The State flag was won by Toukley RSL, who defeated Moree in the final.

Saturday July 30: 14 bowlers formed two games of social bowls and one game of social triples.

Game one: By combining extremely well skip Dennis Harvey and Barry McPherson were leading ten shots to two shots after the 8th end over skip Ted Summerfield and Bob Foster, who scored ten shots to one shot to lead 12-11 after the 14th end. By scoring three shots Harvey and McPherson regained the lead, 14-12 after the 16th end. Then by scoring a handy five shots Summerfield and Foster led 17 shots to 14 shots after the 17th end. By finishing brilliantly, Harvey and McPherson scored a fantastic six shots to be victorious 20-17 after the 18th end in a great game of lawn bowls.

Game two: In another great game of lawn bowls, skip Mick Sewell and John Fulton led six shots to four shots after the 6th end over skip Peter Floyd and Garry Connors, who won the next four consecutive ends to lead 11 shots to six shots, then they were leading 14 shots to ten shots after the 15th end but Sewell and Fulton scored a fantastic six shots to regain the lead at 16 shots to 14 shots. On the 17th end Floyd and Connors scored two shots to level the scores at 16 shots all, then by scoring one shot on the 18th end were successful 17-16 over Sewell and Fulton after the 18th end.

Game three: After the 6th end in the triples game, skip Jack Smith, John McDonagh and Bruce Rich were leading seven shots to four shots against skip Norm Hayes, Arthur Williams and John Allbutt, who fought back to be just down 10-12 after the 12th end. Team Smith by scoring four shots to one shot were leading 16-11 after the 16th end. Both teams each scored two shots with team Smith winning 18 shots to 13 shots over team Hayes, after the 18th end. The ring-in prize was won by Jack Smith.

Friday July 29 President's Pot: Two games of social triples were set down to be played.

Game one: By leading nine shots to five shots after the 7th end, skip Jack Smith, John Allbutt and Paul Rodenhuis, then were leading ten shots to 7 shots after the 10th end against skip Gary Ellis, Ron Cambey and George Ballard (congratulations George on your first official game of lawn bowls at the City). Team Smith finished the best scoring seven shots to one shot to defeat team Ellis, 17-8 after the 14th end.

Game two: In the other game of triples skip Allan Clark (Majellan), Ian Hurford and Bob Henry were leading four shots to two shots after the 4th end over skip Pat Duff, John Martin and Kevin Miller, who scored nine shots to lead 11 shots to four shots after the 8th end. Team Clark, by scoring six shots to one shot were just down 10-12 after the 13th end. Team Duff by scoring four shots to three shots were successful over team Clark 16-13 after the 15th end in a great game of lawn bowls.

Monday August 1: On an overcast afternoon ten bowlers nominated to play one game of social pairs and one game of social triples.

Game one: After the 4th end in the social pairs game, skip Ray Noonan and Ron Cambey were leading six shots to three shots, they then were leading 13 shots to six shots after the 11th end against skip Norm Hayes and jack Smith, who scored four shots to be just down 10-13 after the 12th end, but by scoring two shots, Noonan and Cambey won 15 shots to ten shots over Hayes and Smith, when rain stopped play on the 14th end.

Game two: In the triples game, skip Jim Grives, Ian Hurford and Bob Henry combined well to lead seven shots to one shot after the 4th end, team Grives then led eight shots to two shots after the 6th end against skip Graham Mays, Jeff Larsen and Kevin Miller who were just down 6-8 after the 9th end, then they held three shots to win the game, but with their last bowl team Grives had a “controlled wick” to win the game 9-6 on the 10th end, when rain stopped play.

As the “Jackpot” margin was six shots the $110 jackpot was not won and will be $120 next Monday.

Major-Minor Final 2016: The major- minor final will be played on Saturday 6th August, skip Richard Simpson and Jack Smith will play skip Jim Grives and Ron Hollebone.

Saturday July 23: On a magnificent winters afternoon for lawn bowling at the City, only six dedicated club bowlers dominated to play the noble game of lawn bowls.

Game one: By beginning extremely well, skip Ray Noonan, Jim Grives and Arthur Williams scored four shots to lead 4-0 after the 3rd end against skip Dennis Harvey, Bob Heffernan and John Fulton who scored four shots to level the scores at four shots all after the 4th end. On the 6th end team Harvey scores two shots to level the scores at six shots all, they then led nine shots to eight shots after the 9th end, team Noonan scored five shots to one shot to regain the lead 13-10 after the 12th end, but team Harvey scores a handy five shots to lead 15-13 after the 13th end. Team Noonan then scored three shots to two shots to be just down 16-17 after the 17th end. Team Harvey were holding three shots halfway into the final end (when opposing “brothers-in-laws”, made a few amber chooses, suddenly, team Noonan scored three shots and were victorious nineteen shots to seventeen shots, (which proved that “The drive was mighty than the draw”, in this end, anyway). Team Noonan won twelve of the eighteen ends.

Monday July 25 Jackpot: On another cool, but sunny winters afternoon, eight bowlers formed two games of social pairs.

Game one: One the 4th end, skip Ron Cambey and Ian Cunningham scored two shots to lead three shots to two shots over skip Jack Smith and John Fulton, who were just down 5-6 after the 8th end, then they scored one shot to level the scores at 10 shots all on the 13th end. By scoring two shots on the 15th end again levelled the scores at twelve shots all  with Cambey and Cunningham, who then led 14-12 after the 17th end, but Smith and Fulton finished the best scoring three shots to win this magnificent game 15-14 after the 18th end.

Game two: By scoring one shot on the 4th end skip Jim Grives and Ian Hurford levelled the scores at two shots all with skip Ray Noonan and Phill Murray, who combined extremely well, by winning the next five consecutive ends to lead twelve shots to two shots after the 9th end. Skip Gary Ellis (replaced Jim Grives) and with Ian Hurford were down 4-16 after the 13th end. Noonan and Murray scored four shots to three shots to easily win 20-7 after the 18th end.

As the winning margin to win the jackpot prize was 11 shots and was not won, the jackpot prize for next Monday will be $110.

As we are nearly 2/3 of the way through our Bathurst Winter all our social bowlers are requested to “Don” a beanie, gloves and jacket and enjoy the final weeks of our winters sun, by playing at the City with all your mates, “Support the Club that supports you”.

Birthdays: Congratulations to our life member and great bowler, Garry Hotham, who celebrated his birthday last July 27.

Congratulations to Grahame Waddell who celebrated his birthday today, August 4. Then on August 12 Grahame will have been a member of our great bowling club for 25 years.

Bowler for the month of July: Congratulations to out past secretary/treasurer, Neville Townsend on his fantastic service to our great bowling club over the past eight years. As a retired bank manager, Neville was the ideal club member to be our treasurer, as well as our secretary for the previous ten months of so. Neville was and still is a very competent bowler and he has won numerous titles within our club.

Once again, congratulations Neville from all your club mates on your dedication and service to our great bowling club.

Best wishes to all our club members and their families, who may be ill, get better soon.

Social Bowls: Great winter weather for Tuesday afternoon social competition with two rinks of pairs and two of triples. Daily rink winners were the Derrick Huender and Daryl Bellamy combination with a 30-14 win over Frank Farrell and Gus Thurgood. The Farrell team leaped from the blocks with a three then a seven to be in double figures by the third end but they simply could not sustain the pace. The Huender team played steady catch up bowls and were rewarded with the lead by the 10th end and from there were never headed. In an amazing score card, the Farrell team only won five of the 21 ends, and yet held the lead for nine of those ends, which certainly reflects the vagaries of the game of lawn bowls.

Tony McNamara and Kevin Howard scored a 21-16 victory on rink three against Butch Stephens and Kerry Connors. The Stephens team jumped first with a two on the first end but the McNamara team grabbed the lead by the third end. Despite the game being all even on three occasions, the McNamara team never lost the lead from this point on. The McNamara team won 13 of the 21 ends played but it was the four shot win they posted in the 20th end that sealed the win for them.

In a battle of the Titans on rink four, Gary Cameron, John Banning and Terry Clark scored a come from behind 16-15 win over Alan Clark, Ron McGarry and Jim Clark and then topped it off by taking the Competition Jackpot win in the Club House. The Clark team dominated the card from the first end with a one, three, one combination that had them confident 5-0 leaders before the Cameron team scored a three in the fourth end to open their account. By the 13th end, the Clark team had scored on 10 of those ends but the Cameron team had just done enough to stay in the match at 13-7 behind going into the 14th end.

The back end of the game was a different story altogether with the Cameron team scoring two’s on the 14th, 15th and 18th ends to sit just two shots behind the Cark team at 15-13 at the 18th, despite the Clark team doing the majority of the scoring in the match. The Cameron team took control of the card from this point scoring one shot wins on every end to even the card on the 20th end, then win the match on the 21st with a single shot to post a memorable victory.

On rink one, Noel Witney, Greg Quartly-Scott and Ian Dews scored a never headed 26-14 win over Tony Hogan, Bruce Parr and Terry Burke. Jumping from the blocks with a run of two, four, two and two, the Witney team had a comfortable 10-0 lead before they let the Hogan team onto the score card. Despite a valiant attempt to wrest control from the Witney team, getting to within one shot of the lead by the 14th end, the Hogan team just couldn’t string enough good shots together. The final four ends told the story of the match with the Witney team scoring three, two, one and two in those ends to post a 12 point margin win.

The Saturday afternoon social competition had perfect conditions with plenty of Bowlers on the greens enjoying the Royal game. Daily rink winners on rink two were Darryl Whitton, Ron McGarry and Tony Urza taking an 18-15 win over Alan Clark, John Banning and Frank Farrell in a game that could have gone either way. The Whitton team dominated the early running with them holding a 10-0 lead in the fifth end before the Clark team collected their first points with a two in the sixth end.

Once on the card, the Clark team scored on the next four ends to have the match all even going into the 11th end. The Whitten team then edged ahead before the Clark team came back to even the card again at 14 all at the end of the 16th end. From here the Whitten team concentration levels went up a notch and they scored one shot wins on the next four ends to site 18-14 going into the 21st end which was won by the Clark team by just the one shot to post the final 18-15 score line.

A 15 end scoring spree by the Gary Cameron and Kerry Connors combination gave them a 24-6 win over Trevor Pallister and Ted Crouch on rink three. Holding a 13-0 lead before the Pallister team scored their first points, the Cameron team were simply relentless collecting end wins seemingly with ease and never taking the foot off their opponent’s neck. Despite the score line, the noise levels from this rink clearly indicated that good fellowship was the key objective and a good game was clearly had by all players.

Rink four results were much closer with Tony McNamara, Jim Fry and David Josh holding on for a 19-15 win over hard charging Mick McDonald, Tony Press and Terry Burke over the final ends. The early ends were balanced with two’s on the first and second ends by each team with the McDonald team edging ahead on the third and fourth ends to hold a two shot 4-2 lead over the McNamara team.

From here, the McNamara team blitzed the opposition with a run of nine end wins to lead 15-4 going into the 14th end, when the McDonald team were able to stop their charge. With a one shot win in the 14th end followed up with a four in the 15th end, the McDonald team began to regain some momentum. They collected two’s in the 17th, 18th and 20thends to look a real threat but the McNamara team had done enough to hold on to the lead and the match.

On number two green, Merle Stephens, Thelma Smith and Marj Nyland scored a comfortable 21-9 win over Marleen Naylor, Margaret Hayes and Marj Nyland. The Naylor team score first points but the Stephens team responded immediately with a two on the next two ends to lead 4-1 going into the fourth end and from here they were never headed. Winning 10 of the 16 ends played, the Stephens team dominated the card locking out the Naylor team from the 11th end onwards.

A much closer result was the Pauline Clark and Lorna Hayes 15-13 win over Betsey Thornberry and Maureen Taylor combination. In a dire struggle that saw the lead change five times throughout the match, the result could have gone either way. The Clark team scored first with an immediate response from the Thornberry team who then scored a three in the third end to jump to a 4-1 lead. The Clark team came back with one’s on the next two ends to trail by one shot going into the sixth end where the Thornberry team scored a one then a two to extend their lead to 7-3 at the end of the seventh end.

The Clark team then found their rhythm with a run of two’s over the next three ends to retake the lead 10-7 at the close of the 10th end. Not to be out done, the Thornberry team retook the lead with a four shot win in the 11th end but this was countered immediately by the Clark team with a three shot win to again give them the lead 13-11 in the 12th end. One’s in the next two ends by the Thornberry team saw the match all even again in the 14th end, but one shot wins in the final two ends gave the Clark team the victory but well done all players.

Next Sunday the 7th August will see the next round of the Social Mixed Triples games with play set to commence at 11 am with a barbeque lunch to follow for a very reasonable $10 fee, which includes equipment, green fees and lunch. An invitation is extended to all members of the Majellan Bowling Club, their guests and the wider community to come along and enjoy the game of lawn bowls. Even if you have never played the game before, this is your opportunity to give it a go.

Best wishes to our founding President Robert Alderman, who is spending a little time in Bathurst Base Hospital at the moment.

That’s it for another busy week, I leave you with this insightful quote, “War doesn't determine who's right. War only determines who's left.”