BOWLSBANTER
PORT ALFRED
The highlight last weekend for two Port Alfred bowls teams was participating in the annual Kowie Bowls Classic, which was previously postponed due to rain.
The teams were Jaco van Rensburg and his wife Joanne, Peter MacCullam, as well as Ron Orford and John Tomson. Ron played on the Saturday with John replacing him on Sunday.
The other side was Hein Strombeck and his wife Ilse, Louise Vincent and Brian McLean.
At the end of four games of 21 ends, Hein’s side’were placed eighth, with Jaco s side placed 22nd.
Coming up this weekend is the fun clash between Port Alfred and Western Suburbs. As mentioned before, Old Selbornians from East London withdrew. Play will take place on Saturday afternoon with two games on Sunday.
There was bad news when it was learnt that the woman who was to provide live music on Saturday evening was in a car accident and had to cancel as her arm is now in a sling. However, Ilse Strombeck has agreed to provide the music.
This event will be followed up by this club’s annual mixed classic set for December 2 and 3.
Finally, the bricking of the A and B banks and the fitting of rubber has been completed.
KOWIE
With the massive anticipation for the weekend’s “big one”, it was all hands on deck from early Monday morning for the green-keeping staff and responsible club members in the prepping of the greens, and the club for the annual Men’s Kowie Classic over the weekend.
With the weather being fine and sunny for our members, our week’s bowling activities started on Tuesday afternoon when a horde of bowling enthusiasts were divided into equal-strength teams to do battle for the much sort after Rosehill SPAR vouchers.
After some very competitive bowling during the afternoon, our president, Judy Alexander, playing her best bowls in ages, led her team of Linda May and Diana Kemp to a convincing win, to each taking home yet another winners voucher from SPAR, our generous sponsors.
Wednesday morning’s novice session was played in lovely warm weather, and was well attended. It is also pleasing to see a number of the novices moving up the bowling ladder and playing in the weekly tabs competitions.
Thursday tabs attendance was pleasing. With the A green going through its final stages of being prepped for the Classic over the weekend, B green was a hive of activity.
The bragging rights for the afternoon’s competition went to Allan Sheridan, Phil Gillfillin and Uncle Don Kelly.
NIGHT BOWLS
Friday evening saw the second* round of the ever-popular night bowls competition being held under floodlights on our A and C greens.
It is pleasing to see the improvement that many of these “social”" bowlers are making after every week’s competition.
The winners of section B were the team from Foresthill Construction and in the A section, the team from Plumbrite won. The overall leader after two rounds is the Pick n Pay team.
KOWIE CLASSIC
Saturday morning saw an early morning start for the 24 participating teams, where the schedule and conditions of play for the weekend was briefly discussed before the first game of our annual Kowie Classic began.
With the weather playing its part, there was a lot of good bowling during the course of the day. After the day’s play, a huge fire was lit and the guests and fellow Kowie members were each provided with a piece of steak, with some roast potatoes and salads as a side. To say that the bar was well supported would be an understatement.
Sunday morning saw yet another early start to day two of the competition, where two more games had to be played before deciding which team would be crowned the champions for 2023.
The leaderboard changed drastically after every game, as it normally does at a competition of this magnitude, but at the prizegiving, the following teams were handsomely rewarded:
The friendship award was won by Shiela Walker’s team from Kenton. The plate winner was Roger Wilson’s team from Gqeberha. In fourth place was Jacques Krige’s Kowie side of Allan Sheridan, Mike Ryan and Sean Wiblin. In third position was Naas Vermaak’s team from Hofmeyr. In second spot was Clive Bartlett’s team from Albany.
The deserved overall winners was Gary Vermaak’s team of Hilton Cherry, Shaun Cherry and Carl Vermeulen from The Woods in Gqeberha.
The delighted winner of the “Happy Wheelbarrow” raffle was Avice Steenkamp from Kowie Bowling Club, who will not be doing Christmas shopping for any type of alcohol in the near future.
After the prize-giving, Alexander, thanked the two main sponsors, Carl Vermeulen from Personal Trust and Terrence Robinson from Prestons. Without their sponsorship, the event could not have taken place.
She went on to thank Jonty Alexander, the competition convener, the catering teams, the bar teams, the scoring teams, the greenkeeping team, the firemasters, Rowlen von Gericke for organising the “Happy Wheelbarrow” raffle, Christa von Gericke for taking photos, and finally, all the players from far and wide who supported the club over weekend.
Neil Burkett from Personal Trust responded by thanking the Kowie Bowling Club and its members for another hugely successful tournament and wished everyone a safe trip home.
KENTON
On Wednesday there was an excellent turn-out to contest the culmination of the Diaz tabs-in.
Our loyal sponsor was on hand to dispense the prizes and spoil those present with a delectable plate of snacks at every table.
Winner on the day, was the team skipped by Willie Basson with a creditable 17 +16 from the 21 ends.
This was followed by the prize giving for the Diaz Jackpot won for the highest total of points scored at Diaz events over the year. Tony Phillips was the prize winner who played in every Diaz Jackpot event, followed by Mike Palmer, Peter Levey and Johan Grobler. Our thanks again to Diaz for providing such valuable sponsorship for the whole year.
Thursday tabs-in, and then Friday, or ‘Rock-a Friday’ as it is now known, consisting of lively bounce games organised by Lydia Palmer, was followed by a highly popular bring and braai.