The Lez Rogers Memorial Doubles is now in it’s 11th year. It is a tenpin bowling tournament in memory of Lez Rogers, an Airforce sergeant from Barry, who died in Melbourne, Australia in 2006, before he could compete in the Commonwealth Championships and was the top Welsh bowler at the time of his death.
For the last two years it has been held at Cwmbran but unable to iron out a few issues it was decided to move it to Astra Bowl in RAF Brize Norton, Lez’s first Airforce posting. Last year saw 103 entries but due to a smaller bowling alley this year we had 88 teams, helped by putting on an extra Saturday night squad.
The first squad was at 6pm on Friday the 21st of July and while it was the smallest of all the squads with just 7 teams it was certainly the noisiest. All bowlers bowl as a doubles team with a handicap based on the entering average and the team that bowls the most with their handicap after 6 games is declared the winner. However it is a tournament with a difference as rock music is played throughout it, the majority of which are songs Lez liked or that Kay and Lez enjoyed in their younger days.
The tournament also raises money for the British Heart Foundation and last year raised in excess of £500. This year a special shirt was produced for it with a small donation from each shirt also going to the BHF. The bowl staff worked tirelessly to prepare the lanes all weekend and also man the music too and there was a very cosy atmosphere in the bowling centre.
While team numbers were down, the reason for this was due to other tournaments going on both home and abroad but still at 88 teams it was a respectable number. Whilst the bowling was going on there were raffle tickets being sold and two raffles were held over the Saturday and the Sunday. There were some special prizes donated by Lez’s Mum, Brenda Rogers. She had made a Welsh basket full of Welsh food and drink and this was won by Judy Moffat (one of the 20 strong teams from the Big Boys Bowlers Club now regularly entering this event). Brenda had also crocheted a blanket supporting our troops and ironically it was won by RAF bowler, Aaron Clark.
Saturday was a busy day and saw some good scores going in with Gruesome Twosome of Andy Preece and Sam Potts taking the lead. By the end of the night the score had been overtaken by the Welsh pairing of Gareth Roberts and Mike Williams. The Sunday squads were all full but there were still some very good bowlers to come. However Gareth and Mike hung onto their lead with 2716 to take the coveted title. Second went to Gruesome Twosome with 2705 and closely followed by Pinheads 2 on 2695, featuring Jason Agate and James Footner.
The total raised for the British Heart Foundation this year was £688.25, totally smashing last year’s amount. A fantastic total but thanks to the kind permission of the Station Commander of Brize Norton for agreeing for us to hold this event at RAF Brize Norton it has been made possible.
Everyone is already talking about the 2018 event and let us hope we can raise an even higher total.
Results Download – Lez Rogers Memorial Results
