being involved in running a team for many years as an active member of the team and team captain has far more merit. When one of the teams has gone through many changes and is still an active part of the league through the hard work of the captain and support from a partner is far more important. As you know, the Presidents Cup is discussed by your committee and all of us felt that the choice was obvious once the names had been mentioned.

In 1984, KC4s had two presentations to league bowlers who were getting married. The second couple was established league bowlers Vanessa and Neil Barron. Over the years Vanessa has gone from a team member to the Captain of her team and has coped brilliantly with the many changes in team line up. Neal has been one of the oldest members of Saxons and given us all the support one could wish for as part of the team, he has also been a keen supporter of his wife’s team.

It is with great pleasure that this year we are recognizing the “quiet” contribution to the league of the Barron partnership with the award of this year’s Presidents Cup.

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2006/07 Colin Woolley - League Treasurer and Social Organiser

The Presidents Cup is about acknowledging a person or a team who has added something extra to the league. As in previous years, your league officers have discussed highlights of the season and come up with a number of possibilities. However, one event was not discussed and yet it stood out a mile from anything else the league was involved with last season. That was the social at Sorrento's restaurant.

Part of the reason it never came up is the lead player in moving from a formal diner / dance to a restaurant meal was our esteemed treasurer -  Colin Woolley. Before the restaurant solution was found, Colin had been heavily involved in trying to find locations for a dinner / dance within a budget the league could afford and at a price that would attract a reasonable number of league bowlers. When that became a non-starter, the opportunity to substantially fund a meal at restaurant was championed by Colin. As Colin reminded us all, it was league funds that were subsidising the event and therefore it had to be attractive to a substantial number of league bowlers.

Whilst Colin was the lead person in organising this event, he had great help from others including Gee Huggett and Frank Varney. This award is in recognition of everyones efforts in making a great evening.

The success of the evening with all the little touches was written on everyone’s faces when they left that evening. The fact that Colin had managed to fund this within the money allocated by the league for a social event plus the raffle funds indicate that he is a bean counter par excellence --- as well as a great social event organiser.

This year the President has great pleasure in awarding the Presidents Cup to Colin Woolley.

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2005/06 Blind Ali

Each year we award the Presidents Cup to a team or person who has added something extra to the KC4 League. It is awarded based on agreement between your league officers.

In 2005 we started the Winter League with an odd number of teams which left an opportunity for new bowlers to join the league. The initial bowlers making up a "Blind" team included John Bruton. The Blind team comprised of any available spare bowlers in a particular week and could take points away from the team scheduled to bowl against them. John started turning up each week with friends and family to fill the spots in the blind team. It was not long before they were making life very difficult as individual bowlers for other teams.

Before the first schedule rotation had completed, John had put together a team who he thought could bowl with to the end of season. A statement of the teams sense of fun was indicated by the name they adopted in taking over the Blind team spot - Blind Ali. In its early forms, not all the team members had the same commitment to league bowling exhibited by their captain which resulted in a number of team member changes but by the end of the season, replacement bowlers had developed this team into a team for the future. For those that do not know - the team were seen regularly over the summer having fun and practising - which will make it even harder to win against them this year.

The award of the Presidents Cup to the team "Blind Ali" is in recognition of the fun and commitment that all the team members have added to the KC4 League.

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2004/05 Peter Singfield - League Secretary

Everyone in a league expects the league to run smoothly through the efforts of the few dedicated people who are willing to stand as an officer of the club. Having become an officer, they become invisible to the league whilst everything is running smoothly and are then rarely considered for any merit awards. The award of the Presidents Cup to Peter Singfield this year is a way of recognising all the efforts he has made on the behalf of league bowlers to promote the KC4 league.

Our League Secretary is one a very special breed who can make everything run smoothly without any apparent effort. Those of you that have done the job in the past will know that is not an easy task in itself. However beyond the running of the league, Peter has developed our web site beyond all recognition which has resulted in us gaining members as well as keeping everyone up to date with the latest results and our league history. We know there are a number of bowlers and ex members who are regular visitors each week in addition to those who look in from time to time.

When it comes to new members joining the league, Peter is quick to offer them other teams in need of a bowler even when his team is in at least equal need of an additional bowler. It is the way Peter supports the league at every opportunity that made this a very easy decision for the award of the Presidents Cup this year.

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2003/04 We've Come a Long Way

A new team of young 'county' standard bowlers joined us for the 2003/4 Winter Season and the 2004 Summer Season. This team of dedicated young bowlers travelled up from Crawley without fail every Tuesday to bowl with us. Appropriately they named their team "We've Come a Long Way!".

They brought fresh enthusiasm to the league and provided a showcase for the young talent in Junior Tenpin Bowling in the UK. Their bowling talent and sportmanship served to encourage many of the older bowlers to lift their game, a fact demonstrated by the steady increase in the League averages during the year.

To reward their enthusiasm, dedication and contribution to the rejuvenation of the League, they were awarded the Presidents Cup for the 2003/4 season.

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2002/03 Ian Clark

Our 2002/3 winner has aided the recruitment of new bowlers as well as starting to provide a publicity forum for the history of the league, a diary of events, a history of high scores, a spot for the weekly results and the current bowling schedule. In creating the KC4 web site, Ian Clark took all the aspects in hand from registering the web site name through to designing a simple but effective layout. The framework that Ian has created enables us to easily add features or links to other data.

Ian has developed a facility that can now be enhanced easily by information from others. This will help in the league keeping in touch with members - old and new. From an initial comment that it would be useful, Ian has developed a facility very much in keeping with the KC4s way with minimal extra input required from the league officers - it was right straight out of the box. The facility will grow in benefit to the league for communication to all members, attracting new members and a forum to keep a record of our past history.

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2001/02 Frank Varney

Frank has been a regular bowler in the KC4s for many years until forced to stop through health problems. However, he has continued to come up each Tuesday to support his wife and the league. He has willingly taken on any activity that requires visiting all the teams during bowling. Most weeks, the actual running of the KC4s Raffle is carried out by Frank; he has the time to wait for his “customers” whilst they bowl and knows everyone who is liable to purchase tickets. He has contributed greatly to the success of the raffle and its profits which support our social activities.

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2000/01 Top Hats

The team rejoined the league as a family after a break of a number of years. In returning to fill in for a missing team, Colin Town and his family had no illusions that with only four initial bowlers from one family, there would be times when they would bowl with blinds. By bringing in a complete team part way through a season, they reduced the leagues problems of an odd number of teams (even though they knew they would finish the first season in the bottom part of the league). Over the year they worked to re-introduce some of the features associated with the KC4s such as a strong social fund and the KC4 raffle as well as helping the officers in their efforts to promote the membership of the teams.

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For the years prior to the Perpetual Trophy, we are searching past records to identify winners. Anyone who has information which supplements the formal records will be welcomed.