BBC BROADCAST WEDNESDAY JANUARY 1st       (Terry Norwood at the desk)

Some reminders to stir the brain cells:

1. The BBC Major Fours Championship commences on Saturday January 4th at 12.30. In the first of the games, Mick Spong’s team will take on the four led by Bob Edwards, while in the second Mick Flynn and his men will clash with Robin Staples’ four. The winners will move to the semi-finals on Sunday, where the fours led by Arnie Lenczuk and Dugald Braithwaite will enter the fray. Bowl well all, and have some fun.
2. For those not involved in the Fours Competition, there will also be social bowls organised by the Match Committee. Only two rinks will be required for the Fours Competition, so there should be plenty of space for social bowls.
3. The Men’s Bowling Committee is still getting queries about the Triples Championship, so here’s another reminder that this competition has been postponed until May. Interested bowlers will need to keep the 17th, 24th and, if you are very optimistic, the 31st free to take on the best of the triples world.
4. And a further reminder to all who nominated for Pennants this year that the selectors will be meeting on Saturday the 4th to choose some teams to participate in trials on Saturday January 18th. The sides for those trials will be posted on the notice board asap so that participants will know what’s happening in advance.
5. For information, the next meeting of the Men’s Bowling Committee will be held at 10.30 on Wednesday January 15th.
6. And an explanation to those bowlers who were concerned about there being a DJ at the Club playing music outside on New Years Day; as the Men’s Bowls Match Committee had originally indicated to management and bowlers that there would be no social bowls on January 1st, management went ahead and organised entertainment for those visiting the Club on New Years Day. It was a very late decision by the Match Committee to organise social bowls, so a clash of bowls and music was then inevitable. An apology is extended to any bowler who might have made a different decision about bowling had the Match Committee announced that there was to be a DJ in action.

SOCIAL BOWLS WEDNESDAY

Twenty-three bowlers turned out for a roll on what was a hot Wednesday afternoon. The number included Rick Reynolds, a long time bowler but someone we hadn’t seen for quite some time. It was great to see you back on the green Rick and hope that it was the first of regular visits. With twenty-three bowlers, one of the triples matches had a swing bowler as lead for both sides.

On rink 11, Rick Reynolds, Graham ‘hardnut’ Hartnup and ‘dasher’ Clive Neutze battled against Mark ‘stretch’ Barrow, Jill ‘hollywood’ Harwood and that wily leftie Bob Edwards. Both sides won early ends, but it was Clive’s team that led 5 – 4 after five ends. They then led 8 – 5 after eight and 9 – 6 after ten. At that point, Bob revved his team into action, and two ends later had snatched the lead. However, by the sixteenth, Clive’s team had levelled, and two ends later it was still all equal. Game on! It was Bob’s team that then gained the initiative with a three shotter on the nineteenth, and they held on to win 18 – 15 in a cracker of a game.

On rink 10, Barry ‘smerfel’ Werfel, Ian ‘smooth’ Duncan and Steven ‘suave’ Goddard took on Joel ‘grr’ Hunt, Rowena Coode and the evergreen cobbler Gordon Lewis. In a tight opening to the game, both sides got onto the scorecard, but it was Gordon’s team that edged in front 4 – 2 after four ends. Steven’s team then exploded into action with a four shotter on the sixth to hit the lead by a shot at 6 – 5. However, unfortunately for them, they then imploded to lose the next six ends and trail 6 – 13. It was that man Lewis again who had his team cracking! Steven’s team did share the remaining ends but was unable to reduce the deficit; 20 – 15 to Gordon’s team . . . again!

In the match on rink 9, Barb Wainberg, Mike ‘butchers’ Hook and Mick ‘potters’ Flynn faced off against Charles Coode, Richard ‘denman’ Denman and Arnie ‘dickie knee’ Lenczuk. Mick’s team opened the scoring with four singles, but the game exploded when they notched up an eight shotter, yes dear readers, an eight shot haul on the sixth! Down 16 – blot on the seventh, and down on their knees, Arnie’s men looked out for the count. However, they dusted themselves off, dug in and did themselves proud to have slightly the better of the last fourteen ends. 28 – 16 was a lot better than things looked after seven ends. And the word is that newcomer Barb is becoming a really good bowler!

In the final match, Grahame ‘dragon’ Denman was swing lead for Bruce Yahl and Chris ‘irrepressible’ Forrester on the one hand and Graham ‘leaning tower’ and Terry ‘puff’ Norwood on the other. With some fine bowls put into the heads, the opening ends of this match were very tight and low scoring. Scores were 3 all after five ends, 4 all after seven and 6 all after eleven! Twelve shots in eleven ends; how tight is that! It was then that Bruce really hit his straps, and with his skip also hitting top form, team Forrester dominated the back half of the game. They notched up a couple of three shotters and three doubles in an exhibition of fine bowling. The final score of 19 – 11 showed who finished up boss on the day!