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On May 28 Peter Stuart-Sheppard along with teammates Bill McCollam (Stouffville) and Lynn Frost (Cosburn Park) won the Frenchman's Bay Mixed Triples tournament and trophy at the Pickering LBC. It was a beautiful sunny day for bowling with a lovely breeze coming in off the lake. A key to the victory was a come-from-behind win in the second game over a team that included Chrystal Shephard and Laila Hassan, two OLBA Hall of Famers.  Tournaments First tournament of the season on Victoria Day and after 2 ends my team is up 9-0. Looks like a great day ahead. But then we don’t win another end until the final one and lose our game. Second and third games we have good wins and finish up with second place in the Lauria sponsored open fours. It really is a funny old game. The winners of the tournament were from mixed clubs. Martin Foxhall of Cobourg was the vice on the winning team and he was playing with Derek McKie, Pierre Vanhout and David Llewellyn. Two days earlier, on the day of THAT STORM, Peter Stuart-Sheppard and Baylee van Steijn were playing in a mixed pairs at the Leaside club. In what became a storm shortened tournament they ended up in the money. They won their first game 30 to 3. They lost what essentially became the championship game in the last end to Mary Lou Richards' team. A good performance though.
On to Campbelford on Wednesday May 25th. We had two Cobourg teams playing. Bob Bates was playing with Carl Ferguson and I was playing with Peter Stuart-Sheppard. Peter and I lost our first game by one point but Bob and Carl won. Second game was the reverse. Peter and I won but Bob and Carl lost. The upshot was both teams had one win and one loss and with similar points scored we ended up playing against one another in the third game. Peter and I prevailed in the “Battle of Cobourg” and finished fourth from a field of 16. An enjoyable day but a pity we had to play each other. Free Lessons It has been another busy week of free lessons for prospective new bowlers. In the first two weeks of lessons 51 people have had lessons and many of those have either come back for another lesson or have scheduled one. We have another 40 people lined up for lessons during the next couple of weeks. The advertising that we have done is certainly paying off. Over the next few weeks we will hopefully convert a number of these into new members. At the time of writing we have nine new members and I know of at least five who will be joining next week. If you have an item you want to tell others about send me details for publication. Finally, in case you missed it (as the saying goes) here are links to two recent interviews on 89.7 truly local radio. Click the links. The Daily Wrap with Bill Arthur Sports Spotlight with Baylee van Steijn and Bill Arthur (May 19 -starts at 18 minutes) Good Bowling Bill Arthur The sun was out The sky was blue There wasn't a cloud to spoil the view And we were bowling Bowling in the park! (with apologies to Buddy Holly) Well, what a beautiful day to start our 115th season of bowling in Victoria Park. After a lunch event to catch up with old friends, President Carol Dewey introduced invited guests Mayor John Henderson and Councilor Emily Chorley who both spoke about how valued the club is and about the spirit of camaraderie in the club. After the short speeches Emily and John each rolled a bowl to get the season underway. Emily laid down the challenge with a bowl about 3 feet from the jack but John nearly matched it, being just a few inches further away. The serious business then started with 36 bowlers enjoying the first traditional jitney since September 2019. It was a fun afternoon and we were back to giving out prize money! On this occasion there were three cash prizes. The winners received the princely sum of $3 each; the second place team $2 each; and the third place team got their entry fee back with $1 each. Some people didn't stay to collect their prize money so it went back to the club. First: Baylee van Steijn, Mary Salter and Louisa Arthur 2 wins 24+1 points Second: Dave Shirley, Fran Marsh and Dave Thickson 2 wins 18 points Third: Ben van Steijn, Bonnie Sheridan (sub for second game Helen Beaton) and Christine Thickson. 2 wins 16 points. Finally I would just like to acknowledge the great work from Mike Hendren and Carl Ferguson in having the greens in such great condition for the opening day. I think this is the best I have ever seen them at this time of year. Well done guys. Bill Arthur
May 15th 2022 |