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Midweek Action

8/28/2025

Ontario Senior Pairs

Congratulations to Bill McCollam and Peter Stuart-Sheppard representing Cobourg LBC and District 14. After winning bronze in the 2024 championships they repeated that this year with another bronze medal.

Look out for a full report in the next Newsletter.

Bill and Peter are pictured with Rebecca McQueen representing the OLBA

SWS Club Tournament

This triples tournament was postponed in May because of bad weather. We were blessed with a (not too) warm day which was perfect for bowling when the tournament was held on Wednesday August 27th.

Thank you to the joint sponsors Spectacular Water Systems and Benjamin Moore.

Results:

Winners: Al Bell, Jan Skillen and Ron Kinsey
Second: Terry Bradshaw, Andrew Perry and Chris Dinner
Third: Jacob Hyatt, Ralph Stoffers and Marjorie Smith
One game high: Brent Bayley, Mary Salter and Robert Eales

Pizza, Bowls and Medals

8/26/2025

Where to start with this week's news update? The answer has to be the National Championships in Edmonton.

In the U25 championships Baylee van Steijn won the gold medal and Bridget Masterson won bronze. In the U18 category Jacob Hyatt finished fourth.

Baylee then went on to win bronze in the major singles. Well done also Sarah van Steijn who was the team manager for the Ontario Youths and then had to step up as manager for the Majors as the designated manager was caught up in the Air Canada strike.

Bowls and Pizza
At the Executive Committee meeting on Friday August 22nd there was a discussion about how many people would turn up for our first Pizza and bowls evening. At least there would be six from within the EC and if nobody else turned up we would just go to the pub!

As I turned into Church Street just after 5.00pm it was very busy and I thought there must be something on at the beach but to my delight and surprise it was because so many members had turned up for this event! Over 40 members were there including some who just came for the food.

We organised things very quickly with Nan Hendren taking the pizza orders whilst I did the draw for the jitney. We had six rinks of triples and one of Pairs and we were soon out on the greens to play a six end game.

Whilst the first game was in progress Mike Hendren took on the job of pizza delivery man and collected them from 421 pizza at Strathy Road.

There was a very convivial atmosphere on the veranda as we ate and imbibed (not too much since there was another game to play).

The teams were mixed up for the second game and, as far as possible, bowlers played with/against different people on different rinks. As the second game finished and bowlers came off the green they were greeted with ice cream served in cones by Laura Mounce.

Who were the jitney winners? I don’t know as that was not really the point of the evening. As one member said “Great idea, enjoyable, relaxing evening and good opportunity to met and get to know other members”

If you have any ideas for future social events please speak to a member of the Executive Committee.
Bill Arthur

Club Novice Tournament (sub title “Family Feuds”)

On Saturday August 23rd 24 club novices took part in this annual tournament. The tournament was sponsored by Connect Hearing.

What was encouraging about this event was that many of the bowlers were first and second year bowlers with some playing their first club tournament.

Fast out of the gates was the team of Henry Kowlaski, Nancy Kirby and Lisa Delavigne with a first round win of 18 (15+3) – 8. In round 2 Henry’s team played the team of Julie Perry, Lyle Skidmore and Marg Booth and in a game which went back and forth Julie’s team prevailed by a score of 14-12. The other game between round 1 winners Andrew Perry and Terry Dyche was also close with Andrew’s team beating Terry’s 11-8.

As the scores from round 2 came into the drawmaster’s office a fascinating picture was emerging. The only teams with two wins were Andrew Perry and Julie Perry. As if that was not an intriguing matchup the two highest one game winners were Helen and Henry Kowalski, so we had two family feuds in the final round!

Helen, playing with Irene Miller and Robert Eales had a comfortable 13-7 win against Henry to claim second place in the tournament. In the top game let’s just say that Julie was second despite the veranda crowd being on her side.

In the lunch interval we held a skills game in which Lisa Lavigne won the $20 prize for being the only bowler to roll her bowl between two pylons and land on a green sheet placed behind the pylons. Congratulations to Lisa who was playing in her first tournament.

Full Result:
Winners – Andrew Perry,Marjorie Smith and Chris Dinner. 3 wins (36+7 for and 19 against
Second – Helen Kowalski, Irene Miller and Robert Eales. 2 wins 36 for and 25 against)
Third – Julie Perry, Lyle Skidmore and Marg Booth. 2 wins 32 for and 43 against
One game high – Henry Kowalski, Nancy Kirby and Lisa Delavigne 1 win 34+3

Bill Arthur

Weekly update

8/17/2025

Another busy weekend with the District Novice Aussie Pairs Playdowns in Peterborough and the Milligan open triples in Cobourg.

Novice Aussie Pairs – District 14 Playdowns
Three ladies teams and three men's competed in the playdowns held in Peterborough on Saturday August 16th. Each game was 3x12 ends and the format was round robin which meant a bye for one team in each round.

In round 1 Ernie Sapinski and Terry Shannon played Blair Brooks and Mike Edwards of Peterborough and completely dominated the game winning 20-2. The two points against came in the last end. They then had a bye in round 2 whilst Pat Antaya (Lindsay) and Mike Cyr (Oshawa) beat Blair and Mike to set up a “winner takes all” game against Ernie and Terry in round 3.

Lynn Bryans and Sheri Perkins had a bye in round 1 whilst Lori Wills and Heather Stubbings from Oshawa played Ann Boyle and Wendy Brooks (Peterborough). Lori and Heather had a convincing win and then sat out round 2 whilst Lynn and Sheri played the Peterborough ladies. Lynn and Sheri won easily 15-3 and, as was the case in the men's competition, the playdown winner would be decided by the final game; Lynn and Sheri versus Heather and Lori.

The men's final game was tight all the way through. At the halfway point the Cobourg team was ahead 4-3. They lost the lead in the seventh end but recovered to lead 7-5 after nine ends. After ten ends it was tied 7-7 but unfortunately for Cobourg, the opposition won the last two ends and finished 7-10.

In the ladies game Heather and Lori were off to a fast start and were up 8-0 after three ends. Lynn and Sheri plugged away and started to win a few ends. The decisive end was the ninth. At 5-9 Lynn and Sheri were still in the game but a score of two for Heather and Lori left Lynn and Sheri at 5-11.

Needing six to tie in the last end there was a brief ray of hope as Lynn and Sheri were sitting four with bowls in a good position to possibly make an impossible comeback possible. However their hopes were killed when Heather mad a very good draw to seal the win.

Bill Arthur

Ron & Trudy Milligan Memorial Tournament

On Sat Aug 16 we held the Milligan Family Open Triples Tournament.

48 players gathered here from Kitchener, Toronto, Kingston, Campbellford, Oshawa, Pickering, Belleville, Lindsay & Cobourg . The recent heat spell couldn’t dissuade the tournament bowlers from coming to spend a day on the green.

We commenced bowling a bit earlier than the scheduled 9:30 start time to try to beat the late afternoon heat. A 2 hr and 10 minute time limit was set for each game and all teams finished well within that time frame.

The day started very well for Cobourg players. 4 of the six Cobourg teams entered won their first game with the others losing close games. The 2 top teams after the first game were the Andrew Perry team (with Julie & Ian Hartford) winning 17-6 & Brent Bayley’s team (Nan Hendren & Jan Moynes) winning 16-7.

After 2 games 4 undefeated teams faced off for the winning trophy. The top 2 teams, again both from Cobourg, were Terry Bradshaw (with Al Bell & Ron Kinsey) & the Perry team. The two other 2-game winners (Al Purcell & Ken Bunner) had very close first games winning both their games but only accumulating a total of 20 & 21 points in doing so.

Although it was quite warm it wasn’t a scorcher (most said it was a lot hotter playing the club singles) so we left the 3rd game at 12 ends. The final victory went to the Terry Bradshaw team . . . proving that Terry & Al can indeed win without Laura! Al Purcell took his game to be the 2nd place finisher.

Our longtime sponsors Dan & Sharyl Milligan were on hand to greet the bowlers in the morning & give out the prizes in the end.

The final results:
1st Place: Terry Bradshaw / Al Bell / Ron Kinsey 3W 50+19 points (with only 16 against)
2nd Place: Al Purcell, Nicky Chamois, Wayne Wallwork (Belleville/Oshawa) 3W 35pts
3rd Place: Ralph Stoffers / Henry Kowalski / John Saunders 2W 39+6 pts
4th Place: David Saliba / Cara Booth / Rick Carr (Pickering) 2W 39+4 pts
High 1 Game Winner: Steve Nelson / Martin Foxhall / Hazel Joffe 1W 41+8pts
High last Game: Rick Barnard / Pat Roberts / George Boersma (Campbellford) 14 pts

Other interesting Notes:

Best dressed bowler: Alan Cleary (Oshawa) who wore a tie all day despite the heat
Steve Nelson (Kitchener) took a prize but it was a small let down for the former U.S National Pairs champion as he had won 4 of the last 7 Milligan tournaments
Great to see Ralph Stoffers bowling as well as he ever did despite taking a few years off

A big thanks goes out to:
Pat Bylok & Helen Kowalski who manned the kitchen all day with some help from Bill Rowe & Laura Mounce setting out refreshments for after the games. The greens crew who had the green running at a nice fast speed. John Ledgerwood, Lindsey McCollam & Jan Moynes who stepped in at the last minute to fill the event up with 16 teams and Fran Marsh for doing the draw for the first game. A final thanks (begrudgingly) to Ben van Steijn & Emmalee Smith for doing the draw (but wouldn’t take a bribe to add a couple points to my teams scores to make us look better).

Open Tournament Convenor . . . Bob Bates

Canadian U18 and U25 Championships

It was a great week in Edmonton for the Ontario youth bowlers, managed and coached by Sarah van Steijn. And particularly for the Cobourg youths.

Baylee van Steijn and Bridget Masterson continued their season long battle to decide the bronze medal with Baylee continuing her winning streak and going on to win gold in the final whilst Bridget claimed bronze.

Jacob Hyatt also had a good week finishing in fourth place after the U18 round robin. Unfortunately only the top three qualified for the medal games.

That Was The Week That Was

8/10/2025

Open Novice Triples August 7th
Sixteen teams competed in this tournament and there were some new faces which was good to see. We had teams from Toronto in the west to Kingston in the East and there were nine Cobourg teams. Each team played 3x12 end games. The tournament was sponsored by Louisa and Bill Arthur.

The 2024 winner, Elaine Antaya from Lindsay, had a bounty on their head and they started the day with a win but had to give up their title, losing in the second game to Caro Ann Bell’s team from Kingston who claimed the bounty of $15 Tim’s cards. The Cobourg winners in the first round were Lynn Bryans, Julie Perry and Henry Kowalski.

In the second round Henry’s team lost by one point as did Julie’s. Heather Stubbing’s team from Oshawa had an impressive record with two wins and 30 points, only 3 points behind Carol Ann and they played each other in round 3. Carol Ann won that game and with it the title, dropping Heather out of the prize money.

The other two game winners were Eugene Dupuis from West Toronto and Kim Bonisteel from Belleville. Eugene had a commanding win to place second in the tournament.
Julie Perry finished strongly, beating Elaine Antaya, to finish with the two game high score of 43+1, just ahead of Eric Bergman from Agincourt who had two wins and 42 points.
It was a treat to watch these novices playing some great bowls with some extremely close scores and, as I said at the outset, having some new faces who will be the future of bowling in the next few years.

Congratulations to all the bowlers and a special mention to Wendy Abrams and Chris Dinner playing their first open tournament.

There were some problems in the lead up to the tournament in trying to accommodate all those who wanted to enter and in keeping the numbers even. Congratulations to our open tournament convenor extraordinaire, Bob Bates, for coming up with the solution of inserting himself into the teams. Bob played round one with Wendy and Chris and rounds two and three with Eric and Julie Bergman and finished fourth with Eric and Julie.
Full result
Winners – Carol Ann Bell, Scott Bell, Jim Baggs (Kingston) 3 wins 47+1
Second – Eugene Dupuis, Jason Cristaldi and Steve Miller (West Toronto) 3 wins 38+1
Third – Julie Perry, Andrew Perry and Dana Williams (Cobourg) 2 wins 43+1
Fourth – Eric Bergman, Julie Bergman (Agincourt) and Bob Bates 2 wins 42
One game high – Mike Cyr, Sharon Cyr and Shirley Horeczy (Oshawa) 35 points
Last game high – Brent Bayley, Jenn Wetherall and Sheri Perkins (Cobourg) 18+1

Club Singles August 9th
This was a scorcher and I don’t mean just the weather, the play was pretty hot too.
Twelve men and five ladies competed for the respective men’s and ladies titles. Bill McCollam was back to defend his 2024 win but Lynn Bryans was unavailable so there would be a new name on the trophy.

The ladies championship was sponsored by Carol Dewy and the men’s by Martin Foxhall and we are very grateful for their support.

The format for both championships was a round robin with each game consisting of eight ends. The five ladies each played four games. The first and second after the round robin then played each other for first and second places; third and fourth played to decide third place. Janice Slobojan was the winner of the group but the order after that had to be decided on the difference in points for and points against with Julie Perry, Mary Salter and Helen Kowalski all tied. The decision was that Janice and Julie would play the final and Mary and Helen would compete for third place.
The outcome was wins for Janice and Mary so the final result was:
Winner- Janice Slobojan
Second – Julie Perry
Third Mary Salter
With twelve men competing there was a random draw to determine who would play in each group. The top two players in each group would proceed to the finals playoffs.

Bill McCollam was in group B and had a faultless performance winning all five of his games. Ernie Sapinski and John Ledgerwood were tied for second place. The first tie breaker is the head to head result but they had tied their head to head match as well so points differential came into play. Ernie had minus 11 and John minus 10! So john was declared in second place.

Bill Arthur topped group A winning four of his five games. However deciding second place meant the calculators were out again as Brent Bayley, Terry Bradshaw and Terry Shannon had all beaten one another so it was points difference again. This time the nod went to Brent Bayley so it was Brent versus John for third place and the billtopper (gettit?) was the two Bills.

John get the better of Brent to claim third place. The Bills had a very close game with lots of tight heads and at and after four ends Bill A was 5-1 ahead before Bill Mc scored four to tie the game at 5-5. Bill A scored singles in ends 6 and 7 and managed to limit Bill Mc to one in the final end to win 7-6.
Result:
Winner – Bill Arthur
Second - Bill McCollam
Third – John Ledgerwood
Thank you to drawmasters Tammy Browes-Bugden and Martin Bugden for a well run tournament and to all the members who acted as markers

Ontario Mixed pairs Championships
The championships were held at the Burlington club on August 9th and 10th. Representing District 14 were:

Peter Stuart-Sheppard (Cobourg) and Sharon Paxton (Oshawa)
Ben van Steijn and Emmalee Smith (Cobourg)
Carl Ferguson and Nan Hendren (Cobourg)

There were eight groups of four and after a round robin the top two in each group moved forward to the elimination stage. Peter and Sharon finished second in their group as did Ben and Emmalee. Unfortunately Carl and Nan finished third and did not go forward. Peter and Sharon were eliminated in the round of 16 but Ben and Emmalee won to move into the quarter finals. They had a tough draw against David Llewellynn and Lyn Frost and that was the end of the championships for them.

Congratulations to all the teams on first of all making it to the Championships and performing well when they got there.

Midweek Action

Pizza, Bowls and Medals

Weekly update

That Was The Week That Was

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