Playing Ditch Weight

A very successful Cherry Festival Bowls Carnival was completed on Thursday morning with the fifth game of the Men’s Triples Tournament.

A Calcutta for this event was held on Monday night and was enjoyed by those in attendance. Special thanks to Joe Bargwanna and to Tom Preston for their work with the auction. The greens were in great condition and apart from the very strong winds on Tuesday afternoon, the weather was very pleasant.

Forty–two teams, the maximum for three greens, competed with players coming from as far afield as Cunnamulla in Queensland, the Blue Mountains, Toronto, Wollongong, Kiama, Bega, and Wagga.

Three teams won all five games and the overall winners were Phil Chittick, Glen Benson and Peter Delamont from Berry and Gerringong with a margin of 75 shots. Second place went to the composite Albion Park/Oak Flats combination of Bill Gomes, Richard Kirkpatrick and Brett Pieper whose margin was 53 shots. In third place was another Albion Park/Oak Flats team of Gary Corkery, Jeff Meredith and Alan McDonald with a margin of 42 shots. Peter Hattam, John Heidtmann and Rick Malley finished fourth with four wins and an 85 shot margin, while fifth place went to Mick Galli, Ray Douglas and Ken Fitzpatrick with four wins and a margin of 56 shots. In sixth place were Geoff Holt, Pedro Rudd and Chris Grimson with four wins and a margin of 46 shots.

Thanks to many people who helped ensure the success of the event – the tournament organisers, greenkeeper Damien Miller and his assistants Geoff Holt and Geoff Hines, Leslie for her work behind the bar, Margo for her work in the office and behind the bar, Hannah, Stuart and David for their work behind the bar, George Somerville, Jock Rogerson, Tony Ruhl and Colin Powell for their work around the greens, Sam and his staff for the lunches, the members of the Fishing Club for organising breakfast for the players, Jock Rogerson and Damien Miller for umpiring, Denis Rosen, Joe Bargwanna, Stuart Freudenstein and Ian Gailey for their work with the raffles and special thanks to Dorothy Shepherd for her work with the scoreboard.

Thanks also to the Club members who helped with any aspect of the tournament – putting out mats and jacks, putting the shades out and away, collecting empty glasses and general tidying up. The Club is very appreciative of the great sponsorship support received from many local businesses for the two–week carnival.

Play on Thursday afternoon saw 10 players involved. The vouchers went to Aldo Malvicino, Ted Loader and Ian Gailey with a margin of 20 shots and Max Penfold and Peter Slater won their game by 6 shots.

The second semi–final of the Mixed Pairs Championship was played on Saturday afternoon. After 10 ends, Mark Anderson and Therese Ruhl led Sheila and Cliff Traynor 12–9. Sheila and Cliff then won six consecutive ends to lead 20–12 and they went on to win 28–16. Sheila and Cliff are scheduled to play Judith and Terry Mulligan in the final on Thursday afternoon.

Twelve players took part in Sunday morning bowls with Michael Newham, Joe Hennock and Kate Cooper having the best score with 14 points.

In the Guy Pickering Charity Challenge, the winners for Tuesday night’s games were EFL with a score of 16 points.

On Thursday night, Hilltop Hoods scored 16 points to be the winners for the night. That was the last round for the Thursday night division and the overall winners were 3G Mac Attack, closely followed by Kingsvale and Fundernuts.

Further play will take place on Tuesday night to determine the winners of that division and the final will be played on Thursday night.

An entry form is on the noticeboard for the Fishing Club’s Annual Christmas Bowls afternoon to be held on Sunday 15th December.

It is good to see that several social groups have made use of the greens and Club facilities in recent weeks and others are booked in to do so as we move closer to the end of 2019.

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• Bowls