BBC BROADCAST WEDNESDAY MAY 7th         (Terry Norwood at the desk)

Some nibbles to begin with:

1. It is with great sadness that we notify the bowling community of the death of long time member Jim Starkey. ‘Gentleman’ Jim was a much liked, respected member of the club and will be greatly missed. His funeral will be held at 11am on Tuesday May 13th at Bevans. RIP Jim.
2. As reported previously, ninety-four years young Keith Edwards is in rehab recovering from pneumonia and fluid on the lungs. He’s doing well, but is still some way from being discharged. Members might like to keep him in their thoughts.
3. And we mustn’t forget Col ‘Hawaii’ Stone who is still receiving treatment for an eye problem. We’re all in your corner Col and very much looking forward to seeing those bright shirts of yours back on the green before too long.
4. The new Club manager Shane Holland commenced duties earlier in the week and the Men’s Bowling Committee wishes him well. We shall invite Shane to the next meeting of the Men’s Executive and hopefully make sure we are all on the same page for the development of bowls.
5. On Saturday coming May 10th, there will be the running of the Chris Benton Memorial charity day. Thirty-two bowlers are now listed to play so we will have eight teams to battle it out for the honours of the day. Our sincere thanks go to Ros Benton and family for continuing to support the memory of Chris and raising money for brain cancer research. Bowlers, make sure you bring along a couple of gold coins so you can enter the opening ‘spider’ event!
6. The draw for the Club Championship Triples competition has now been completed and is posted on the notice board. The first round involving four teams will take place on Saturday May 17th with the second round to be staged on May 24th. There should be some very good bowls on show for anyone wishing to sit back in the sun and sip on a beverage.
7. Feedback about the first edition of the new newsletter ‘Jack Chat’ has been rolling in and it seems that you wish to have that continue. It might have the president’s face on it but most of the work has been done by committee member Ian Duncan . . . who has also done the work on the survey, the strategic plan, the sponsorship flyer . . . busy man we’re fortunate to have!
8. And for those who have noticed that the flag on the pole has a tidy bottom edge, we have Reta South to thank. Reta has volunteered her sewing skills to double and so strengthen the end to give it some extra life. Thanks Reta!

Wednesday Social Bowls

Thirty-eight, a terrific number, turned out for a roll on Wednesday, the number including two visitors Peter Martin and Peter Marshall. The weather was nice and sunny, but a nasty, variable breeze blowing out of the north-west, west, south-west, south . . . anywhere made things tricky. Irrespective of the weather, it was a great day for bowls and all enjoyed the battles. The Match Committee organised two games of pairs and five of triples.

On rink 7, Graham ‘leaning tower’ Hunt, Owen ‘wily’ Williams and Steve ‘makeover’ Day battled against Clive ‘bell ringer’ Hutchens, Paul ‘macmac’ McInerney and the maestro Robin Staples. Team Day leapt from the blocks blitzing the opposition to lead 10 – 2 after five ends. The affable Steve’s smile broadened even further when his boys clocked up their second five shotter on the ninth to lead 19 – 8. They then pushed the lead out to 25 – 11 by the fourteenth before Robin rallied his troops and launched a mini comeback. Robin’s team won five of the last seven ends but it was too little too late, and team Day rolled home to the tune of 28 – 20.

In a pairs match on rink 8, Mark ‘rowdy’ Rundle and Clive ‘dasher’ Neutze took on Peter ‘Virgin’ Flight and the wily leftie Bob Edwards. Bob and Peter won the first couple of ends and by the sixth led 8 – 2. They then dominated proceedings winning the next ten ends on the trot and having the opposition gasping for breath . . . oxygen . . . smelling salts; and calling for mercy. At 2 – 26 down some might have thrown in the towel, but not Mark and Clive. Determinedly, they won the next four ends and got some respectability back into the score-line. It finished 27 – 10 in favour of Peter and Bob.

On the next rink, Jill ‘Hollywood’ Harwood, Wal ‘speckles’ Markow and Joe ‘skip’ O’Donnell faced off against Shane ‘newknee’ Harvey, Neville ‘the’ Tanner and the midshipman Peter Watson. And, despite the forecast, hurricane Joe burst on the scene from the outset as team O’Donnell won the first nine ends to lead 12 – 0. Woo, where were the medics with the smelling salts!?! On hand apparently, because they grabbed eight shots on the next three ends and found their sea-legs. Well, temporarily, because they dropped an ugly ten shots on the next two ends and slipped further into the deep, deep blue. The further the game went the better Joe’s team became and they toddled home 34 – 11.

In the second pairs game on rink 10, Bruce ‘scratched’ Yahl and Viv ‘first’ Gear tussled against Alex ‘wides’ Christlo and Dave ‘pot black’ Charlesworth. And in another lopsided opening, Dave and Alex grabbed the initiative to lead 10 – 1 after seven ends. Smelling salts were in high demand . . . perhaps it was the wind! Well the smelling salts or something worked because by the thirteenth end Viv and Bruce had squared the game at 11 all. However, Dave and Alex rallied, got their heads down and won the next six ends to smother the opposition. The final score was a very comfortable 23 – 12 to the Christlo/Charlesworth combo.

On rink 11, Joel ‘grr’ Hunt, John ‘junior’ Cummins and Arnold ‘dickie knee’ Lenczuk sought honours against Barry ‘smerfel’ Werfel, Paul ‘ricochet’ Rubie and Peter ‘miraculous’ Morales. In this one, both side won early ends for Peter’s team to lead 3 – 2 after four ends. Team Morales then edged to a lead of 8 – 2, and by the ninth end, had the score out to 9 – 3. Not to be denied, Arnie and his men moved the score to 9 all by the twelfth and it was 11 all after fifteen. And in a really close game, the scores were still locked with one end to play. In a nail-biter of a finish, Peter’s team grabbed a single to close the game out at 17 – 16.

In another triples game on rink 12, Mark ‘straw’ Barrow, Mike ‘fish’ Hook and Mick ‘hugely relieved’ Flynn battled for supremacy against Grahame ‘dragon’ Denman, Ian ‘Mr cool’ Duncan and Terry ‘Preston’ Norwood. In this battle of the ‘championship’ light-weights’, Mick’s trio led 4 – 0 only to be matched by the sixth end. Team Flynn then wrestled their way to a lead of 13 – 6 by the eleventh only to drop an eye-watering 5 on the next end. The teams then shared the next six ends for the score to be locked at 17 all with three to play. Team Norwood grabbed two on the next end but a four to Mick’s team on the next reversed the two shot lead and they held on to win by a shot at 21 – 20.

In the final match, visitor Peter Martin, gentleman Don Chapman and the redoubtable Gordon Lewis went head to head against another visitor Peter Marshall, Graham ‘hardhut’ Hartnup and Chris ‘Mr ebullience’ Forrester. Chris’ trio won the opening to lead 7 – 0 after four ends and looked settled. However, Gordon’s team had other ideas and two four shotters swung them into the lead, and when they nabbed an eight shotter . . . yep readers, an eye-watering, mouth-watering, mind-boggling 8 shotter, they led 16 – 9. Ouch, try smelling salts . . . prayer . . . anything! Unfortunately for team Forrester, nothing worked. The ends slipped away and the final score in favour of Gordon’s team was 31 – 16. Gentleman Don was the man of the match!