August 27: 20 bowlers nominated to play five games of social pairs.

Game one: After the seventh end, skip Ian Schofield and Kevin Miller were leading six shots to four shots over skip Geoff Thorne and Phill Murray, who were leading 9-8 after the 12th end, then Schofield and Miller fought back to lead 16 shots to 12 shots after the 18th end. Thorne and Murray won the final three ends to win a great game 24-16.

Game two: By winning nine of the 11 ends played skip Norm Hayes and Gilbert Luck was leading 12-3 after the 11th end against skip Garry Connors and Bruce Rich, who scored a great six shots on the 12th end to be just down 9-12. Then by winning the next five consecutive ends Hayes and Luck finished the best winning 25-10 after the 18th end.

Game three: By scoring one shot on the eighth end, skip Bob Lindsay and Jim Grives were leading nine shots to six shots over skip Garry Hotham and Barry McPherson, who combined brilliantly to lead 20 shots to ten shots after the 14th end, then by scoring 13 shots to six shots they easily defeated Lindsay and Grives with a great exhibition of lawn bowls.

Game four: Skip John Archer and Ray Noonan scored three shots to level the scores at nine shots after the seventh end over skip Ross James and Dennis Harvey. After the 11th end James and Harvey were leading 15-9 then Archer and Noonan led 18-15 after the 15th end. Again James and Harvey scored four consecutive end to lead 24-18, finally winning 28-21 over Archer and Noonan in a great game of lawn bowls.

Game five: The eighth end skip Grahame Waddell and Bob Henry scored four shots to lead 12 shots to four shots over skip Peter Floyd and Merv James who were just down 16-22 after the 17th end. Waddell and Henry won 27-16 after the 20th end. The ring-in prize was won by Geoff Thorne.

August 24: Eight brave and dedicated bowlers formed two games of social pairs.

Game one: By winning the first end, skip Arthur Williams and George Ballard had their moment of glory as skip Ian Hurford and Paul Rodenhuis combined extremely well to win the next seven consecutive ends to lead 18 shots to one shot after the eighth end over Williams and Ballard, who scored five shots but still went down 6-18 after the tenth end when rain stopped their game of lawn bowls.

Game two: After the fifth end skip Ian Cunningham and Denis Oxley were leading five shots to one shot over skip Ray Noonan and Jack Smith who won the next four consecutive ends to lead nine shots to five shots after the ninth end. Cunningham and Oxley scored one shot to be just down 6-9 after the tenth end when the rain stopped play.

August 26: “President's Pot”. 18 bowlers nominated to play one game of social triples and three games of social pairs on a great winters afternoon.

Game one: Skip Ray Noonan, Kevin Miller and George Ballard were leading 12 shots to nil over skip Norm Hayes, John McDonagh and Arch Ledger, both teams each scored five shots with team Noonan leading 17-5 after the 12th end. Team Hayes won the final three ends but were defeated by team Noonan 17-10 after the 15th end.

Game two: After the seventh end skip Denis Oxley and Bob Henry were leading ten shots to two shots against skip Garry Connors and John Martin who were down eight shots to 14 shots after the 14th end then Oxley and Henry scored seven shots to six shots  to be victorious 21-14 over Connors and Martin.

Game three: Skip Ron Cambey and pat Duff were leading six shots to four shots after the sixth end over skip Gary Ellis and Arthur Williams who won the next six consecutive ends to lead 17-6 after the 12th end both teams each scored four shots with Cambey and duff being defeated by Ellis and Williams 21-10 after the 18th end.

Game four: On the sixth end skip Bob Heffernan and Hamish McKay scored a handy five shots to lead nine shots to four shots over skip Jack Smith and Grahame Spurway who won the next six consecutive ends to lead 13-9 after the 12th end. Then Heffernan and McKay fought back to again lead 17-16 after the 17th end but Smith and Spurway scored a great six shots to lead 22-17 after the 18th end. Finally winning 26-18 over Heffernan and McKay after the 21st end. The ring-in prize was won by Arch Ledger.

August 29: A near perfect afternoon for lawn bowling greeted our 20 bowlers, who formed five games of social pairs.

Game one: Skip Barry McPherson and Hamish McKay were leading 5-3 after the fifth end then by winning the next five consecutive ends led 13 shots to three shots after the tenth end over skip jack Smith and Russell Robbins who fought back to lead 14 shots to 13 shots after the 14th end. But by scoring five shots to two shots McPherson and McKay won a fantastic game of lawn bowls 18-16 after the 18th end over Smith and Robbins.

Game two: Skip Ray Noonan and John Martin were leading nine shots to three shots over skip Jeff Larson and Bob Henry after the sixth end. Then Noonan and Martin scored eight shots to 11 shots but still led 17-14 after the 17th end and by winning the final four ends defeated Larsen and Martin 25-14 after the 21st end.

Game three: Skip Arthur Williams and Merle Stephens (Majellan) lead 16 shots to four shots after the ninth end over skip Bob Heffernan and Phill Murray. They fought back to lead 18 shots to 17 shots after the 16th end, then by scoring one shot, Williams and Stephens levelled the scores at 18 shots all after the 17th end, both teams each scored four shots to draw their game at 22 shots all.

Game four: On the fourth end skip Norm Hayes and Grahame Spurway scored three shots to draw level at three shots all with skip Ian Cunningham and Ian Hurford on the 11th end. Hayes and Spurway scored a handy five shots to again level the scores, this time at nine shots all, then they led 10-9 after the 12th end. The two “Ian's” then won the next six consecutive ends to lead 17 shots to ten shots, finally winning 19-15 over Hayes and Spurway after the 21st end.

Game five: Skip Ron Cambey and Kevin Miller scored one shot to level the scores at eight shots all after the eighth end against skip Denis Oxley and John McDonagh who scored ten shots to eight shots to just lead 18-16 after the 17th end, they then scored eight shots to one shot to be victorious 26-17 over Cambey and Miller after the 21st end.

News: Championship Game 2016, nomination sheets for club triples and club fours are on the noticeboard. Two Bowl Triples, nomination sheet for two bowl triples is on the noticeboard. Prize money, $2000, to be played September 18. For the Pennants 2017 we have two teams nominated for the club's pennant teams.

By Bob the Bowler

Social Bowls

The rink winners for the Tuesday afternoon social competition was the Terry Clark and Ron McGarry combination with a 24-15 win over Greg Quartly-Scott and Gus Thurgood. While the Quartly-Scott team had the early running, the Clark team took the lead with a four shot win in the fourth end and from there, were never headed.

Darryl Bellamy and Jim Clark scored a 20-17 win over Darryl Whitton and Kevin Howard in a very tight contest. The Whitton team scored early with a two then a three in the first two ends and by the end of the fourth, they were 6-1 in front.

The Bellamy team then scored two and three to even the match, but the Whitton team bounced back to maintain their lead until the 13th end when the Bellamy team hit the front for the first time at 10-9. The Whitton team were back in front on the 17th but the Bellamy team came home stronger with a four in the 19th end and a two in the 21st end to take a three shot margin win.

The Saturday afternoon social competition saw five rinks in action with the Tony Hogan and Gus Thurgood team taking a massive 17 shot, 32-15 win over Terry Burke and John Banning. The Hogan team lead was 8-0 by the fourth end when the Burke team scored first points with a four, but it was 21-4 by the time the Burke team scored again.

The Burke team showed signs of revival with a six end run from the ninth end to collect nine shots, but the Hogan team bounced straight back with their own nine shot run and the match was over.

A never headed 21-12 win was recorded by Paul Kennedy and Peter Zylstra over John Foggarty and Ron McGarry on rink three with the end wins going the Kennedy team’s way 13-8. Despite the game being even after two ends at one all, the Foggarty team could not penetrate the Kennedy team’s defences and when they did score, they could not bridge the gap.

Steve Chapman, Barry O’Keefe and Darryl Bellamy posted a 19-11 win over Peter Naylor, Barry O’Keefe and Frank Farrell although the win came in the four ends. The match was even at ten all at the end of the 15th end. It was 11 all at the end of the 17th and then the Chapman team broke away with a three, two, one and two run to close out the match.

Betsey Thornberry and Marie Luck scored a 24-13 win over Marlene Naylor and Val Zylstra on rink six after the match was even at five all in the fifth end and seven all at the end of the seventh. From this point the Thornberry team took control of the card and lost just one of the next nine ends to comfortably take the game.

A dominant 20-7 win was recorded by the Merle Stephens and Lorna Hayes combination against Margaret Hayes and Marj Nyland. Winning 13 of the 18 ends played the Stephens team simply didn’t allow the Hayes team onto the score card.

Club and District Championships

The final game of the 2016 Majellan Club Triples Championship was played on rink one on Saturday with Mick McDonald, Kevin Connors and Tony McNamara 33-8 winners over Geoff Densmore, Roger Cooper and Derrick Huender. Jumping from the blocks with three, then two and then three, the McDonald team dominated the card scoring on 14 of the 20 ends played to rattle the Densmore team.

Majellan Bowling Club’s President’s Day was held on Sunday with 10 teams in attendance and it was great to welcome teams from Bathurst City and Orange Country Club to Majellan.

With games of triples played in both the morning and afternoon, a big pat on the back to Darryl Whitton and Terry Burke for their support throughout the day for organising play for the day and for keeping things moving. Once again Betsey Thornberry and her team did a magnificent job looking after the catering and a great social day was had by all.

Congratulations are also in order for Majellan’s Greg Quartly-Scott, who took on all comers at the annual Western Districts Rookie of the Year competition played at the City Club on Saturday and won the tournament.

Greg won his three tournament matches with good margins to be crowned WDBA Rookie of the Year and now proceeds to the zone competition and from there, the State finals. As Greg has been bowling for less than a year at Majellan, this is an outstanding achievement and the win is well deserved for his commitment to the game.

Bowlers are reminded that nominations are up for the Social Triples this Sunday, September 4 and the Mixed Triples on the following Sunday September 11. Nominations for the Club Major/Minor Pairs will be on the Notice Board shortly as will details of the Turnaround Triples weekend of  October 22 and 23 and nomination of teams to a maximum of 24 teams will apply for this tournament.

For those Bowlers interested in playing Pennants in 2017, expressions of interest will be called shortly to ensure that a full complement of players is ready for play in early 2017. That’s it for another week readers and please think on this, “When you’re stressed you eat ice cream. cake, chocolate and sweets. Right? Why? Because stressed spelted backwards is desserts!”