Festival of Bowls in Garfield
Garfield Bowling Club held its annual Christmas Festival of Bowls between Christmas and New Year.
This is a series of four separate tournaments over four days. With many people playing in all four, it is a test of stamina and endurance.
Four more different days of weather you couldn’t get in a row – 36 degrees on the first day through to rain on the last day, but all days were played and enjoyed by teams from as far afield as Karingal and Morwell.
The first day saw the mixed fours competition, with a packed green playing in sweltering heat. The organisers took pity on the players and abandoned the third game, much to everyone’s relief.
Nevertheless, a strong field saw a good competition, won by Mick Knight’s team from Cardinia Water. Runners-up were the team from Keysborough led by Russell Matthews. They were due to play each other in the third game.
As a result of the heat on the first day, a number of teams pulled out of the three bowl pairs competition on the second day, leaving a field of only 12 sides.
With a bit of overnight shuffling of the draw by the organisers, a good game was had by those participating. However, one team failed to arrive and club president Damian Brick and secretary Gordon Moxey were roped in to fill the hole.
They did more than just fill the hole, they won the day for the home club. Runners-up were the team of Pat and Avril Steere from Berwick.
The third day was for the three bowl triples and finally the weather saw fit to cooperate, providing a pleasant 27 degrees.
The organisers threw a twist into the mix, arranging to play four games of eight ends, rather than the normal three games of 10 ends.
The winner on the day was the team of David McArthur, David Corrigan and skip Gary Wastell from Berwick. Runners-up were a scratch team of Margaret Ratcliffe from Clayton, who, having entered as a single entry was partnered with Malcolm Newham and Adrian Helmuth, both from Garfield; a creditable performance for players who had never played together.
The last day of competition saw on and off patches of rain over most of the day. Despite this, the resilient bowlers managed to complete the four games, with a small adjustment for time lost.
Overcoming the weather and their opponents were the eventual winners, Gary Wastell and David McArthur from Berwick. Runners up, just squeaking in by a hair, was the team of Reg Mattingly and Des Leigh from Pakenham. They just edged out the only other three game winner on the day, brothers Trevor and Neville Kitchin from Lang Lang and Koo Wee Rup.
Garfield Bowling Club thanked all the participants who made the tournaments possible.