Tarring Priory Bowls Club
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Worthing, West Sussex BN13 1HQ
Established 1937
MOST RECENT UPDATES
RIP Amrik 'Hammy' Pannu
Former member, Hammy Pannu, passed away on Feb 13 2025, at the age of 82.
Although Hammy jumped ship and played his last years of bowls at rivals Worthing Pavilion, he will long be remembered by all who knew him at Priory. As a bowler he had a fairly unique delivery which occasionally allowed him to produce the most outrageous of shots. Some called it luck but most of us knew better!
Hammy started out life in Uganda and emigrated to England as times in Uganda became volatile. He followed the Sikh religion and at Priory he was the go to man about all things to do with Curry. As during his time, we had great curry lovers at Priory - he was a popular man indeed
Our thoughts are with wife Margaret and the family
Funeral will be held at Worthing Crematorium on Weds 5th March at 1300. Family flowers only. All are welcome afterwards at Worthing Pavilion Bowls Club.
RIP Edward 'Ted' Hood
We are very sad to announce the passing of one of the staunchest Priory members.
Ted joined Tarring Priory in 1979 and played outdoors with the club up until around 5 years ago. During his 40 plus years at the club he was both an accomplished bowler and a good servant to the club.
He was indeed awarded Honorary Life membership for his long service, notably his roles on the committee, including a long stint as Honorary Club Treasurer and he was a Trustee for the club too.
On the green he had a distinguished playing career and he will be particularly remembered as an exponent of the hit and stay shot,
At Priory he won the Championship Singles in 2007 and the Championship Pairs in 1980 and 1990. His best top level achievements were as a member of a rink which won the Sussex County Bowls Fours Championship in 2007, and also he played in the National Pairs Finals at Beach House and won a match - all great moments in a long bowls career.
Ted will be long remembered as a true gentleman of the green and missed by all who knew him.
Thoughts are with surviving family members and long term partner Shirley.
Funeral arrangements
Priory members are welcome to attend
A Celebration of Life - Edward (Ted) Hood
Methodist Church, Claigmar Road, Rustington, BN16 2NL
Friday 21st March at 1pm
Refreshments to follow
Proff and Roy have been working tirelessly to open up the mens' changing room - they are now at the stage where they can begin putting things back together
Jan 2025
RIP Peter Walden
Former member Peter 'Wishy' Walden has passed away at the age of 84.
He was a lovely bloke and part of the Priory team that was so successful in the 90's. He won the club pairs with Chris Rolph in 1991 (they also won county pairs before joining Priory) and also with Dave Cornwell in 1996.
He also won county 4s in 1991 and 1994 whilst at Priory and I have no doubt he would have been part of the team that won the Abergavenny in 1992
He joined from Norfolk and finished his playing career at East Preston
RIP Louise Fairs
With great sadness we must let you know that the wife of our Secretary John Fairs has lost her courageous fight with pancreatic cancer.
Our thoughts are with John and all his family at this most difficult of times.
Work in progress to make 2025 another great year!
Green repair and preparation goes on throughout the winter
Mens changing room refit gets underway,
RIP Robin Saunders
Very sadly we have lost another player this year. Robin died at the Royal Sussex in Brighton. He went into hospital for an operation on his leg, but he passed away in his sleep last Tuesday morning 17th September. The op didn't improve his condition and he lost that spark to carry on the fight.
Our thoughts are with Robin's family.
RIP Sara Messer
We don't normally record the passing of Social Members on the site - I am going to make an exception for my lovely wife Sara, who passed away just one day after Robin in the same hospital. She had just under 3 weeks from diagnosis with a very aggressive lymphoma to moving on to a higher plane
Sleep well Sara
Well done Ian
Tarring Priory's Ian Robertson's dream of national glory at Leamington Spa finally ends in the last 16.
Playing for the first time in the Bowls England finals, Robertson had a convincing 21 -6 victory over Robert Stanley of Worcester Bowling Club but he could not repeat this success and after an even start, went down 7 -21 to Ken Weyand from the St Lawrence Bowls Club, Ramsgate. Weyand is a regular Middleton Cup player for Kent and is also featuring in the Fours Championship having been part of the team that won the Kent area final.
Pictured - Ian Robertson in action at Leamington Spa in his last 32 match v Stanley, who went on to win the competition.
Keith Brinsmead
Press Officer
Tarring Priory Bowls Club
Ian pictured here receiving the TP HC Singles in 2023
Charity Cheque Presentation July 2024
Winners of the Southbourne Open
9 June 2024
Steve Davis, Roy Barclay, Chris Ide, Frankie Tsang
Paul was only with a club for a short time but had a profound influence on how we tackled disability as a club.
Paul had to have one of his legs amputated but did not see this as an impediment to playing bowls and established himself as a much valued member of any team he was in. He took this attitude right to the top and become very involved in the Disability Bowls England team. This was the primary reason he moved with wife Sandra to Lincoln - the HQ of DBE
Sadly pancreatic cancer caught up with him and he died in early May.
Paul will be widely remembered across Worthing as town Mayor and a real larger than life character.
RIP Paul Baker
RIP Chris 'Gus' Roberts
It is with great sadness that we have to let the world know that we have lost another of the 'good' guys'. Gus passed away at home on April 23rd 2024.
Gus as he preferred to be known was a member at Priory and also at Worthing Indoors. He was a popular and highly likeable character at both venues.
He joined Priory in March 2013 and did take on responsibility as club treasurer for a couple of years around 2020. Some might have thought him under the shadow of his much out-spoken 'bruv' Ray but this was far from the truth. Both gave equally to the life of the club.
Gus pictured above, with Tourists Captain Roger Ayling at Brother Rays memorial match
Gus could also sling down the odd killer wood too - In 2017 he won the Drawn Pairs pictured here receiving his winners trophy with partner, Alan Messer
Gus's funeral will be held at Worthing Crematorium on Friday 17th May at 1:00pm. Irene and the family would welcome any bowlers at the Cricketers in Broadwater after the service for a celebration of 'Gus's' life . In the meanwhile our thoughts are with Irene at this most emotionally painful of times.
RIP David Bellingham
Sadly we have to announce the loss of Tarring Priory BC Member David Bellingham. David died on December 7th after contracting Pneumonia whilst undergoing hospital treatment.
David joined Priory in July 1989. For the last few years appearances on the green were few but he continued to belong to our club as a social member as did his wife Christine.
As a bowler David was a great supporter of the Friendly matches and he enjoyed our team competitions - indeed winning the Monday Triples on 4 occasions and the knock out Fours once.
Our thoughts are with David's family.
FUN CLUB AFTERNOON - WELL ATTENDED
Over 38 members of our club turned out on a pleasant September day to have a fun club afternoon.
The afternoon started with a bountiful buffet lunch catered for by Steve and Steff Allen. The bar run by 'landlord' Nick Eager was running at cost price only, which certainly increased the drinks turnover!
John Proffitt was the toastmaster and brains behind the day and was ably assisted by Comp Sec Stuart Logan and Finesmeister Butch Shakespeare.
The bowling part of the day started with a 'spider' and the winner of that later shared a bottle of Malt with all who wished to partake.
On the green 4 rinks of Tarring players plus one 'interloper' played out 15 ends of quality bowls (I'm not quantifying the quality!) Top rink was shared between 2 rinks - one honour went to Sandy, Gus, Butch and Alan - not sure how that happened! The other honour went to Korben, Steve, Emmy and Terry
..... and after all of that excitement we gathered for the eagerly awaited 'social repartee' from the 'Proff' - as usual he was on good form. Then Butch performed his deadly duties, and with fines totally £75 on the day - ranging from wrong bias bowls at £1 to wearing rather tasteful shirts at £5 - we have assured another great afternoon next year and some much needed financial help towards the closed season refurb of the pavilion.
Cheque presentation to Guildcare, 2023
Tarring Priory Charity Bowls and Curry
11 August 2023
Adur - Indoor Outdoor Clubs Event
Two Priory teams competed in the Adur Indoor event for Outdoor Clubs on Saturday 11 February 2023.
The team of Mark Harwood, Roy Barclay, Amber Logan and Stuart Logan won all their group matches to come second in the group and then won the 3/4 playoff against Rottingdean.
The other team of Linda Harwood, Geoff Sheldon, John Fairs and Rob Kinley won the first three of their group matches but, in what was notionally a shootout for group winner, narrowly lost to Goring Manor in the last. GM then lost to Southwick Park in the final.
A very successful day for Priory.
Winners of the Southbourne Open
12 June 2022
Derek Meechan Roy Barclay John Fairs Emilio DiPietro
Tarring Priory Annual Dinner
Jan 27th 2023
The evening also gave us the opportunity to say thank you to Wally Burrows who has now retred from Committe life and handed the running of the 50 club onto Butch Shakespeare.
Wally was presented with a small token of the cubs esteem and we wish him well for the future and hope to see him at the Tarring Priory matches in a spectator capacity in the warmer Summer months
Our Annual Club Dinner was held at Worthing Indoor Bowls Club and was very well attended by members their families and friends of the club.
The food was as always delicious and beautify prepared and presented and full marks to Kevin Tester for his part in making sure the correct food got to the correct recipients, Kevin is in fact one of the main drivers of the event and deserves our fullest praise. He even masterminded a photo quiz of sites around Worthing to entertain us whilst not eating.
John Profitt ran the raffle and was ably assisted by Gus Roberts. John enjoys the role of front of house and as usual gave us a memorable event.
Witterings Open and the 'Wiggy' Open 2022
Well done but hard luck too for Derek Meechan, John Fairs, Chris Ide and Alan Messer who for the second Club Open in a row came third. A fantastic effort by any ones standards
July 15th 2022
The 'Charity' fundraiser
Well done everyone who had anything to do with this fine event - you raised £1400 for our chosen charity - The Ashdown Project
NEW WATERING SYSTEM
Adur and Worthing Council have successfully installed a green watering system at our green. The photos show the system being tested.
Our watering crew are very pleased that they can now have that extra hour in bed. Thank you Adur and Worthing.
Our Pavilion in use for a Council preview of plans for Tarring Park
Annual Dinner 2022
The evening was a hugely successful event. Over £1,000 was raised through the raffle and promissory notes towards a Defibrillator.
The food was exceptional as was the service, I have written to Mandy thanking her and the team.
Prof was great masterminding the raffle, wry comical. The raffle itself raised £300.00.
Kevin Tester
Event Coordinator
A team from Tarring Priory were successful in winning their section of the Worthing Indoor Charity Fours on 25/9/21.
The successful four were
Derek Meechan, Roy Barclay, John Schools and Alan Messer
Pre War picture - note the string used to mark the edge of the rinks.
Rare 1939 photo of the Tarring Priory Green taken from the St Andrews Church Tower
Police Advice
Club advice to members in the event of being faced with abuse or trespass onto the green is to dial 999 and call for Police assistance - do not under any circumstances attempt to take the law into your own hands.
