KERANG
BLACK Duck social triples was played on a blustery Tuesday, with 36 players battling the wind.
The conditions didn’t seem to bother Frank Ritchie’s, Alan Marshall’s or Peter Basiles’ games as they sauntered across the finish line 32 shots to the positive.
Lindsay Hein, Yvonne Summers and D Baunt were the second-game largest-margin winners with an 18-shot win, while the jackpot number was drawn but remained uncollected and swells to $114.
We hope Reg Hipwell is on his way to a speedy recovery and we also thank Yvonne Summers who stood in for Reg and got the chocolates for the second-game margin.
We travelled up to Swan Hill to take on Racecourse in a practice match with a barbecue lunch on arrival.
As the matches were played after this edition of bowls notes, we have no results at the time of writing, but rest assured they will be in the next club notes.
Players from throughout the state descended on Northern District to play in the Women’s Country Carnival between October 2 and 6, with our club playing our part in hosting some of the sectional pairs on Thursday and the knockout rounds on Saturday.
Congratulations to Shane for preparing the greens in amazing condition and Alyne for his management of the event.
The setting up, umpiring, catering and refreshments sections were handled with skill and good humour by the members, who formed the well-oiled machine to do everything else.
The visitors were very appreciative of your efforts and hospitality, so thank you.
Spectators witnessed excellent bowling at the semi-finals and finals of the pairs and fours at Barham on Sunday.
Our ladies started their club events with the drawn pairs in a round-robin format.
In a very even contest, the results were shared around, with the ultimate winners decided on points won, with Helen McBain and Judith Hipwell on 51 points edging out Barb Williams and Jo Adams, who scored 50 points.
Further events are listed on the noticeboard in the clubrooms.
Midweek pennant begins tomorrow, with Division 1 travelling to Barham and Division 2 to Cohuna Golf.
Good bowling everyone.
An early-season win will be important for finals contention.
Midweek practice is held Friday morning at 10.15am, with Saturday practice from 5pm to 6pm Friday afternoon.
It was pleasing to see Don and Jacqui back at the club last week and we hope Chelsea is back soon too.
We were saddened to hear of the death of our good friend Ray Maddox last week, with all bowlers asked to wear uniforms for the guard of honour for Ray at 2pm this afternoon.
We wish our new arrivals to the Kerang Bowling Club all the best and hope they enjoy their seasons, which I’m sure they will.
KERANG GOLF
THE Kerang Golf Bowls Club hosted 96 lady bowlers who were participating in the CluBarham Women’s Country Carnival on Wednesday by playing their sectional fours matches.
The weather was exceptional and our facility was in great shape, with some excellent bowls witnessed.
Many thanks to our hardworking club officials who assisted in preparing the greens, preparing 86 lunches and providing administration to enable us to run a successful day trouble free.
On Thursday we had our normal social bowls, with 25 players out and enjoying the great weather.
The winners were Jim McLeish, Rob Curtis, Craig Hicks and Dave Wood, while the runners-up were Frank Ritchie, John Duckworth and Ron McKerrow.
The winners of the chocolates were Carol Pay, Sonia McLeish and Bryce McLeish.
On AFL grand final eve, 40 club bowlers ventured to Lake Boga for our annual pre-pennant challenge match.
The weather was magnificent and our Lake Boga hosts had prepared a sausage sizzle which was enjoyed on arrival by all before the battle begun.
Games were played in pennant format of 21 ends straight through, and at the end of the day the Kerang Golf Bowls Club retained the trophy for the third consecutive year, with both sides having five wins each but Kerang Golf winning on shots, 208 to 177.
The best winning rink for Kerang Golf was Laurie Gray, Michael Pors, Sid Hutchinson and Alison Medson, winning by a massive 28 shots – 36 to 8.
They were presented with Lake Boga coffee cups for their efforts.
Kerang Golf president Jim McLeish presented Kerang Golf glasses to Lake Boga’s best winning rink, skippered by M Tempani, who defeated Richie Murray, Jim McLeish, Rob Fisher and Ian Charles, 30 to 16.
Midweek and Saturday pennant commences this week so good luck to all our participants and all clubs in our playing area.
We will be having a night at the Royal Hotel after pennant this Saturday to support our sponsor, with names to be placed on the noticeboard at the rotunda.
Club events can still be entered and, again, names need to be placed on the noticeboard as soon as possible.
We still need either single or team entries for our twilight bowls which will be commencing shortly.
Contact any committee member for more details.
COHUNA GOLF
IT was another busy week as we primed for the commencement of pennant, with our club also involved with the staging of the inaugural CluBarham Country Carnival.
We catered for a large group playing fours on Wednesday and then an equally large group lining up for pairs on Thursday.
Apart from the fact that we got rave reviews for our hospitality, catering and greens, the bonus was that two of our pairs, in Linda McManus with Noelene Brown and Yvonne Eckhardt who teamed with Gwen Campbell, both won their respective sections.
Play continued on Saturday at Kerang, where Linda and Noelene were just tipped out by one shot, whereas Yvonne and Gwen won all three games en route to Sunday’s semis at Barham.
They both played extremely well in that game but met a red-hot pair from Neerim who matched every good shot our girls could draw.
Unbelievably, that pair went down by one in a thriller to a Grangeburn duo, with just one shot deciding this year’s winners.
On the home front, social bowls on Tuesday saw the team of Kath Westblade, Corrie Murchie and Noelene Brown claim the chocolates.
There is plenty of room for more players, male or female, to join this happy group each Tuesday.
There were no pairs on Thursday but it will be back up and running this week so get your names in early.
On Friday night the social committee are holding a pre-pennant tea which is sure to be up to their normal high standard, with names to be given to Mick or Yvonne.
Midweek pennant is already under way.
Best of luck to all Saturday participants for this week’s first round.
After last year’s successes our club is now a big target for all others so let’s make the season memorable again.
