For those interested in having a roll at bowls, please note the following: Social Bowls means anyone and everyone is wel­come to have a game. If it’s your first time this is where you start. Just come to the club on the desired day at least 45 minutes prior to the advertised start times and see one of our dedicated volunteers and we will assist with getting you sorted and some bowls and point you in the right direction.

Social Bowls is competitive without being too serious. Players general use this time as practice. We have some experienced bowlers that are always happy to play with, and help new learning bowlers. Thursday evening Barefoot Twilight Bowls is current­ly running, and is a great way to start and learn. Call in to the club to have a chat.

The Eddie McPhee Memorial Day is com­ing up and everybody is welcome to put a team in. Proudly sponsored by John Cor­coran and Peter McPhee. Many thanks to the Grade 3 pennants players who donated their Forster travelling money to the cause.

Nine teams represented the club in the Mid West Triples Sectional rounds last week­end. The best performed team was the Phil Barnard, Jim Daley and Benny McNaughton combination defeating Andrew Trotman, Chris Harrison and Geoff Leonard in the Fi­nal of the State Men’s discipline. The Quali­fying Final will be at our Club on Saturday 16th November.

Ricco Lane, Ross Barker and Craig Britt won the Champagne Triples for 2024 in a thriller over Rob Hill, Dave Howell and Will Russell.

The annual Champagne Triples Tourna­ment was played over the weekend, with 120 bowlers from across the state and the ACT, it was a genuine field of quality bowl­ers.

Friday night saw the Calcutta raise around $7,000 in interest, with first place taking a massive $3,700. We would like to thank Donny Hayden and Mark Barrow for their amazing job in carrying out the auc­tions.

All the bowling action kicked off on Sat­urday morning, with the first three rounds being played Saturday, before we carried out the Spider which was won by local leg­end Mick Furney and the Corner to Corner which was won by the very talented Warren Towney.

Sunday saw the final two rounds played before we headed into the top eight shootouts. Where the top four played off for the big money and fifth through eighth played for the minor money.

In the first round of the finals. Ray Griffith was defeated by Ricco Lane, Baldy Frame was defeated by Will Russell, Brad Barrow was defeated by Josh Walker-Davis and Nathan Collis was defeated by Jake Brown.

Leaving Ricco Lane to play Will Russell for top honours, Ray Griffith to play Baldy Frame for third and fourth, Jake Brown to play Josh Walker-Davis for fifth and sixth placings and Nathan Collis and Brad Bar­row sharing seventh place.

The main final was an absolute thriller with all players playing some absolute bombs, even going to an extra end to keep all the spectators entertained. In the end it came down to some Ricco Lane magic to secure the win againgst new local hero Rob Hill, who is extremely new to bowls but has shown some great potential and bowled amazing in the final, well done Rob.

Thanks to everyone involved.

In a nail-biter of a minor pairs final, Ian Simpson and Brian Sticks Hampton just scraped in against Geoff Smith and John Wright. They now into the final against Mick Valentine and Marty Tighe. Left to right: Ian Simpson, Brian Hampton, Geoff Smith and John Wright.

SOCIAL BOWLS ON THURSDAY

Twenty social bowlers attended to enjoy two games of triples and two games of so­cial bowls on Thursday. John Carr (lead), Bob Freeman and Rob Irving defeated a competitive trio of Ron Hornery, Graham Dixon and Geoff Smith. John, Bob and Rob started the game in fine form by establish­ing a 6-shot margin after the 5th end, ex­tendeding to a margin of 12 shots after the 17th end. Ron, Graham and Geoff won the remaining ends’, however the Village May­or’s men won the game by 21 shots to 14.

MINOR PAIRS CHAMPIONSHIP

The final of the Clubs’ Minor Pairs Cham­pionship will be played Saturday, at 1pm.

Two of the less fancied teams will contest the Championship Final, with Ian Simpson and Brian Hampton, full of confidence af­ter recent consecutive wins over quality opponents to get to the final, placing team Hampton as starting favourites to win.

SATURDAY BOWLS

Twenty-six Bowlers attended a game of tri­ples and four games of pairs.

Geoff Smith introduced his Son to Sat­urday social bowls, teaming up with Colin Hayward, in their triples game against Ron Hornery, Bob Freeman and Tony Riordan.

Team Hayward started as strong favour­ites and they were in control for nine ends, but then dropped off. Tony, Ron and Bob took control, and proceeded to out bowl the veteran and the Smith duo, winning by 23 shots to 11.

Ian Simpson continued his good run of form when he and Jim Blake defeated two club life-members John Carr and John Ward, by 24 shots to 20. The turning point occurred when Ian and Jim scored six shots on the 8th end, after which they maintained their slender margin until the final end, to win by 24 shots to 20 over John Carr and John Ward.

In a nail biter of a minor pairs final Ian Simpson and Brian Sticks Hampton just scraped it in against Geoff Smith and John Wright, now into the final against Mick Valentine and Marty Tighe. Left to right; Ian Simpson, Brian Hampton, Geoff Smith and John Wright.

The Horses’ Birthday was greeted by 28 so­cial bowlers on the 1st day of the last month of winter, last Thursday.

The triples game featured Ron Hornery, Ian Simpson and Mike Valentine against Noel Johnstone, Bob Freeman and Marty Tighe, which ended up like a practice ses­sion for team Valentine. Mike, Ian and Ron were too strong for their opponents, winning by 30 shots to 8.

Mark Glasheen drew the lucky straw, partnering with Gary McPhee to record a win against strong opponents in our visitor, Maureen Brown, and John Wright. From the 6th end, Gary and Mark were not headed, although they withstood several challenges from John and Maureen who bowled well to draw level on the 16th end. Gary and Mark consolidated on the next end, and drew away to win the game by 21 shots to 15.