Zone 4 Inter - District Senior Shield. January 28 the following bowlers from Bathurst City were selected to represent WDBA in Lithgow. The eight a side competition was held and the both teams were successful and won the  above shield. Congratulations to all our Bowlers in Team No. First Lead: John Finlay, second Bryan Bromfield and in The No. second Team; Skip. Phill. Gray, third Ray Dixon, Lead: John Archer.

May 17,18 and 19  Phill Gray, John Archer and  Ray Dixon will travel to Taren Point to represent Zone 4. Congratulations to all our Bowlers, who have our Bathurst City Bowling Club's flag " Flying High ", so early in 2017.

January 25: Only eight braved the very hot sun. Two games of social pairs were set down to be played at the City.

Game 1: After the eight end, Skip. Ray Noonan and Bob Henry were leading 9-7 over Skip. Allan Clark and Kevin Miller, who were down 12-16  after the 16th end. Both teams each scored three shots with "Shorty"  and Bob winning 19-15 after the 22nd end over Allan and Kevin.

Game 2: Skip. Brian Burke and Ian Hurford led 11-4  after the seventh end against Skip. Ian Cunningham and Bob Foster, who scored seven shots to two shots to be just down 11-13  after the 14th end. Then by scoring nine shots to four shots, Brian and Ian won 22-15 over Ian and Bob.

Australia Day, January 26: Mixed Bowls Competition $1,000 prize money. What a great way to celebrate our Australia Day, by playing Lawn Bowls at the City. Thirty bowlers nominated, endeavouring to win a share of the prize money on offer. Regular visiting bowlers were  Pam and Joe Turski from Avoca, Kris Williams from the St. Johns Park and Allan Clark from the Majellan Club, as well as four of our Lady bowlers, Annette, Judy, Rhonda and Jocelyn. A blind draw to select their teams was made by the Skips.

First Round. Game 1: Combining very well, Skip. Kris. Williams ,Bob Heffernan and George Ballard defeated Skip. Allan Clark, Bob Henry and Ian Hurford  24-7.

Game 2: Skip. Geoff. Thorne, Phill. Murray and Rhonda Henry defeated Skip. Mick. Sewell, Pam Turski and John Martin  24-16.

Game 3: Skip. Chris. Keith, Annette Myers and John Allbutt defeated Skip. Joe Turski, Russell Robbins and Paul Rodenhuis  22 - 9.

Game 4: Skip. Norm. Hayes, Ron Hollebone and Bob Foster defeated  Skip Jack Smith, Paul Reece and Jocelyn Ballard  21-14.

Game 5: Skip. Jim Grives, Warren Masters and Bruce Rich defeated Skip. Ron Cambey, Arthur Williams and Judy Rodenhuis  19-13. 

After a very tasty lunch, which was prepared by President Annette Myers, Judy Rodenhuis, Rhonda Henry and Jocelyn Ballard with Chef. Denis Oxley, Chris Keith and John Martin, the 2nd Round of games commenced at 1.30pm.

Second Round. Game 6: In this game, Skip. Jack Smith, Paul Reece and Jocelyn Ballard  combined very well to defeat Skip .Chris Keith, Annette Myers and John Allbutt  29 - `12.

Game 7: Skip. Ron Cambey, Arthur Williams and Judy Rodenhuis  defeated Skip. Kris. Williams, Bob Heffernan and George Ballard 13 - 8.

Game 8: Skip. Allan Clark, Bob Henry and Ian Hurford  defeated Skip. Norm. Hayes, Ron Hollebone and Bob Foster 18 - 13. 

Game 9: Skip. Mick.Sewell, Pam Turski and John Martin defeated Skip. Jim Grives, Warren Masters and Bruce Rich 26 -22.

Game 10: Skip.Geoff Thorne, Phill Murray and Rhonda Henry defeated Skip. Joe Turski, Russell Robbins and Paul Rodenhuis 21-9.

President Jim Grives thanked all the bowlers for playing in the Australia Day competition, which maybe an annual event. Congratulation to all the winners. Also, thanks to our events manager, Rebecca Mathie for being present and opening our Club.

Australia Day Prize Winners: First $ 300 Geoff Thorne, Phil Murray and Rhonda Henry. Second $ 240 Chris Keith, Annette Myers and John Allbutt. Third $180 Kris Williams, Bob Heffernan and George Ballard. Fourth $150 Jim Grives, Warren Masters and Bruce Rich. Fifth $120 Mick Sewell, Pam Turski and John Martin.

January 28: On another very hot afternoon for playing Lawn Bowls at the City, Twenty-four. Bowlers nominated to play , One game of  " B " Grade Pairs and Five  games of Social Pairs.

Game 1: In the " B " pairs game Skip.  Trevor Kellock and Arthur Williams scored two shots on the 12th end to level the scores at ten shots all with Skip .Brian Burke and Bob Foster. Then Trevor and Arthur took control of the game by winning the next six consecutive ends to lead  21-10, finally winning 22-11 over Brian and Bob.

Game 2: After the eighth end, Skip. Dennis Oxley and Ron Hollebone were leading nine shots to one shot over Skip. Ron Cambey and Paul Reece, who were down 11-14 after the 16th end. But, by scoring a great five shots on the 17th end, Ron and Paul led for the first time at 16-14. Then, by  winning the final four ends, Dennis and Ron  were successful 23-16. 

Game 3: By scoring three shots on the eighth end, Skip. Ray Noonan and John Fulton levelled the scores at seven shots all with Skip. Mick Sewell and Bob Henry, who then led  16-11 after the 16th end.  Mick and Bob  were finally victorious 21-17 over Ray and John.

Game 4: Combining exceptionally well, Skip. Jim Grives and Russell Robbins  led 11-3 after the ninth end,  Jim and Russell then were leading 19-8 after the 18th end over Skip. Bob Heffernan and John McDonagh  Then by  scoring 9 great shots, Bob and John, just went down 19-17 to Jim and Russell.

Game 5: On the 11th end, Skip. Grahame Mays and Garry Hotham scored one shot to level the scores at seven shots all with Skip. Norm. Hayes and Bob Lindsay, who, after the 18th end led 17-11 over Grahame and Garry. Then Norm and Bob scored three shots to two shots winning 19-14 over Grahame and Garry.

Game 6: Skip. Ian Schofield and Don Myers, ( Welcome back, Don.) led 6 shots to nil after the fourth end against Skip. Dennis Harvey and Bruce Rich, who then combined well to lead  17-11 after the 17th end.  Dennis and Bruce winning 24-11 over Ian ( who must have ran out of Skittles ? ) and Don. The lucky Ring - in winner was Denis Oxley.

January 31: By endeavouring to beat the extreme afternoon heat, this game of first round " B " Pairs commenced at 9.30am.  Our new boys on the rink, Skip. Paul Rodenhuis and George Ballard and were challenged by Brothers - in - law , Skip. Jim Grives and Bob Heffernan, who held seven shots on the first end, until  an over keen bowl from Jim reduced it to two shots. Paul and George  began to draw shot bowls and were leading 14-11 after the 14th end.  Jim and Bob then began to score heavy and scored 21 shots to four shots and were successful  32-18 over  our promising " Rookies " Paul and George.

By Bob the Bowler 

‎Social Bowls: Rink winners for the Tuesday Social Bowls competition were Tony McNamara, Ian Warren and Ken Hartwig 25-15 over Tony Hogan, Barry O’Keefe and Mick Simmons, with the Hogan team collecting just three points in the first 13 ends to be down 21-3. The McNamara team scored consistently through the early ends of the match which enabled them to hold back the fast finishing Hogan team to win comfortably. 

Tiger Smith, Bob Bembrick and Gus Thurgood scored a last end 22-19 win against Paul Kennedy, Kevin Howard and Darrel Bellamy in a see-sawing match, where the lead changed four times. The Kennedy team jumped to an early 5-0 lead before the Smith team were on the card, however, the scores were even after the ninth, 18th and 20th ends. The Smith team scored three on the last end to take the win. 

John Hobson and Ron McGarry collected a 17-15 win over a hard finishing Trevor Pallister and Jim Clark. The Hobson team were leading 9-0 before the Pallister team scored their first point but by the 18th end, the Pallister team were just one shot behind the Hobson team at 15-14. Unfortunately for the Pallister team they could not maintain the pressure and fell short by two shots. 

Allan Clark and Bruce Parr dominated their card to post a 20-9 win over Terry Burke and Ian Dews, after the Burke team collected first points in the game. With wins in 14 of the 21 ends played, the Clark team were unstoppable with a 12-3 lead at the halfway point. 

Australia Day at Majellan saw five rinks of mixed triples played with a traditional Australian barbeque lunch provided for everyone’s enjoyment. The number of ends played varied over the five rinks but this was irrelevant as players were simply enjoying the game and the comradery of Australia Day at Majellan.  

Twilight Bowls this week attracted two rinks of mixed social bowlers and again the winner was lawn bowls. On a very warm afternoon, many a cool beverage was required and enjoyed as was the after bowls barbeque. 

Saturday afternoon Social Bowls competition rink winners were Tony Urza, Jim Patton and David Josh in a 22-21 win over Tiger Smith, Bruce Parr and Barney Lavelle in a real nail bitter. After the ninth end the Urza team led 12-2 and after the 12th they were ahead 14-7. But then the Smith team came back with a four in the 15th and 17th end and by the 21st end the game was all tied up at 21 all. An extra end was won by the Urza team with just one point. 

In another close one, John Hobson, Ian Dews and Derrick Huender posted a 24-23 win over Paul Kennedy, Tony Press and Darrel Bellamy, with the lead changing no less than eight times through the match. In a score card that resembled a ping-pong card, each team pushed the other in a stand out competition. By the 20th end it was all even at 23 all and the Hobson team collected one shot on the last end to take the match. 

Tony McNamara and Gus Thurgood scored a 20-16 win over Tony Hogan and Ken Hartwig with the Hogan team not getting on the card until the sixth end. The McNamara team held the lead from the blocks although the Hogan team came home stronger winning all but one of the last seven ends. 

On a day of low margin wins, the 28-12 win for the Glen Urza, Max Elms and Allan North team over Butch Stevens, Ron McGarry and Kerry Connors team was a stand out. It all came together for the Urza team from the 12th end in a massive turnaround. The Stevens team held the lead 11-8 at this point but the Urza team scored 20 points in a nine end winning streak to take the match. 

Club Championships: 2017 Major Singles Championships were the order of the day this week with three matches decided. The first was between Glen Urza and Peter Drew with Urza taking the spoils 31-10 in the 22nd end. Drew simply could not get into a rhythm with Urza on six before Drew was on the card. By the 11th end it was 16-4 and by the 16th it was 24-7 and Drew was effectively out of the match. 

It took Noel Witney 35 ends to defeat Garry Cameron 31-24, with the scores even at 15 all after the 19th end. While Witney posted steady ones and twos with just one three shot win on his card, Cameron scored a four in the 29th end to get within six shots of Witney, but he couldn’t maintain the momentum and in the finish, ran out of ends. 

Mick McDonald took 32 ends to score a come from behind 31-25 win over Allan Clark. McDonald jumped to an early lead of 4-1 after the fourth end but Clark came back with a run of ten shots to lead 11-4, which blew out to 18-8 by the 18th end. McDonald scored a three and four to sit just three shots behind at 18-15 after the 20th end. A three by Clark in the next end pushed him to 21 and a three and two gave Clark a 24-17 lead after the 24th end. McDonald then wound up and scored a six-end run for 13 points and a 30-24 lead and he took the match in the 32nd end. 

Selectors have determined the makeup of this year’s two Pennant teams and these have been placed on the notice board. Don’t forget Twilight Bowls is on again this Friday afternoon at 5pm for all comers at Majellan. The Majellan-Wallerawang Challenge is on again in February bowlers and nominations are up for this tournament to be held at Wallerawang. So, until next time bowlers, remember, “Experience is what you get when you don’t get what you want.”