Successful Charity Day

A SCORCHING hot Saturday in July saw the fifth annual Richard Malin Bowls Gala Day raise over £1,500 for a cancer appeal fund with Dalepak proud to once again lend its support.

The aim of the Youth Cancer Trust in Northampton is to give young sufferers of the disease the chance to take a holiday once they have completed their course of treatments.

And it was a cause which organisers Tony and Jan Clarke were only too keen to embrace when they looked for a fund-raising area for the event which they first ran in 2004, a year after the premature death of fellow Harpole resident Richard Malin, who had first instigated the bowls day.

Tony said: “Richard was only in his late 40s when he died and his widow Sue asked us to carry on the event in 2004, which we have done, finding a different charity every year. Dalepak have supported us every year we have been involved.”

This year’s competition again took place at Harpole Bowls Club with 112 bowlers taking part from 28 teams. The event ran from 10am-5pm on seven rinks and meant all of the teams were guaranteed four games – and four hours of bowls – during the day.

The eventual winners were a rink of four named The Harpole Chancers led by Maurice Hickman who scored 59 points, five ahead of the runners-up who were led by Cara Macleod, the daughter of Richard Malin.

Tony added: “There was a wide variety of teams from relative beginners to regular players so we tended to keep those apart. There were team names such as Bowls R Us and Three Sixties And A Young One (the young one being only 59!) along with The Wooden Spoons which comprised my wife Jan, Sheila White, Julie McCarlie and Carol Hurlestone. They have now won the wooden spoon every year!

“It was a marvellous feeling to stand and watch the event taking place, young and old mixing in with a game of bowls in such wonderful weather.”

Dancing to a band known as The Audio Pirates saved the day and provided a rousing evening, as the musicians, all from the Northampton area, stepped in when the original booking were forced to cancel the engagement.