BBC BROADCAST WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 25th         (Terry Norwood at the desk)

Some important titbits to kick off with:

1. Observant bowlers will now be aware that the BBC has attracted a new sponsor, the ‘Centre for Hearing’ and their board sits at the eastern end of the Wilson Green. This is the result of some hard work trying to attract sponsors, and is, hopefully, the start of further much needed support. So, now all you hard-of-hearing bowlers know where to go to get your hearing checked and know that you are supporting a supporter of the BBC!!
2. Weather permitting, the open gender pennants season opens on Saturday February 28th with BBC involved in two grades. Grade Six will play host to Camden Men’s BC on the Wilson Green while Grade Seven will travel to Robertson to take on the locals. Bowl well ladies and gents, and bring home the bacon . . . the win . . . everything!
3. Again, we seek the co-operation of smokers in keeping to the assigned areas when you light up. Some of our non-smokers are concerned that there has been smoking in other areas, so please keep to the appropriate areas.
4. The draft minutes of the latest meeting of the Men’s Bowling Club Executive have been posted on the notice board for your information. If you have any queries at all please speak to one of the members of your Committee, Terry Norwood, Peter Flight, Robin Staples, Ian Duncan, Chris Forrester, Ted McPhee, Graham Hunt, Richard Denman or Gordon Lewis. The next meeting of the Committee will be at 10am on Wednesday March 4th.
5. And again, anyone interested in purchasing one of the new BBC caps or hats at $25 needs to see Ian Duncan, and remember these are cash arrangements only.
6. And for the record on the rule clarification, when delivering the bowl, one foot must be on or over any part, however small, of the mat as the bowl is released. It might be an idea to know the rule before pulling bowlers up in social bowls!!

Wednesday Social Bowls

Thirty-five bowlers turned out for a game on what began as a very muggy hot afternoon. The promised change didn’t arrive until around 4pm, so, although bowlers had to endure the humidity, we managed to get to the clubhouse before the drizzle set in. No storm thank goodness! The Match Committee decided to run a couple of two-bowl triples practice pennant games over twenty-five ends, with everyone else playing normal triples matches.

In the pennants practice game on rink 10, Arnie ‘dickie knee’ Lenczuk, Mick Flynn and the evergreen Gordon Lewis started slowly against Ian Duncan, Chris ‘ebullience’ Forrester and the suave Steven Goddard to trail 1 – 5 after four ends. This became 6 – 11, but a five shotter notched up on the thirteenth end had team Lewis in front at 13 – 11. The match then settled into a tight affair to be 18 all and then 19 all after twenty-one ends. With Ian in top form, team Goddard then slipped to a slender lead which they held onto to get home 23 – 21. What a cracker of a game!

In the other pennants practice match, Graham ‘leaning tower’ Hunt, Terry Norwood and the maestro Robin Staples stormed from the blocks to lead 8 – 0 after five ends against Ted ‘Mr Ed’ McPhee, Clive Neutze and the wily Bob Edwards. They then dropped a triple on the next end, but with Graham in scintillating form, kept smashing the opposition to lead 18 – 6 after thirteen ends. With nothing going right for Bob’s trio, Robin kept the pressure on ensuring all team members knew where to put the bowl. Bob’s team grabbed a couple of triples towards the end, but the game had long since slipped away. 36 – 14 was the final score.

On rink 7, Joel ‘AC/DC’ Hunt, Wal Markow and ‘junior’ Cummins made a strong start against Shane Harvey, Alex Christlo and Mick ‘king’ Fisher to lead 8 – 3 after six ends. This they advanced to 11 – 4, and when the score became 16 – 4 it looked as though some smelling salts might be needed to revive the trailing team! They might have imbibed something because they won the next three ends . . . but alas, it was a false dawn as junior’s team pounded them over the last five ends to float home 26 – 10 victors! No apology needed this week junior, just hearty congratulations!!

In the next match on rink 8, Clive Hutchens, Neville ‘the’ Tanner and Mike Holmewood blitzed the opening ends of the game against Graham ‘dragon’ Denman, Paul Rubie and the wily Owen Williams to lead 10 – 1 after six. With Neville in hot form and Mike tidying everything neatly, they then stormed out to a lead of 16 – 2 after eleven and it seemed as though there would be a call for oxygen to pep up the opposition. Not bowling badly, but certainly without luck, team Williams kept grafting away but, unfortunately, to no avail. The final result was a huge win of 28 – 9 to Mike’s trio.

With Terry Salter as swing bowler, Mark Rundle and ‘gentleman’ Don Chapman were 3 – 4 down after four ends to Barb Wainberg and first time skip Denis ‘rowdy’ Lees. Denis’ team then really found its mojo and by the eleventh end had established a solid lead of 11 – 5. With bowls in the head, they then won the next four ends to have the opposition under the pump and feeling the pressure. Still thirteen shots down with two ends to play, Don’s trio finally broke though with a sixer and a four to finish on a high and a respectable tally of 18 shots. However, it was a win to team Lees at 21 – 18.

In the final match, Col ‘Hawaii’ Stone, Barry Werfel and Joe ‘rusty nail’ O’Donnell made a slow start against Mark ‘wheel’ Barrow, Charles Coode and Dave Charlesworth to trail 2 – 7 after five ends. With Dave’s trio putting more shots in the head, they advanced their lead to 10 – 6 after nine, and then ran together the next five ends to hold a commanding position at 17 – 6. Team O’Donnell shared the remainder of the ends but was unable to make any headway on the scorecard, with the final tally being 26 – 12.