Prostate Cancer UK Gala - 23rd March 2025

The final charity gala of Rugby Thornfield Indoor Bowls Club’s season saw sixteen teams compete in aid of Prostate Cancer UK. With fundraising target of £1,000 already exceeded, rough estimate at the end of the gala was £1,700+, member Nigel Malka who had been growing his hair and beard for a number of years would be clean shaved during the midway break.

With the first round of games completed ‘The Levers’, ‘Unbiased’ and ‘Liams Lot’ were joint top with seven points, one point clear of ‘Four Four All’, ‘Rink Raiders’, ‘No Chance’ and ‘The Sick Notes’. Heading into the half-time break, when the big shave would take place, ‘Unbiased’ and ‘The Levers’ were still locked together at the top of the pile, ‘Liams Lot’ were a point behind in third place and they in turn were a point ahead of ‘Four Four All’. In joint fifth, three points behind fourth spot, were ‘No Chance’ and ‘Urine Good Company’.

A freshly shaved Malka rejoined his team as the bowls resumed but the top two after the third round were still ‘The Levers’ and ‘Unbiased’, with ‘Liams Lot’ still one point behind them. ‘Urine Good Company’ had moved into fourth place, a distant five points behind third spot, and one point ahead of ‘Four Four All’, ‘Askits Crew Rule’ and ‘Rink Raiders’. A quirk of the fixtures saw ‘The Levers’ and ‘Unbiased’ play each other with ‘Liams Lot’ hoping to benefit from any slip. A 5-4 victory meant that ‘Unbiased’ (Colin Perkins, Ken Johnson, Sue and Tony Nisbett) finish top with twenty-four points, ‘The Levers’ had to settle with second place, three points behind first and one clear of third place ‘Urine Good Company’. In joint fourth were ‘Liams Lot’ and ‘Rink Raiders’ a point behind third. Though the real hero of the day was undoubtedly Nigel Malka for braving the shave to help raise a large amount for charity.