Winners Chris Benton Memorial trophy Stephen Della, Gordon Lewis, Greg Lewis and Ashley Lewis 4 Points. Runners Up Colin Stone, Viv Gear, Clive Neutze and Peter Morales. 4 Points Third Place Joel Hunt, Richard Denman, Tony Oates and Owen Williams 2 Points Third Place Joe O”Donnell, Paul McInerney, Barry Werfel and Jim Starkey 2 Points Third Place Ted McPhee, Graham Hunt, Chris Forrester and Dave Riddell 2 Points Third Place Andy Connor, Adrian Nelson, David Noble and Josh Woodcock 2 Points Seventh Place Glen Geise, Don Coleman, Billy Meredith and Don Chapman 0 Points Seventh place Neville Tanner, Brian Porter, Steve Day and Robin Staples 0 Points.
Saturday 20th February and for a change some nice weather for the Chris Benton Memorial Shield. The day started with a “spider”to raise money for brain cancer research. In fact the proceeds from the green fees and raffle went to this great research. Format for the day was two games of ten ends with the winners of game one playing the other winners. More than any other bowls game the “fours “game is a team game. Teams are listed above but for ease of reporting I will only use the skippers name and except that in all cases it was a team effort. With ten Bowral bowlers away for the Zone 5 Singles Championships the entry was only eight teams. Overwhelming favourites for the event were the Lewis’s assisted by Stephen Della. So no surprise that they won the shield, but they did have some strong opposition on the way to that win. First match was against Owen Williams and they won this 11-7 though I believe Owen was in front at one stage. Second match was against Dave Riddell and again this was no walk over with the score 12-9. Other first round matches saw Dave Riddell defeat Don Chapman 9-6. Jim Starkey beat Robin Staples 14-9 and Peter Morales beat Josh Woodcock 11-7. In the second round Peter Morales won 15-11 against Jim Starkey, Owen Williams up against Don Chapman 12-9 and a win for Josh Woodcock 9-5 over Robin Staples. Both the Lewis team and Morales team had two wins so a two end tie breaker was held. Again it was very tight with just one shot to Ashley each end for a 2-0 winning margin. The “heads” were excellent on both these ends despite the very quick green and with bowls in the head it was possible that the Morales team could have pulled off a surprise. I am sure a good day was had by all and our thanks to the Benton Family for their continued support of this event and the Club.
Zone 5 Singles events were on the same day with a good sprinkling of Bowral Bowlers taking part. Dugald Braitwaite was the best of Bowral reaching the quarter finals of the Open Singles. Results are listed below; Senior Singles at Springwood. Bob Edwards had a bye in the morning and lost 31-19 in the second round. Zone Singles at Blacktown Workers. Round 1. Kevin Stafford won 32-20 Dugald Braithwaite won 31-20 Nathan Boyers won by forfeit Alistair McGhee Lost by forfeit Zone Singles at Campbelltown City. Round 1. Bob Crowley lost 29-31 (very Close) Carl Spilker lost 14-31 Chris Barritt-Eyles lost by forfeit Zone Singles at Picton. Round 1. Tom DeGreenlaw Won by Forfeit Glynn Phillips Lost 15-31 Zone Singles at Blacktown Workers. Round 2. Saturday afternoon Kevin Stafford Lost 21-31 Dugald Braithwaite Won 33-12 Nathan Boyers Won 31-14 Zone Singles at Picton. Round 2. Saturday afternoon. Ton DeGreenlaw Won 31-28 Zone Singles at Blacktown Workers. Round 3. Sunday morning 21st February. Dugald Braithwaite Won 32-19 Nathan Boyers Lost 30-31 (another very close tussle) Zone Singles at Picton. Round 3. Sunday morning. Tom DeGreenlaw Lost 28-31 (Very close again) Zone Singles at Blacktown Workers. Round 4. Quarter Final. Sunday afternoon. Dugald Braithwaite lost 17-31. Loss to Kevin Harris of Camden. A great effort to reach this far in the event.