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

General Information

1. An Urgent Message from Management of the Club – regarding the renovations at the Club, the builders will be commencing work on the new toilets on Monday 18th December with the result that the Men’s locker room will need to be vacated by close of business on Sunday 17th. Members/bowlers must move any belongings asap so that this renovation can proceed. The lockers themselves will be relocated to the new room on the east side of the greenkeeper’s shed. When the move is completed (Tuesday 19th), bowlers will be able to resume using their lockers at the new site.
2. Bowls NSW is in the process of restructuring the geographic Zones which, in the future, will be called ‘regions’. A few clubs will move from one zone to a new region, but the Bowral Bowling Club will be unaffected and will remain with the same group of clubs. Our region will probably be called Nepean Southern Highlands.
3. Bowls NSW is still calling for response to a recent survey sent to members, so there is still time for bowlers to have their say on proposed changes to the game of bowls and the conditions of play.
4. Regarding pennants competitions in ’24, Bowral will be entering teams in Grade 3 and grade 6. Training/Practice will commence in January with the competitions starting in late February.
5. The Southern Highlands Cup competition will come to a close on Saturday with the playing of the final round. Bowral currently leads the competition on 5 points with both Robertson and Bundanoon on 2. Two points in the final round would see Bowral secure the Cup for the 11th time.
6. The Club Triples Championship continues on Sunday 17th with the semi-finals being played at 9am. In one semi, Dugald Braithwaite’s team will meet the team led by Bob Edwards. In the other, team Stafford will play team Spong. The final is set down for 1pm in the afternoon.
7. Due to the weather, the final of the Club Fours Championship had to be postponed. The new date for the final will be announced shortly, so keep an eye out for that.
8. The latest participation in bowls figures have now been posted on the Men’s notice board. Bowlers are reminded that any bowler who makes 50 appearances (ie pays green fees 50 times at Bowral Bowling Club) within a financial year will be eligible to play social bowls for the remainder of that year without having to pay green fees. Several bowlers have already made more than forty appearances so it seems that some will be playing free of charges quite soon.

Social Bowls Wednesday 13th

Thirty-four bowlers turned out for social bowls on what was a fairly hot, steamy afternoon. Plenty of water was soaked up, and the new shade cloth at the northern end of the Waratah Green was very much appreciated. The Match Committee organised five games of triples and one game of pairs.

In the pairs game on rink 7, Ted ‘Mr Ed’ McPhee and ‘super calm’ Chris Forrester took on Denis Lees and Steven ‘guileful’ Goddard. The Match Committee thought this would be a close encounter, but that’s not the way it turned out! Chris and Ted opened brilliantly to lead 10 – 0 and never looked back. Overall, they won fifteen of the twenty-one ends and totally smothered their opponents. If team Goddard hadn’t been able to keep the scoring to singles most of the time, we might have seen a record score posted. As it was, 24 – 11 was an emphatic victory. And to add icing to the cake, this group won the Jackpot which was a nice $217!

In the triples match on rink 8, Graham ‘jockey’ Hunt, Russell ‘sand fly’ Dunstan and skipper Stephen ‘bundy’ Day battled for bragging rights against Wal Markow, Terry Norwood and the ‘cobbler’ himself Gordon Lewis. Both teams got onto the scorecard early but it was Gordon’s team that had edged to the lead by 7 – 3 after eight ends. They were still in front after seventeen ends but, at that point, Stephen, Graham and Russell all found some better form. Team Day hit the lead with fours shots on the eighteenth, then closed out the game with singles on the last three. 21 – 17 was the final score.

The proposed 18-ender on rink 9 turned out to be a 12-ender because of the heat and humidity. Bill ‘the’ Pope, Harold ‘brick’ Wall and John ‘junior’ Cummins  battled against Keith ‘foxy’ Edwards, John Fleming and Paul ‘ricochet’ Rubie. Junior’s team made the better start and led 8 – 2 after four ends. They dropped two shots on the next end, but from that stage they were in control. Team Cummins won five of the next six ends and were well in front at 16 – 6 when time was called after twelve ends.

On rink 10, Joel ‘Grrr’ Hunt, Peter ‘Virgin’ Flight and Robin ‘maestro’, Staples took on Ian ‘cool’ Duncan, Barr Werfel and Peter ‘miraculous’ Morales. With Joel on the jack, Robin’s team made a terrific start and led 7 – 0 after four ends. Peter’s team got onto the scorecard but were still well adrift at 4 – 18 after twelve ends. With disaster looming, Peter got his team moving and they actually outscored their opponents over the second half of the match. The lead had, however, been too large and Robin’s team came away with the win by 20 – 14. Joel Hunt really is in cracking form at the moment.

In another triples game on rink 11, Michael Hook, Joe O’Donnell and Tony ‘flick’ Oakes battled against Col ‘cruiser’ Stone, Paul McInerney and skipper Ian ‘knee-guard’ Crow. This game turned out to be one of two different halves. Tony’s team had the better of the first half winning seven of the first ten ends and setting up a lead of 7 – 4. And although team Oakes led 10 – 5 after thirteen ends, they lost seven successive ends to be well behind on the scorecard. The final score in favour of Ian’s team was 18 – 12. Maybe a knee-guard on the right leg would bring even more success Ian?

In the final match, Viv Gear, Don ‘handyman’ Chapman and Clive ‘dasher’ Neutze took on Graham ‘smurf’ Denman, Owen ‘wily Scot’ Williams and Mike Holmewood. With a sizzling six shots on the second end, Clive’s team leapt to a 6 – 1 lead. They then put together four impressive ends so that by the eighth end they led 14 – 3 and had their opponents on the ropes. Far from done, Mike’s team then had a very creditable run winning ten of the next thirteen ends. However, in scoring only singles, they still trailed by six shots with one end to play. On that final end, team Neutze blitzed them to take five shots and the match by 23 – 12.