BBC WEDNESDAY BROADCAST    (Terry Norwood at the desk)

Let’s start with some items of info:

1. There were a couple of birthdays to note for the week, relative newcomer Grahame Denman and the highly respected and much loved life member Kevin Moore. All bowlers and the Men’s Bowling Committee offer both these gentlemen congratulations and best wishes.
2. The Men’s Bowling Committee is keeping a record of each bowler’s appearances to monitor proceedings. For July, the first month of the new bowling year, Ian Crow topped the list with 10 appearances on the green. He was followed by Grahame Denman, Richard Denman, Mick Flynn, Arnold Lenczuk, Gordon Lewis, Terry Norwood, Tony Oakes and Robin Staples on 9 appearances.
3. The men only Pennants Competition begins on Saturday August 5th with the Grade Two team heading to Austral and the Grade Four team hosting Austral in Bowral. Best wishes for a successful opening to the season go to both teams.
4. On Sunday August 6th, Bob Crowley, Terry Butt and Terry Norwood will compete in the Zone 5 Reserve Singles competition. Best wishes are extended to these bowlers.

Social Bowls Wednesday August 2nd

Although it had rained lightly during the morning, the weather was clear for bowls in the afternoon. It wasn’t the brightest of days, but it was certainly pleasant enough for the twenty-eight bowlers to have an enjoyable time on the green. The Waratah Green was the venue, the surface of which had been scarified a few days prior as part of the ongoing maintenance of the synthetic surface. The scarifying had raised the pile and released plenty of muck which then saw plenty of work with the cloths to keep the bowls clean! The process had also successfully slowed the green and narrowed the run.

Jill Harwood added a touch of glamour and distinction as she joined the regular oldies in the 18-ender on rink 8. She teamed with Bill (the) Pope and JC (dream on!) John Cummins to take on John Fleming, Keith Edwards and Paul (Rowdy) Rubie. With Jill taking a few ends to settle into the style of this match and the Pope and JC a little distracted by her presence, team Rubie raced to a lead of 8 – 3 after six ends. It was then that John, Jill and Bill got going and by the eleventh end had hit the lead. Team Cummins then came home very strongly over the last eight ends to be victors by six shots 21 – 15. Skipper JC had high praise for Jill’s play.

The ‘Pope’ and ‘JC’ overcame a slow start to prevail with Jill Harwood!

In another triples match on rink 9, Graham Hunt, Terry Norwood and skipper ‘maestro’ Robin Staples took on Ted McPhee, Kevin Gould and the unflappable Chris Forrester. And what a cracker of a game this was! Both teams won early ends but a four on the fifth end saw Robin’s team with a lead of 6 – 2. With Robin bowling well, they continued to push ahead and by the eleventh end led 12 – 5. With Chris firing, his team then worked back into the match and with a mouth-watering 5 on the seventeenth end had closed the gap to one shot. Game on was the call from Kevin! By the twentieth end it was 21 all and the atmosphere was electric! And then the maestro came to the fore! With two masterful draws to the jack with his last two bowls into a tight head, Robin plucked victory from defeat! Brilliant! The final score was 23 – 21.

Robin ‘maestro’ Staples delivered the perfect bowl with his last!

On rink 10, Arnold Lenczuk, Neville Tanner and skipper wily leftie Clive Neutze battled against Ian Duncan, Joe O’Donnell and skipper the indefatigable Gordon Lewis.  And this game was another cracker. Both teams won early ends here too for Clive’s team to lead 3 – 2 after five ends. It was then that Gordon’s team strung together some excellent ends so that by the halfway stage they led 12 – 4. With some patient bowling, Clive’s team got the score back to 12 – 8, but in winning six of seven ends, team Lewis roared away with the game. In a very emphatic performance Ian, Joe and Gordon had an excellent win at 27 – 11. Ian Duncan was the man of the match, obliterating his opposing lead with high quality draw bowling. Congratulations Ian!

The brilliant Ian Duncan and the evergreen, indefatigable Gordon Lewis were never far from the jack!

In another triples match on rink 11, Denis Lees, Russell Dunstan and skipper ‘gentleman’ Jim Starkey took on Michael Hook, Brian Bailey and Owen ‘coach’ Williams. Jim’s team got away to a flying start winning the first five ends and scoring 7 shots. Not to be outdone, Owen’s team hit back strongly so that by the ninth end they trailed by only one shot. However, team Starkey then took a stranglehold on the game winning six of the next seven ends and racing to a lead of 21 – 9. Owen then rallied his team winning four of the last five ends in a fighting finish. The deficit was too much however, and the final score in favour of Denis, Russell and Jim was 22 – 15.

‘Gentleman’ Jim Starkey guided his team to a solid victory!

The final game was a pairs match in which Ian Crow and Tony Oakes took on a ‘coaching’ game with Grahame Denman and beginner Shane Harvey. Tony teamed with Grahame and Ian paired with Shane. With Shane feeling his way on the green, Grahame and Tony had much the better of the early scoring and led 13 – 2 after seven ends. This lead had pushed out to 21 – 4 by the thirteenth end, but then the benefit of Ian’s coaching cut in. He and Shane won four of the last five ends for the score to finish on a very respectable 22 – 12. The Committee’s thanks go to Ian and Tony for taking on this coaching match.