BOWLSBANTER
PORT ALFRED
All bowlers experienced a wonderful two days of bowls this past weekend, when players from Port Alfred and Western Suburbs clashed in what was meant to be the annual triangular but with Old Selbornians having withdrawn.
Following the terrible wind last week, wonderful weather greeted the players on both days with one game of 18 ends being played on Saturday afternoon and two of 18 ends on Sunday.
When it came to Port Alfred team selection, the club’s competition secretary Hein Strombeck decided that as many husbands and wives as possible should be in the same teams, which proved a success.
At the end of the day it was the eight Western Suburb sides who walked away the winners with 13 wins against the 11 from this club. Well done to them.
As a way of celebrating, a pee pot was filled with yellow cooldrink with two chocolate bars added but this did not deter all the happy Western Suburb players from enjoying a sip or two.
On Saturday evening, a lot of bowlers but especially women took to the floor and let their hair down to the music provided by Ilse Strombeck but the highlight was the appearance of Brian and his Bandits, who wowed those present when they took to the stage twice. The Bandits were Jim Haswell, Christo Hattingh, Yvonne Surtees, Julie Sluziuk and Joanne Brown.
After the prizegiving on Sunday, several female bowlers from both clubs, led by Joanne van Rooyen, Louise Vincent and Ilse (Strombeck), took to the greens to enjoy a few runs under the sprinklers watering the greens. What a sight.
One can’t thank all those from the club, too many to mention, who got involved to make the weekend such a success.
Coming up this weekend is the holding of the Champion of Champions at this club, where three markers are needed for both the Saturday and Sunday sessions. The games will be followed by a luncheon.
KOWIE
With the chance of being both rugby and cricket world champions, Australia pummelled us into the grandstand and ended up winning the Cricket World Cup against India on Sunday. With SA not playing, there was no excuse for our members for missing a tabs game.
With Tuesday being a glorious day to play bowls, our members capitalised, and filled the greens with a multitude of bowls of different colours and sizes. The team that proved to be most focused during the afternoon was that of Rodney Gradwell and his team of Linda May and Gavin Muir, who were all rewarded with vouchers sponsored by The Boys at Penny Farthing.
The Wednesday morning novice session was well attended by both young and old, where Joy
Alston had another great outing playing against her friends.
Thursday afternoon’s tab saw the veteran John Hubbard and his team of Gerald Mills, Phil Gilfillin, and our visitor from Westview, George Saffy, outplaying their opponents to take home the Graze by the River sponsored vouchers.
Due to a number of teams not being able to play in the third round of Night Bowls, the third competition was postponed to Tuesday evening. Round four takes place on Friday November 24 as planned.
With a couple of our members playing in the Buco Tip Top Trips at Albany, and a huge contingency of players in Bathurst, celebrating the life of Paddy Burger, (a Kowie bowler who passed away last week), only a handful of players handed in their tabs on Saturday afternoon.
That did not stop the enthusiasts from having some fun
in the sun. The bragging rights of the afternoon went to Denny Richardson and his team of Yonnie Hill, Rob Turner, and Teressa Pretorius.
Finally, it is with a saddened heart to report the passing of one of our long-serving members, Tony Brown, who was involved in a motor vehicle accident on the R72 and succumbed to his injuries on Friday November 17. May his soul rest in eternal peace.
KENTON
KBC organisation moved into high gear in preparation for our premier event of the year — the Kenton Mixed Classic.
Ten teams from neighbouring clubs contested four games of fours over two days on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Western Suburbs, Cathcart, Port Elizabeth, Kowie, Albany Walmer, Steynsburg, Hofmeyr, Jeffreys Bay and Morningside all arrived to vie for a share in the*
R15,000 in prize money.
The field was smaller than in past years and afforded us the opportunity to field four KBC teams to compete alongside the visitors. Competitive bowls, fantastic eats from Anita and team, raffles for fabulous prizes, much braai-ing, much celebrating, showed the visitors exactly why our club is the best club for miles around. They even said so!
In the end it was the team from Personal Trust with a 30 + 40 skippered by Carl Vermeulen who came in at the top of the table.
They were followed by Clive Bartlett, skippering the team from Albany on 29 +35 and then none other than Willie Basson (could be on the road to Springbok recognition I believe), skippering one of our own teams to an oh-soclose 29 + 25. The fourth-placed team, skipped by Alet Nel from Western Suburbs on 28 + 30
completed the prize winners.
But the real winner was the spirit of bowls with many compliments received, so well done to all concerned and to Rodney and his grounds staff.
The final Personal Trust Trips for the year attracted 20 teams (is that a record for attendance?) to compete for the prize from our largest sponsor.
Tony Phillips and his team of Mike Hugo and Rob Wallace took the honours with 22 +12. Then came Gerald Brown and team on 19 + 5 narrowly beating Dave Wallace on 19 + 3 and Carl Vermeulen was again in the money with an 18 + 7.
In his speech, Vermeulen praised the fact that Kenton was the number one bowls club with more new members joining than any other club and confirmed that Personal Trust would continue their sponsorship of bowls.