BBC BROADCAST WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 13th     (Terry Norwood at the desk)

Some bits of info to begin with:

1. Life member of the BBC Brian Payne was laid to rest at Penrose cemetery at noon on Wednesday September 13th. Welfare Officer Bob Edwards and members Gordon Lewis, Robin Staples, Ted McPhee and Mick Flynn along with women members Reta South and Elaine Jones attended the service. RIP Brian.
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3. The Pennants competitions resume this coming weekend with the Grade Two travelling to Penrith. With Dugald Braithwaite unavailable, Bob Crowley has been added to one of the Bowral sides. Go get ’em Twos! The Grade Four team will play host to Bundanoon and a win will keep the team on the top of the competition with one round to play. Go get ’em Fours!
4. The Men’s Bowls Committee has agreed that bowlers who reach 50 appearances in a bowls year on the Bowral greens in competition, social and representative matches will be eligible to have green fees waived for the remainder of that year. The purpose is to increase participation and reward the highly participating bowlers.
5. The Rookie singles competition will commence on Sunday 17th. Round one at 10am will involve one match between Scott Kennon and Tony Oakes. The four quarter final matches will commence at 12.30. Let’s hope for a warm, sunny day and some spectators would be nice.

Social Bowls Wednesday 13th

Forty very keen bowlers turned out for social bowls on a splendid Spring afternoon. This is the second consecutive Wednesday that we have reached the forty mark and the match committee is very thankful for this very solid roll up. Let’s keep it going! Amongst the number was visitor, and soon to be member, Charles Stewart. Welcome Charles, great to have you with us! Given that some bowlers would be delayed coming back from the funeral, that one bowler didn’t appear and that some had forgotten to list their names, there was some rewriting of cards leading up to the announcements! As challenged by Steve Day, I have to report that after the call of the cards the announcer was not sure whether he was on a card or not! Anyway, in the end there were six triples matches and one of pairs! On this glorious day, the Waratah Green was the venue for some excellent bowling.

The usual 18-ender saw the return of ‘Junior’ John Cummins to lead Bill ‘the’ Pope and Graeme Kenny against John Fleming, Geoff Williams and skipper Paul ‘rowdy’ Rubie. Both sides got on to the scorecard in the first couple of ends but a mind-boggling seven shot haul to team Cummins on the fourth end had the opposition on their knees! 9 – 2 down and gasping for breath, Paul and his men found themselves under further pressure and were down 4 – 13 at the half way point. In fact, there was no way back into the match as Junior’s team piled on the shots. The final score in their favour was a resounding 23 – 9. Both the relative newcomers Graeme and Geoff performed very well.

In another triples match on rink 8, Mark Rundle, Charles Stewart and Steven ‘Mr consistency’ Goddard took on Denis Lees, Graham ‘hottish’ Hunt and Chris ‘unflappable’ Forrester. And what a tight encounter this game turned out to be! Both sides got on the scorecard early and after five ends Chris’ team led 4 – 3. And then, after seven ends the lead was with team Goddard at 8 – 4. However, in a game of high quality bowls, Chris had his team back on terms at 9 – 9 after twelve ends. In this titanic battle, the teams were still level after seventeen ends and were 13 all with two ends to play. Chris’ team then took the lead by two only to be swamped on the last end and go down by a shot. Victory to Steven and his men at 16 – 15.

In another triples match, Brian Bailey, Paul McInerney and skipper Mike Holmewood battled against relative newcomer Alex Crowther, Arnold Lenczuk and Peter ‘miraculous’ Morales. With both sides getting off well, the scores were locked at 5 – 5 after four ends. It was at this point that Peter’s team began a very good run as they took the next six ends on the trot to lead 14 – 5. However, as so often happens, fortunes were reversed and Mike’s team won the next five ends to take the lead at 16 – 14! Fortunes shifted again as team Morales regained the initiative, and, despite dropping three shots on the last end, they went on to win 23 – 20.

On rink 9, Keith Scriven, Joe O’Donnell and Tony ‘sparks’ Oakes took on Joel Hunt, Col Stone and Bob ‘ebullience’ Crowley. And with plenty of chat this was a rip-roaring game! With both sides scoring early, the teams were 3 – 3 after four ends. Tony’s team grabbed three shots on the sixth end, but when they conceded a very painful five on the eighth, they were down 6 – 10. Both teams traded blows with solid scoring ends and after twelve ends Bob’s team held a one shot lead at 14 – 13. It was at this point that team Crowley seemed to take control of the match. They won eight of the last nine ends and coasted home to a very comfortable win at 29 – 15. From all the chat it seems that Joel was in pretty good form.

In another triples match, Wal Markow, Harold Wall and Stephen ‘Bundy’ Day went head to head against Graham Hartnup, Bill Meredith and Owen ‘the wily scot’ Williams. The teams each won an end at the start but a mouth-watering five shot haul on the third end really had Owen’s team on the front foot. They then led 9 – 4 after six ends and it was 11 – 6 with them still in front after ten ends. Steady as she goes was skipper Owen’s call! Not to be denied however, Steve’s team got the bit between their teeth and fought their way back into the game. A good run of ends saw them match their opposition at 13 all, and it was game on! In a ripper of a finish, the scores were still locked with one end to play. It was Owen’s team that then grabbed victory with a double on the last and a final score of 18 – 16.

In the last of the triples matches, Graham Denman, Richard Denman and Jim ‘gentleman’ Starkey took on Phil Payne, Don Coleman and Ian ‘Cros’ Crow. Jim’s team had much the better of the early ends and led their opposition 9 – 2 after seven ends. Ian’s team then had a couple of very solid ends and reduced the lead to four shots after ten ends at 12 – 8. However, from that point it was fairly lean pickings  for team Crow as Jim and his men had them under great pressure. In fact team Starkey won the majority of the ends in the second half of the match to run out very convincing winners at 30 – 13. To the casual observer, it seemed as though those new bowls of Richard’s had a liking for being near the jack!

The pairs match on rink 13 saw Ted McPhee and Bob ‘the wily one’ Edwards square off against Terry Norwood and Robin ‘Mr Reliable’ Staples. With the form of their opponents a bit scratchy, and Robin in good touch, Terry and Robin made the better start to the game and led 7 – 1 after six ends. They continued to enjoy success and pushed their lead to 12 – 3 after nine ends. However, finding much better form, Ted and Bob then turned the game on its head scoring nine shots on the next three ends to square the match. Game on! With the match tightened, single shots were traded so that with one end remaining team Staples led 15 – 14. Shrugging off the shackles, Robin and Terry managed a four on the last and took the match 19 -14.