BOWLS BANTER
Port Alfred Bowling Club
With the recent good rains gratefully received, our greens are recovering nicely.
Thanks to David Freeme, our bottom green is playing superbly. Well done David!
The year has got off to a slow start with members returning from holiday and spending time with family, but most of us are back now and it was really nice to see a full green of bowlers playing on Saturday afternoon.
On Thursday afternoon, the first competition of 2019, the Vroom/Timm Cup, will be played at our club. Please check the board to see whether you have been selected to play.
There is a fun day at Albany on Saturday; the format is a mixed fours, so make up a team, enter and have some fun.
Next Thursday, the Peg and Horace Purdon competition will be played at Kowie. Check the board to see whether you have been selected to play.
The Ryan Cup mixed singles starts on Wednesday January 22, and should you wish to play, please enter your name on the list on the notice board.
Enjoy your year, stay healthy and keep bowling. Duties for the week ending January 21-25: Tab Duty - Phil Taylor and Sandra Wiblin, Bar Duty - Check the list on the bar.
Kowie Bowling Club
“Morgenlichleuchtendimrosigenschein”. For the Wagner aficionados, that phrase from the Meistersingers aptly describes the shimmering reflection of early morning sunlight off the minuscule droplets of water being extruded from the millions of glands on the surface of the leaves after the copious rains of the previous night.
After months of drought and being greeted every morning by the dull unresponsive leaves, the evidence that there was, once again, sufficient water for transpiration to take place was a sight for sore eyes.
Even to the uninitiated, the hydrofication of the leaves of the wild fig forming a canopy over our boma came as a pleasant surprise.
Gavin was smiling when he found that our subterranean reservoir had almost reached its pre-drought levels.
What a strange, but logical, sequence of events – the warm Agulhas current flowing down the east coast suddenly moved closer to the coast – which meant there was now a layer of increased evaporation of moisture off the warm current lying in the atmosphere off the coast.
An East wind carried this moisture–laden air over the parched Eastern Cape leading to extensive precipitation - the parched soil gobbled up the water which, in turn was absorbed by the grass roots and transferred to the leaves where, by the process of transpiration, it was again released into the atmosphere bringing still more rain – the wonders of nature.
It is estimated by those who do these experiments that if there is sufficient water, 90% of the water absorbed by the roots will be recycled back into the atmosphere by transpiration from the leaves.
The last day of the cricket was not enough to keep our players away from the green on Tuesday.
In the end, it was some rain which restricted their play but by that time they had already played 18 ends.
Jonty Alexander, Helise Hattingh, Mike Ryan, and Lennie Clark emerged as the winners after the game had been re-scheduled to three sets of six.
In spite of overcast skies we had a good turnout on Thursday.
With our roller/polisher having given up the ghost, we had a heavy green which was a new experience for many of the new bowlers.
There were many short bowls before the players adjusted their swings and delivery stride to accommodate the new conditions.
Peter Ford, playing with Peter May and Megan Kriel, were the quickest to adjust sweeping the board and picking up the boodle on their way.
Friday saw a record entry for he ever-popular Personal Trust trips.
With 20 teams involved Rob Owsley’s team had to call on Multi Security to guard the boodle.
On the social side,Friday night’s steak evening was a great place to pick up the threads again.
The players’ thirst for bowls was again evident on Saturday when we had a bigger turnout than normal.
There were some tough, close encounters with not one 10 scored. Bugs Wilmot, Megan Kriel, and Sally Wormall managed an 8 and the biggest shot profit to win the Spar vouchers.
Duties for next week: Roll - Tony Brown, Mark - Lester Scriven / Dave Slater, Tabs - Jean Churchley, Bar - Lester Scriven.
Kenton Bowling Club
Kenton were proud to once again host the Periwinkle Bowls Family Fun Day in December.
The third edition of this extremely popular event followed hot on the heels of the Periwinkle Golf Classic, which takes place in Port Alfred.
The Periwinkle Charity was established in 2004 by a group of benevolent holidaymakers who have been frequent visitors to the Sunshine Coast over many decades.
Wanting to contribute to the wellbeing of the community and the environment of this beautiful stretch of land, they established a charity that focuses on uplifting the youth, environmental care and protection and supporting local conservation initiatives in conjunction with the SAPS, municipalities and various other organisations.
Through the incredible generosity of holidaymakers and locals alike, the Periwinkle Charity has raised more than R3.5m over the years, which has benefited many local community and conservation projects.
The Family Fun Day attracted a field of more than 150 bowlers sporting an incredible assortment of “Movie Hats” as per 2019’s theme.
A game of “Heads ’n Tails” got the evening’s proceedings off to a lively start and the pre-dinner auction, well managed again by The Rascal, helped to swell the Periwinkle kitty even further as the enthusiasm and generosity of the Periwinkle faithful showed no signs of waning.
Dinner was served by the club ladies before the “Periwinkles” danced the night away to the sounds of our resident DJ.
Our thanks go to the Periwinkle Charity for making Kenton your home.
It is a wonderful privilege to be part of your fundraising efforts and we congratulate you on raising R170,000 through the Periwinkle Bowls Family Fun Day and R200,000 through the Periwinkle Golf Classic. Thank you too to the many club volunteers who kept guests decently hydrated and well-nourished on the day.
The Dias Jackpot kicked off last week with the first round of 2019 attracting a healthy crop of bowlers clearly suffering from the effects of the festive season and eager to clear the cobwebs.
Wickus van Schalkwyk, Johan Grobler, past winner Tony Phillips and Peter Levey were the day’s winners, giving themselves an early head start in the challenge.
Time will tell whether they have the stamina to last the year long journey though. Ken Nixon, Gerald Brown, Gerry van Heerden and Doc Evans finished second, giving their hopes of overall victory an early boost.
John Davis got his bowls year off to a rollicking start, winning the weekly Attendance Draw on Friday, while John King made a sensational false start after picking the wrong card and missing out on a rather healthy Joker Jackpot.
The Kenton Bowls Business League kicks off on January 27 and runs for six consecutive weeks, culminating in new champions being crowned on March 2.
If you’re keen to play but haven’t yet registered or need to get in some early practise, get down to the club and we will make sure you get organised.
Another reminder to all bowlers, the first Personal Trust Trips competition of 2019 will be played on Friday January 24. Club Duties (January 13 - 19):
Tabs - Kevin Sharp, Bar - Susie Mann and Rob Croly.
Dates to remember: 24 - Personal Trust Trips at Kenton.