BOWLS BANTER
... what’s happening
Port Alfred Bowling Club
THE bowls year is galloping on at a furious pace, and there are so many competitions both internal and external that it is hard to keep up.
Last Tuesday, the winners of the Personal Trust competition were Ron Orford and his team of Michael Bennita, Joan Jacobs and Lynne Preston. Thank you to Personal Trust, who are the generous sponsors.
There was also a special general meeting on Tuesday evening after bowls, which was well attended. The necessary amendments to the constitution were approved and accepted by the members present.
The final rounds of the men’s open singles were played last Wednesday morning and the winner of the open and the senior singles was Eddie Senar.
Congratulations to Eddie and well played.
The Timm and Vroom Cup were played at Kowie on Thursday afternoon.
The men (Timm) have 16 points each but Port Alfred has a huge deficit in shot profit, so at this stage Kowie has the advantage.
The women (Vroom) points year-to-date are PA 10 + 152 and Kowie 2 + 110. With only two more games to play this year it promises to be an exciting finish.
The Eastern Areas (EA) Singles competitions were played this weekend at Kowie Bowling Club in rainy and cold conditions which did not seem to deter the players.
Congratulations to the following winners and runners up:
The novice ladies’ singles competitions were won by Pippa Swift from Kenton Bowling Club, and Megan Kriel from Kowie was the runner-up.
The ladies’ open singles was won by Annemarie Calitz from Albany, and the runner-up being Jackie Kriel from Kowie.
The men’s novice singles was won by Brian Burger from Kowie, and the runner-up was TJ Mclean from Albany.
The men’s open singles was won by Allie Daniels, and the runner-up was Jacque Kriege from Kowie Bowling Club.
The senior men’s singles was won by Graham Enslin, and the runner-up was Phyl Taylor, both from Port Alfred Club.
All these players, as well as Wendy Pfotenhauer, who won the ladies’ senior singles last weekend, will be competiting against the section winners from EP this coming weekend in Port Elizabeth.
We wish them all good luck and good bowling.
They will be playing at Westview Bowling Club on Saturday and Sunday.
The Colleen Timm and Moore Shield competition will be played at Kowie on Saturday July 21.
The mixed drawn trips round two will be played on Tuesday July 24.
The ladies’ open singles rounds three and four will be played on Wednesday July 25.
It is your responsibility to check the notice board to ensure you are aware of events, competitions, etc. Please ensure that you know what is happening at your club.
A farewell braai was held recently for one of our green keepers, John Makhwezi Tyhutyhani, who retired after 20 years of loyal service to our club.
John remembers many of our early members such as Russell and Joy Geard, and worked with numerous green keepers as in Ken Schroder, Alvern Fitzhenry, Graham Brown and John Bennett. He will be sorely missed. Duties for the week July 24 – 28: Bar Duty – Colin and Beryl Barnard, Tabs Duty – M Renaud and Anne Kotze, Ironing Duty – Bill Wragg.
Kowie Bowling Club
WHEN municipalities originally allocated sites for bowling clubs they were not over-generous in their selection.
The result is that the majority of the clubs were situated in rather drab, unprepossessing surroundings. It does not come as a surprise therefore that our visitors wax lyrical when they visit Kowie with its unique setting.
Situated in the folds of a proclaimed natural forest providing a sylvan backdrop to our “A” and “C” greens, one can excuse the odd player neglecting his game as he is seduced by the overwhelming presence of nature at its best.
But this not all – a few of us have savoured the ultimate when mother nature and her minions take over the site.
There will, very occasionally, be a morning when the greens, free of the trappings of the game of bowls, are just grassy swards invaded by a covey of wagtails and starlings voraciously seeking the multitude of insects in the grassy mat, while the rays of the early sun soak up the dew.
A woodpecker lustily hacks at the tree above us and the dassies tentatively venture forth to bask in the sun but wary of attracting the attention of our own crested eagle nesting in the trees on the hill.
The small shy grysbokkie has visited us again and devastated the new growth on my favourite hibiscus.
This utopian dream can only be consummated with music in the background – maybe a string ensemble performing the intricate harmonies of Bach’s Air on a G string or the lilting introduction to the morning from Eduard Grieg’s Peer Gynt suite – all this and heaven too – or as the Bard would have said – this other Eden-demi paradise.
Last Tuesday was again very close to a full house with 14 teams vying for a Spar Voucher.
Six close games and one 10. Mike Tomlinson, Bryan Burger, and Jerry van Heerden will have reason to thank Spar for their generosity
Last Thursday we hosted our friends from across the main road.
We were careful not to extend our hospitality too far and ended up with honours even all round – ladies one all and men two all. I think the 22nd end was also a tie.
In the oorskiets competition, the mega-bucks went to Jacques Krige, Ronnie Smith, and our first timer Noel Barnes-Webb.
A biting wind interspersed with showers was the menu for the EA Singles finals at Kowie.
There was some good bowls played and none more dramatic than Jackie Kriel’s last game – if she won 21-19 she would be EA champ, if she won 21-20 she would be runner-up.
Finally, after a very “to-and-fro” game she ended up as runner-up.
Kowie provided four of the winners and runners -up to play in the Eastern Province finals.
Congrats to the two Kriels – Jackie and Megan (open and novices), Bryan Burger (winner novices), and Jacques Krige (open runner-up).
Duties: Roll – Siegie Rohrs, Mark – Keith Benson/Lester Scriven, Tabs – Sally Moffat.
Kenton Bowling Club
Question: How do you eat an elephant? Answer: One bite at a time. Question: How do you win the Dias Trips Jackpot? Answer: One round at a time!
The seventh round of the Dias Insurance Consultants competition was held last Wednesday.
It is interesting that last month’s leaders are still occupying the first three positions on the log, albeit that they swopped positions among themselves.
One thing they have in common is that they have consistently produced good rounds, one at a time. The frontrunners are Tony Phillips, Ruth Low and Dave West but they are closely followed by Stompie Bellingan, Leonie de Villiers, JP du Toit and Rob Smith. With still four rounds to play and the final result in the balance, the race is wide open.
Last weekend, the finals of all the EA Singles Championships were held at the Kowie Bowling Club.
We only had one finalist! Pippa Swift, who was runner-up last year, went one step better and was crowned EA Ladies’ Novice Singles Champion.
She will represent EA at the Eastern Province Championships in Port Elizabeth this coming weekend.
We wish her all the best and “good bowling”.
Some of the singles championships were marred by the extremely low number of entries.
This can be ascribed to the congested bowling calendar in the first half of the year. Many of the competitive bowlers have not had a free weekend since the beginning of March.
This is something the powers that be will have to debate for next year.
The evening of Friday the 13th was a happy night for Melise Beresford.
Not only was her number drawn from the attendance draw drum, she was also present to claim her winning.
After missing two previous “calls” because of not being present, she walked off with the R1500 jackpot this time. It just proves the old adage: If you want to go home with the money, you had better be there, honey!
Next week’s jackpot will be R500. Duties (July 23-29): Bar – L Slater/A Wolf, Tabs – The Bowkers. Events (July 19-26): 20 – Personal Trust Trips, Steak Braai, 21 – Colleeen Timm (Kowie), Moore Shield (Kowie), EP Singles Finals (PE).