Page 33 - May 2023

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Early Evidence of Short Mat Bowls in Yorkshire
by Elaine Gathercole

I wrote a version of this article for the NYSMBA magazine a few years
ago when I read a view that said Short Mat Bowls only really got started
in North Yorkshire in the mid-1980s. However, from my own knowledge,
the game was being played in York from the mid 1970s.
I began my career in 1976 in the Operational Research Depart-
ment at Rowntree Mackintosh (now Nestle) as a graduate straight out
of university. A colleague soon roped me in to playing for his Operational
Research team in the Short Mat Bowls competition which was held in
the evening on the ground floor of the Dining Block – now transformed into a Nuffield Hospital post
the Nestle take over.
From memory, the very uneven wooden floor had room for something like four to six mats,
which made for interesting bowling. We didn’t possess our own bowls but used whichever were to
hand in the hall. This further added to the uncertainty. The mats were certainly not new and my col-
league said that the game was being played when he joined in 1974 – all suggesting it was already
established in the mid-1970s.
We were one of the few teams from the offices at Rowntrees. There was another formed by
some Systems Analysts and possibly a further one from Transport and Distribution. However many
teams were from the factory itself with interesting names such as Melanger, Kit Kat, Polo etc. Most
of the players were men so there was some surprise when they played against this 22 year old
female with a Maths degree.
Some teams were considerably more competitive than others and I can’t say I was a great
success. I played for a few years but moved departments in 1984, then left the company in 1989. I
never touched a bowl again until I came back to North Yorkshire in 2006 and found, to my surprise,
that the same game was being played in the village hall just down the road from our house.

Does anyone else have memories of Short Mat Bowls being played

from so early a time in the UK? Why not write up your experience?

Emails that “bounce”

Nothing is more frustrating than getting a request from someone
who wants to be notified when a magazine comes out and I reply.
adding their email to the distribution list but then my reply to them
is bounced back and they don’t get my reply. I have never under-
stood why but I have now discovered that the problem is basically
as follows.
A personal Gmail account that ends in @gmail.com or
googlemail.com. Google says - Important: Starting Novem-
ber 2022, new senders who send emails to Google Gmail accounts must set up either SPF or
DKIM..
At that point I was completely lost as I have no idea what an SPF or a DKIM is. I do have Gmail ad-
dresses that work but were set up before November last year. What the hell is a reverse DNS as
well? My computer guy in Spain told me that my internet service provider (ISP) can solve this and
one phone call got it sorted.
Those with Gmail Emails who read this know that I have not been ignoring them, I have
had a problem emailing them as every one was bounced. it is also notice for future emails
based on Gmail accounts.
You can cluster bounces into two main categories: 1) Soft bounces occur when there’s a tem-
porary issue preventing your emails from getting delivered. 2) Hard bounces occur when there’s a
permanent issue with delivering your email. Whether you’re seeing soft or hard bounces, there are
a whole lot of reasons why. (Ed - or like me you haven’t got a scooby doo!).