The road to the Canadian lawn bowling championships started at the weekend with district playdowns in the fours across the province. It was a great start for the men’s and ladies teams from Cobourg with victories for Dianne Hawryszko’s ladies’ team and Bob Bates’ men’s team.

The playdowns were held in Whitby and the ladies event was an all Cobourg affair as Dianne faced Baylee van Steijn’s team. They played three games against one another to decide the winners. Baylee's team got off to a flyer in the first game but the result was reversed in the second game with a win for Dianne. That meant a third game decider.  Dianne and her team of Nan Hendren, Pat Gemell and Sheryl Zuly (from Oshawa) ran out 19-8 in that game to become District 14 ladies fours champions. 

There were three teams competing in the men’s event, Bob Bates Cobourg team; a combined Cobourg/Oshawa team led by John Hawryszko and the perennial favourites from Oshawa led by Rob Steffen.

First up was Bob againstRob  Steffen and Rob got off to the better start with an early 5-1 lead. But in a sixteen end game there is lots of time to recover and Bob's’ team gradually clawed their way back and once they got ahead they did not give Rob any opportunity to recover and won the game 16-8. Bob's team sat out the second round whilst Rob and John Hawryszko competed. That was a very tight game which swung back and forth. Holding a one shot lead going into the final end John held on to win the end and to everyone’s surprise that meant the Steffen team was eliminated with two losses.

The final game of the day, Bob Bates v John Hawryszko would decide the District champions. Bob's’ team took an early stranglehold with some excellent play from the front end of Carl Ferguson and Ben van Steijn setting up the ends perfectly for vice Bill Arthur and skip Bob. The team controlled the game throughout and took the championship winning 18-8 (Pictured is the winning men’s team of (l-r) Carl Ferguson, Ben van Steijn, Bill Arthur and Bob Bates). Apologies for the fact that I don't have a ladies team photo

Bob's team and Dianne's  will now represent District 14 at the Ontario championships in Burlington on June 3rd and 4th.

Whilst all that was going on in Whitby Cobourg members were enjoying their first club tournament of the season. Ten triples teams competed for the Coach’s Cup sponsored by Meet at 66 King East. Each team played three eight end games. In the first round Janet Taylor’s team took a notable scalp by beating Ralph Stoffers 12-9 and that would prove to be the pivotal result of the day. Janet went on to win her second game 10-6 and finished the day with a convincing 12-2 win in the final round to win the cup. Click here for the full result and here for photos

​For the Cobourg Lawn Bowling Club the Victoria Day weekend marks the first major events of the season. Over five days the club held the OSGA55+ district games; an Open House and finally a prestigious open fours tournament on Victoria Day.
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It may surprise some people to learn that the sport of lawn bowls can become addictive, as many of the Cobourg members can testify. Indeed it is such an addictive sport that King Henry V111 was forced to ban the playing of lawn bowls because it was affecting the output of fletchers who made bows and arrows. The exception was of course by the wealthy who could spend all their time at play. These days you need neither be wealthy nor have lots of time to spare to play the sport and the club was hoping to attract more addicts with an open house on Saturday May 20th.

This was very well attended and as well as receiving free instruction from club members a BBQ lunch was available. This was organised by Baylee van Steijn who used an RBC150 grant to raise funds for ‘Northumberland Food For Thought’. Donations from visitors totalled $626 which will go to a very good cause. Click here for photos from the event

The winners of the OSGA55+ district games on Thursday May 18th were Ralph and Norma Stoffers  and Melanie Duras from our club who won all three of their round robin games to take the gold medal. The silver medal winners, also from Cobourg, with two wins and one loss were Bill and Louisa Arthur and Nan Hendren.

On Victoria Day eighteen teams from Oshawa, Pickering, Peterborough, Cosburn Park, Campbellford as well as the home club competed in the Open Fours tournament which was once again sponsored by Lauria Hyundai.

Each team played three twelve end games with the wins and cumulative points scored deciding the prize winners. The 2016 winners of the open fours (Cobourg members Dan and Sharyl Ann Milligan and Baylee and Ben van Steijn) came back to defend their title but after winning their first two games lost out to a team from Peterborough led by Bob Reynolds. The Reynolds team placed second because although they had a perfect 3 wins they were beaten by Bob Matthews Oshawa team who also had 3 wins but 39 points compared to Reynolds 37. Pictured are Cobourg President Nan Hendren with the winning team of Anna Panton, Rick Tompkins, Alice Matthews and Bob Matthews. 
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Next weekend sees the start of the District playdowns which lead to Ontario Championships. The club will be represented by two ladies fours teams and one mens’ fours team at the playdowns in Whitby. Meanwhile back at the club there will be the first in club tournament of the season. Visitors are welcome at all events.

Well, here we go again, winter is over the preparations for the new season have been completed and bowling started on Saturday May 13th when Mayor Gil Brocanier joined us for the opening day jitney and formally opened the season by rolling the first bowl. (pictured l-r are President Nan Hendren, Gil Brocanier and Vice President Carol Dewey)

The Mayor spoke about what a great achievement it was for a Cobourg sports club to be celebrating 110 years. He spoke about the health benefits of lawn bowling, the social aspects of the sport and the joy it brings to non bowlers who stop to watch as they walk through Victoria Park. He then formally opened the season by rolling the first bowl.

The rain that had been called for stayed away and after the opening ceremonies we enjoyed an opening day jitney which was won by the team of Carol Dewey, Vince Tamburello and Thelma Eastcott.

The first week of the season will be a very busy one with schools visiting to learn about the sport and on Thursday May 18th the club is hosting the OSGA55+ District 12 lawn bowling tournament. And then on Saturday May 20th is the annual open house. People are encouraged to come and try out the sport and there will be a BBQ lunch available.

For those who are working their way through the ParticipAction 150 playlist this is also an opportunity to cross lawn bowling off their list.  People who are not lawn bowlers are also welcome to visit and take a look inside the historic club house and check out the display about the club’s history. The club will have information on display at the Farmers Market so whilst  visiting the market there is an opportunity to visit and then head down to Victoria Park to find out more and ‘Give it a Try”
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The holiday weekend will conclude with an Open Fours tournament sponsored by Lauria Hyundai and we will have reports of all these events for you next week.

​Finally if you missed Friday's Northumberland Today here is a link to the article that appeared