The Chicks Also Go Bowling

[caption id="attachment_3762" align="alignleft" width="300"] Team Alley Cats[/caption]

Our second report today is also about a bowling event. This time, Debbie Nichols of Wakefield House has a tale of The Chicks and 3 Amigos...

As part of the Chicks and the Beanstalk's fundraising for their Sense and Ridgeway Walk efforts, a tenpin bowling night was held on July 9th in Swindon. The opportunity was taken to involve the 3 Amigos bowling team, a team of visually impaired players, who you may remember were mentioned in Dispatches last year.

[caption id="attachment_3765" align="alignleft" width="300"] The 3 Amigos play in distinctive purple shirts[/caption]

After an exciting night's play, Ann Stone (Alan Stone's wife) was best female with 210 points and Dan Wilson playing for the 3 Amigos was best male player with 317 points. The 3 Amigos were the best team with an impressive total of  1256 points.

£710 was raised (with possibly more donations to come) which will be split between the 3 Amigos and Sense.

The 3 Amigos are again on the hunt for glory at their national championships, so we wish them well in their campaign.

It's a time when the word "Strike" has a positive meaning!

Bowling Along at Bertrams

[caption id="attachment_3757" align="aligncenter" width="640"] And the players are... James Payton, Bernadette Nyulasz, Jaimie Dorward, Hollie McCluskey, Michelle Gee, Melanie Napthen, Ben Beach, Jamie Kent, Jason Cherrington, Dale Pascoe, Ian Hendrie, Jonathan Denton, Darren Turner, Nicola Jones[/caption]

Melanie Napthen, Purchase Ledger Assistant at Bertrams organised a bowling tournament at the Funscape Bowling Alley Norwich on July 23rd.

Fifteen people over three teams competed to take home the trophy and all important winners certificate. There were various runner up prizes all donated by local companies ranging from cinema tickets to chocolate.

At the end of the 2 games the overall winner was announced, congratulations to Ben Beach who looked very pleased with his trophy which now has pride of place on his desk in IT.
The highest scoring bowlers from each team were Hollie McCluskey, Jonathon Denton and of course Ben. The highest scorers took home a lucky dip prize; Hollie is already planning what she will see with her theatre tickets!

After a promising first game Nicola Jones took home the certificate for lowest score of the second game and Bernadette Nyulasz took home a box of chocolates for the overall lowest score. Perhaps a tactical move for the chocolate?!

If there was a prize for most entertaining bowling technique it would most definitely have gone to finance's Dale Pascoe, the video is probably making the rounds on YouTube already!

Overall the night was a huge success raising a total of £210! The funds raised will go to Refuge, a charity offers protection for victims of domestic violence and abuse.

3 Amigos Bowling Night

[caption id="attachment_1155" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Ready for action"][/caption]

Wakefield House took over the bowling alley last week, in support of the 3 Amigos bowling team. The 3 Amigos are an enthusiastic tenpin bowling team of three visually impaired people – either blind, partially sighted, and in one case, with learning and physical difficulties – who compete in the British Blind Sports Bowling League.

[caption id="attachment_1156" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Group shot, winners and losers!"][/caption]

With 16 teams participating, a good time was had by all and an amazing £800 raised from the evening, £310 raised by the five Smiths News teams alone! This will help Cliff, Shaun and Russell enormously, enabling them to participate in forthcoming competitions around the country and further afield such as Ireland.

[caption id="attachment_1157" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="The winnning team, enjoying a drink"][/caption]

A bottle of Smiths News champagne was awarded to the winning team and a medal for each individual within the team. The winners just so happened to be a Smiths News team - the Adult Salmon Conquerors!

[caption id="attachment_1154" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="The Winners"][/caption]

Bowling for Coventry

[caption id="attachment_176" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Sarah Carver-Smith (Returns) and Rob Cottle (Transport Manager) step up to the challenge"][/caption]

"Well at Coventry House we don’t waste any time getting the job done – we started our fundraising for Community Week this month! Our bowling night raised £160 from staff, family and friends, who all paid £5 to charity for the privilege of spending time knocking down pins.

We had an array of spectacular prizes on offer, awarded for Highest Score, Lowest Score and Worst Shirt of the Competition.

Ray Smith from our Returns Department walked off with the prize for the highest score - an impressive 172. We all think he's a pro, as he came armed with his own balls.

Carol Jacques from our Day Pack managed to win the award for Lowest Score at 31. We’re still not sure how she managed it, maybe it was all those energy drinks she was downing?

Liam Cottle, youngest son of Rob Cottle our Transport Manager, won the prize for Lowest Score from the youngsters who took part.

[caption id="attachment_177" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Steve Milner (left), winner of the Worst Shirt with Ray Smith (right), winner of the Highest Score."][/caption]

And Steve Milner from our Day Warehouse was the proud winner of the title "Worst Shirt of the Competition". We’re thinking of issuing similar as the new style Hi-Vis jackets….

We’ve already thought about what to do next and Ray ‘Sepp Blatter’ George, our Twilight Manager, is busy organising the Football Tournament of the Year, with some excellent raffle prizes donated by local businesses. We have some other events in the pipeline too, and more on that as they take place."

- Rob Carver-Smith,
Coventry Support Manager

Coventry House are supporting the charities Baby Lifeline and The Meningitis Trust, national charities with local connections. They are also supporting the John White Community Centre that is based just round the corner from Coventry House.

What are you up to? Let us know and get your own spot on this site.