National Competitions for men and women are run by Bowls England and the competitions for 2026 are managed from here.
County competitions for men are run by Kent County Bowling Association and for the women by their website here . Entry dates and rules can be found on their respective websites. The Club organises entries on behalf of members through the Secretaries of the Men's and Ladies' Sections.
The KCBA divides the historic County of Kent into 4 Divisions. An interesting map shows it nicely.
County competitions, as well as producing champions of the County in a particular discipline, also provide entry qualifications for the National events held in Leamington.
There are also Kentish team competitions which the club enters, such as the Bernard Annand Trophy/Shield and the Millennium Trophy and our progress, or otherwise, will be recorded at the end of this page.
County Competitions 2026 - Men
The draws have now been made for the 2026 outdoor season. Once again Canterbury has a significant number of entries across the range of competitions.
There are some cracking matches in prospect for spectators . As in previous years we will track the fortunes of our players as (hopefully) they play their way to the finals.
Rules for matches are here.
The scheduled dates for playing are:
Singles
The draw has slightly favoured Canterbury bowlers in the Singles (played on a Monday). Paul Causer, Darren Ellis, Colin Strouts (bye in first round), Tom Attaway, Mick Fisher, Andy Ferguson (the last two are both byes in the first round and are playing each other), Mark Collison (bye in first round), Steve Wells (bye in first round) and Jeff Vane start off their campaign at home, whilst Alan Cornfoot, Pete Foster and Isaac Tompkins have to travel. Pete and Isaac have byes in the first round.
Across Kent the Singles competition is divided into four sections; we are in the most populated section and we start matches on Monday 11 May. To get to a final a player in our section has to play many more matches than in other sections!
Spectator days
May 11 sees Darren Ellis, Paul Causer, Tom Attaway and Jeff Vane playing at home.
May 18 will see either Darren or Paul taking on Colin Strouts, if Tom wins on May 11 he will play Jason Avery, Alan Cornfoot will be playing at home if he wins his away match on May 11, Mick Fisher will be playing Andy Ferguson, Jeff Vane may be playing at home if he won on May 11, both Mark Collison and Steve Wells are also playing at home.
Some good bowls matches to watch on a sunny evening.
Pairs
Pete Foster, Alan Cornfoot, Darren Ellis, Jeff Vane, Andy Ferguson are drawn away, Paul Causer, Tom Andrews and Bryan Nicholson start off at home. Matches played on a Tuesday starting 26 May..
Triples
The triples of Darren Ellis, Colin Strouts and Pete Foster are away Paul Causer (has a bye and could end up playing Pete Foster, if Pete wins away). Matches played on a Wednesday starting on 3 June and we have no matches at home on that day.
Unbadged Singles
Canterbury bowlers have the rough side of the draw in the unbadged with Mark Collison, Darren Ellis, Dean Ellis and Bryan Nicholson all starting away. Colin Strouts and Andy Ferguson are at home. Matches played on a Thursday.
Fours
Darren Ellis and Jeff Vane are away. Joe Vandepeer is at home.
Matches are played on a Friday starting on 5 June.
Over 55 Fours
No entries this year.
Cox Cup
Canterbury A are away at Lyminge in round one, Canterbury B have a bye in round one but will then be away to Whitstable B or Herne Bay A.
Junior Pairs
TBA
Rules
Competition rules for the men's programme can be found here.
County Competitions 2026 - women
The competition bye-laws can be found here.
Two wood singles
TBA
Singles
Lin Riches is at home on June 1 and if she wins she would play Mandy Catt (a bye) in round two. Yvonne Gambrill is at home on June 1.
Pairs
Karen Owen and Yvonne Gambrill are away in the Preliminary round on 29 May. Mandy Catt is at home on 5 June.
Triples
On the preliminary round on 4 June Jenny Anderson is at home and Yvonne Gambrill is away.
Fours
In the preliminary round on 27 May Mandy Catt is at home, while Yvonne Gambrill is away in round one on 3 June.
Senior Fours
Jenny Anderson is at home in the preliminary round on 2 June. Christiane de Weduwe is at home in round one on 9 June and Yvonne Gambrill is away on that date.
Maude Woods
In these singles matches there are play by dates rather than a fixed date. The first round of matches need to be played by 16 May.
Alison Macdonald, Line Riches are home as are Jane Carey-Harris and Deborah MacVean who play each other.
Matches to be played by 30 May have Jenny Anderson playing Karen Owen and with Sue Close away and Yvonne Gambrill at home.
Mollie Cleggett
This double fours sees Canterbury playing New Romney (who beat us in 2025) on 14 July.
Rules
Rules for the above Ladies competitions can be found here.
National Competitions 2026
Rules for Nationals can be found here.
Men's Singles Over 60
Steve Wells, Alan Cornfoot will be at home and Andy Ferguson, Jeff Vane away, to be played by 27 May.
Men's Pairs Over 60
Jeff Vane and Steve Wells pairs will be away and Andy Ferguson and Colin Strouts pairs will be at home to be played by 20 May.
Women's Singles Over 60
Mandy Catt will be away to be played by 24 June.
Women's Pairs Over 60
Mandy Catt's pair will be away to be played by 3 June, Lin Riches' pair will also be away but to be played by 17 June.
Mixed Pairs
Andy Ferguson and Joe Vandepeer's pairs will be at home, while Steve Wells, Tom Andrews and Isaac Tompkins's pairs will be away to be played by 7 May.
Tom Andrews and Deborah McVean lost 20-19 against a strong Aylesham pair on their green. Isaac got a walkover and will play the next round at home.
Steve Wells with Yvonne Gambrill won away at Lenham 22-14 and will now be at home against a Faversham pair to be played by 21 May.
Isaac's pair had to withdraw.
Mixed Fours
Andy Ferguson's four will be away while Alan Cornfoot's four will be at home to be played by 18 May.
Alan's four of Alan, Paul Causer, Lin Riches and Yvonne Gambrill won and will now be away at Maidstone by the end of the month.
Foundation Pairs
Both Darren and Dean Ellis's pairs are away to be played by 25 May.
Family Pairs
Tom Andrews and Colin Strout's pairs will be at home, while Darren Ellis and Paul Causer's will be away to be played by 14 May.
Colin Strout's pair won comfortably and will be at home to be played by 28 May.
Tom and John Andrews beat Dave and Cameron Potter to progress to the next round to be played away by 28 May.
Champion of Champions
Men
Tom Attaway will be at home playing by 19 May.
Women
Lin Riches will be away playing by 12 May.
National team events
Men's Top Club
Canterbury A will start at home against Tonbridge and Canterbury B will be away at Paddock Wood by 24 May.
Two Fours
Canterbury B will start at home against Whitstable by 4 May. Canterbury A will also start at home against Ramsgate by 17 May.
Canterbury B triumphed over Whitstable having trailed for large parts of the match but coming good at the very end and winning 34-30. They will now be at home against Kearsney to be played on 10 May at 10am.
Canterbury A will start their campaign on 10 May as well at homeagainst Ramsgate.
Women's Top Club
Canterbury will be away at Bearsted and Thurnham by 7 June.
Over 60 Mixed Two Fours (Tony Allcock)
Canterbury B will be at home against Whitstable, while Canterbury A will be away at Herne Bay B by 17 May.
Canterbury A (A Cornfoot, G Vane, M Catt, A MacDonald, S Wells, M Fisher, L Riches, K Owen) won away at Herne Bay and are now at home against Lenham to be played by 31 May.
Other major tournaments
Bernard Annand
Two competitions the Shield and the Trophy. The Shield is open to all club members, but the Trophy cannot have County badge players or members who have been part of a team who had previously won a Shield or Trophy competition.
Shield
Trophy
Millennium Cup
This is a competition run by clubs in Mid-Kent and to which we were invited to join a few years ago. We won the competition in 2023. The rinks are a two wood singles, a four wood singles, a pairs, a triple and a four. The scoring system is geared to winning at least three disciplines.