BOWLSBANTER
Port Alfred Bowling Club
With 2020 being the centenary anniversary of our club, we would like to share a bit of history on the game of bowls.
Internationally, lawn bowls is one of the oldest recreational pursuits. It was played in Rome, Greece and Egypt.
Records show that a bowling green has existed in Southampton, England, since before 1611 and is still being played on, further that an annual competitive event has been scheduled on this green since 1776.
In the Southern hemisphere, it was played in Hobart, Tasmania in 1845 and in SA in 1882.
The Port Alfred Bowling Club started on August 25 1920, with Charles Robberts (Blackie) Swart as its first president.
The semifinals of the Eastern Areas (EA) Pairs continued last weekend at Kowie Bowling Club and the finals of the Personal Trust pairs will be played at Kowie Bowling Club next weekend.
We have been extremely fortunate with the rain that we have had the last few weeks, and our gardens and greens are really smiling widely in appreciation.
Bowls was rained out last Tuesday and the greens were closed.
The Build It competition was won by Eddie, Martin and Louise.
Well bowled! The mixed pair’s competition is ongoing and round three will be played next Wednesday afternoon for the players who make it through.
Friday night is our Kekel n Kraai night bowls.
Bowlers and non-bowlers all welcome to join in, from 5.30pm, and play to start at 6pm. Bring your meat to put on the fire afterwards.
Duties for the week ending March 3 – 7: Tabs Duty – Emile Jurgensen and Sue Purdon, Bar Duty - refer to the list on the pub.
Kowie Bowling Club
Oops! What a glitch – after almost 100 of these weekly Kowie Notes I pressed the wrong button and sent my latest masterpiece into cyberspace instead of to the editor of TotT. Both of my regular readers were left in limbo.
If I was younger they would put it down to a genuine mistake, but considering my age there are many who would interpret the incident as being symptomatic of senility, while others maintain that I have been senile for a long time anyway. I am not going to win on this one but humble apologies.
As a result of all this, with two weeks of results to record, my offering will be more factual than bumf.
Our Wednesday morning competition has taken off and has become a very popular item on our calendar.
The brainchild of some of our senior members who found 21 ends of three-bowl trips a bit tiring, they now come on a Wednesday morning and have a quiet, light-hearted and not lifethreatening game of 18-end 2bowl trips.
The oldies were there in full force, and some youngsters.
Last Tuesday was our first full day since the rain and we had a record turnout.
Judy Alexander, Peewee Tomlinson and Dave Slater showed no mercy and only allowed their opponents to win four ends out of 21.
Last Thursday we entertained our neighbours from Kenton.
The men won 3-1 while the ladies were friendlier with one win, one loss, and one peel. Who could want it closer? The Friday Personal Trust Trips had 18 teams entered and the prizes were well divided.
During the weekend, we had 20 hopefuls travelling to Makhanda to play in the EA Men’s and Ladies’ Pairs.
Judy Alexander and Colleen Davey won their section, while the men excelled by winning three of the five sections.
The successful men were Jacques Krige and Dave Thomas, Rob Owsley and John Knepscheldt, and Jonty Alexander and Grumpy Enslin.
The qualifiers rounds were completed last weekend at Kowie with Jonty Alexander and Grumpy Enslin going through unbeaten.
In winning the EA Men’s Pairs they also qualified for the EP final to be played at Kowie next week.
Their success can be attributed to their professional, no-chances approach where they eschewed any dramatic gainers if the portents for disaster were there.
All the other men’s teams lost two games.
In the ladies’ section, Judy Alexander and Colleen Davey came from behind to be runnersup and thereby qualified for the EP final. Well done, Kowie.
Last Tuesday, Bryan Burger and the two Turners played the best bowls, while on Thursday it was Lee Bothma, Rob Walker, and Jason Prince’s turn to pick up the boodle.
In spite of the counter attraction of the pairs, we still had a good turnout on Saturday for Tabs, won by John Hubbard, Sally Moffat, and Rob Turner, with their luckless opponents depending on the largesse of John’s team to be allowed into the pub.
Duties for next week will include a full weekend coping with the influx of EP finalists: Roll – Peter May, Mark – Don Kelly/ Pat Joseph, Tabs – Tessa Chunnet, Bar – Peter May.
Kenton Bowling Club
The Kenton Business League got our bowls week off to a fast start last Monday and most of the 18 teams were on the greens well before the official starting time, eager to groove their deliveries before their last pool games and the upcoming playoffs.
Angela Muller Attorneys found the greens very much to their liking, producing the top performance of the evening and running out convincing winners against their hapless opponents.
Defending champs Buco Rollers and The House Planner were also in top form and recorded resounding wins as well.
With the playoff rounds scheduled for Monday this week, the finals of this popular competition will be played at the Club on the evening of Monday March 2 and we look forward to welcoming a good crowd to support their business favourites.
Kenton played host to Port Alfred on Wednesday last week in the first round of the Doris Ford and Les Clarke competitions.
The ladies teams were well matched, each managing to win one game, with Kenton taking an early but very narrow 12-8 lead in the Doris Ford competition.
The men’s competition was also closely contested, Kenton winning three out of the four games played but both clubs losing tight games on the very last end played.
Kenton have taken an early 2614 lead in the Les Clarke competition before the second round in Port Alfred in April.
Twenty teams contested February’s Personal Trust Trips on Friday, with excellent greens and sunny weather providing the perfect setting for bowls.
Stuart Clarkson and his team of Carl Vermeulen and Gert
Immelman were the winners of this month’s competition.
Wickus van Schalkwyk, Gerry “No bowls today” van Heerden and Corrine Brown finished level on points but had to settle for second, a point ahead of thirdplaced finishers Ruth Low and Lydia and Mike Palmer.
Our thanks go to Personal Trust and Carl Vermeulen for their ongoing sponsorship and the contribution they continue to make to our club.
Friday’s steak evening was one again very well attended and lots of fun was had by all.
Neville Green obviously didn’t get the memo and wasn’t there to pocket the weekly Attendance Draw jackpot, while Stuart Clarkson summoned up some additional help but still couldn’t find the Joker.
Many thanks to Johnny G and Jean our hosts for the week, thanks also to Captain Blaze for another job well done.
Following on its successful and popular launch last year, our Novice Singles competitions will be played over a single weekend on March 14 and 15, with pool games played on the Saturday and cross-pool playoffs and finals of both competitions on the Sunday afternoon.
Club Duties (February 24 – March 1): Tabs – Bryony Shone, Bar – Peter Levey and Kevin Sharp. Dates to remember: February 27 – Spar Special Tabs-in at Kenton, March 2 – Business League finals at Kenton, March 5 – Peg and Horace Purdon Trips at Kenton.