Bowling News
Record high temperatures were recorded on Monday and Tuesday this week as the forecasters got the big calls correct. The Huddersfield area was showing a high of just under 40C on Monday and then on Tuesday it was even higher at 42C both above 100F in 'old money'. On Monday night the hottest reading in England was at Emley Moor with 29.6C high recorded overnight.
That makes the decisions by most local leagues with fixtures during the day on both those days deciding to postpone all fixtures the correct decision. With more elderly bowlers lined up to bowl it was an easy decision to postpone the fixture programme and ensure that no one felt obliged to turn out when everyone was being advised to stay indoors if at all possible.
Leagues that postponed all their fixtures this week included the Brighouse Veterans, Sowerby Bridge Veterans and (eventually) the Huddersfield Veterans. The Monday Heavy Woollen Afternoon League didn't postpone any fixtures but allowed clubs to make their own decisions. Five of the 20 fixtures for last Monday went ahead. In the Brighouse Veterans League, 2 of the 28 matches were played despite the League postponing all fixtures. These both involved teams from the same club playing each other and those matches were played at Spen Victoria and Springwood.
All 12 matches in the Sowerby Bridge Veterans League were rescheduled for 6 September which is a new date added on to their season which was originally scheduled to finish the week before. The 15 scheduled matches in the Monday afternoon Wakefield Veterans League were all postponed with many of them already rearranged for various dates.
The mass postponements were hopefully a one-off experience and the actions prevented any overexertions by local bowlers to jeopardise the health and well-being of bowling club members. Maybe next time it will not happen on a Monday or a Tuesday which are popular days for veterans leagues. As forecast the temperatures dropped rapidly on Wednesday to a more manageable low 20C's. Summer has arrived.