Top class bowling show
The Albany Bowling Club hosted the 19th annual Inter Sub-districts bowling tournament this past weekend.
The event, took place fromlast Friday to Sunday and featured some of the best female bowlers in the province. The event began with the opening ceremony, attended by the sponsors, Eastern Areas president Peter Ford, and presidents of other bowling clubs from around the area.
The Eastern Areas women’s team, which included a number of Grahamstown bowlers, took third place.
The overall winners of the tournament were defending champions East London District, with the North East Dis- trict team finishing as runners up. Only one point separated Eastern Areas from taking the win.
“The weekend was an absolutely resounding success. Great bowls, fantastic camaraderie and outstanding sportsmanship,” said Marlene Mitchener, honorary secretary of the Albany Bowling Club.
Teams from East London and district, Ciskei, North Eastern districts, Frontier, Midlands and hosts Eastern Areas took part.
During the opening ceremony, flags from each district were raised before Billy Krige, of the host club, welcomed those present. Bresby du Preez and Peter Ford both gave opening speeches, and the Mary Waters High School choir sang the National Anthem.
The first round of bowls followed the opening ceremony, with players keen to finish quickly due to a cold afternoon.
The overnight leaders were Frontier, with East London close behind.
The sun came out on Saturday putting everyone in great spirits and some good bowls been played.
“After yet another day of wonderful and scintillating bowls, the ladies relaxed to karaoke and music by Mike Kretzmann,” said Gwen Bartlett of the host club.
The overall leader at the end of the second day was East London Districts, with North Eastern Districts coming 2nd and Eastern Areas a close 3rd. The Individual team leader was P Tiltmann’s team from East London Districts with June McDougall’s team, from Eastern Areas lying second.
Sunday morning saw the teams arrive for an early start to the day, as some teams planned to travel far distances after the day’s play. Competitors put their all into the last session of the tournament, as they were still vying for the Charles Louw Individual Trophy and the R and J Gear District Trophy.
Eastern Areas needed to win two of their three games in order to end up on top, but could only manage to win one, losing the second and drawing the third.
There were three Eastern Areas teams participating in the tournament. The first consisted of Gwen Bartlett, Jackie Kriel, Wendy Pfotenhauer and Marlene Mitchener, while the second consisted of Jane Armitage, Maureen Heale, Marlene Jacobs and Adele Wood. The third team was made up of June McDougal, Rina Goosen, Collette Reed and Pippa Swift.
The teams enjoyed a meal while the points were tallied. Main sponsors, Personal Trust, represented by Carl Vermeulen, handed out lucky draw prizes and prize money to the winners, while Russel Gear handed the winners their trophies. Russel Gear together with Dr Charles Louw are the founders of the Ladies InterRegional that started in 1998. “It was an honour to have him handing out the prizes, as both he and his wife no longer play bowls,” said Bartlett.
“The Albany Bowling Club Committee would like to thank our members for their dedication, all the hard work and for succeeding in making this a tournament that will be spoken about for many, many years to come,” said Mitchener.
Bartlett added “Albany Bowling Club would like to thank all the sponsors for their contributions, as a tournament like this cannot be successful without them.”