Activity at the Cobourg lawn bowling club is gradually slowing down now as the season comes to a close. All the tournaments have been held and only a few club games remain. So it is an appropriate time to look back on the season as a whole.

The early season story was dominated by the weather. The greens suffered a lot from the ice and snow of the winter and the problems were exacerbated by heavy rains which flooded the greens on many occasions during May and June. Amazingly the club was able to complete all the scheduled tournaments during that period and the hard work of Ralph Stoffers and Mike Hendren  paid off by July when all the bare patches had filled in and the greens got firmer and faster.

The club held ten in club tournaments during the season and four members had more than one win. David Brister had three successes (the anniversary, novices and singles tournaments); Kathleen Shirley had two (Coach’s Cup and Canada Day tournament); Eve Gorringe had two (Cut Throat and anniversary tournament); and Shirley Vander Schaaf had two (Coach’s Cup and Novices).

There were also nine open tournaments which attracted entries from all over Ontario, including numerous Ontario champions and some Team Canada members. The only multiple winners were Norm and Mary Smith of the Peterborough club who won two mixed pairs tournaments. Generally the main opposition to the home club teams was from very strong Peterborough and Oshawa teams. However the visiting clubs did not have it all their own way with Cobourg wins for Ron Covert and Helen Beaton in a mixed pairs tournament and for Martin Foxhall and Steve Haslam in an open pairs tournament.

None of these tournaments could go ahead without the support of sponsors. The club is fortunate to have some long term sponsors such as James Gordon Insurance, MacCoubrey Funeral Homes, Scotiabank, the Wicks family, Reg Ward Insurance, Martin Foxhall, Pharmacy 101, HTM Insurance, Thomas Buick GMC, Rona Cashway, Richard Bruton (TD Waterhouse) and Meet at 66 King Street. In the last few years the club has also been  fortunate to have new sponsors in Spectacular Water Systems, On Site Computer Support and Sales, Hogans Hearing Aid Centres, Amica at Quinte Gardens, Rosewood Estates, we fix u physiotherapy and foot care, Lauria Hyundai and Dan and Sharyl Ann Milligan. Finally MVP Sports and Cobourg Buy and Sell have been strong supporters of the junior tournaments.

The club juniors have had another successful season with some excellent bowling from brother and sister Ben and Baylee Van Steijn but pride of place goes to Will Richardson who won silver at the Ontario under 18 championships and competed in the National Under 18 championships. These three juniors have the ability to go on and compete at the highest level in future years.

In District singles play downs there were strong performances from Ben Van Steijn and Bill Arthur  who both lost out at the semi final stage, Arthur losing to Rob Steffen of Oshawa who went on to win the Ontario singles title. In 2014 Ralph Stoffers and  Bill Arthur  were members of the winning District seniors team and reached the quarter finals of the Ontario championships. However they were unable to retain their District title this year. Arthur was a member of the District Novice champions again this year but the team had a disappointing result at the Ontario championships and did not get past the round robin group stage.

The many visitors to the club were attracted by the quality of the bowling and the splendid greens. But a significant factor is the club’s location in Victoria Park with the views out to the lake. It is probably the best lawn bowling location in Ontario. And it is also a big attraction for non bowlers as many visitors to the park hang over the fence to watch the play, take photos, talk with members and have the game explained to them.

Overall the club has enjoyed another successful season but that has only been achieved through the hard work of a key number of members who volunteer many hours of their own time to keep the club running. Membership is key to the future success and the club will be looking for new members again next season.

Ontario Singles Championships

Baylee Van Steijn was the District 14 ladies representative in the Ontario singles championships that were held at the Belleville club last weekend. This was her first experience of provincial championships and she had a baptism of fire!

There were four groups of four and after round robin play the top two would advance to the quarter finals. But Baylee got a really tough draw. Her first game was against the reigning champion, Cindy Higgins and Baylee lost that 6-21. You think that was tough! Well her next game was against Kelly McKerihen who was a member of Team Canada at the recent Commonwealth games and was also Canada's singles representative. She lost that game by 7-21. Her final game was against Katherine Smith and she lost that by 12-21. Despite those three losses Baylee played well with an increased score in each game and she conducted herself in an exemplary fashion both on and off the greens. This was a terrific learning experience which will serve her well for the future. Baylee is pictured after receiving her pennant and pin at the opening ceremony.


Cobourg Pairs win at Belleville

Congratulations to Geoff Montgomery and Carol Dewey on their win in an open pairs tournament at Belleville on Wednesday September 24th. They had 3 wins with a score of 44+1. So that's the third open tournament win of the season for a Cobourg pairs team and the first away win.


Indoor lawn bowling

You may have read about proposals for an indoor soccer pitch at the Baltimore centre. That publicity also mentioned that the centre could be used for other sports, including lawn bowling. Dan Milligan has been investigating that possibility with the staff at Baltimore. However, following discussions with them he has told me that it is very unlikely that the surface will be suitable for indoor lawn bowling. The surface will be laid in November and Dan will take another look at it then but the chances of it being adaptable for bowling are slim.

So if you want to bowl this winter it will have to be short mat bowling which is great fun. Contact Ralph H

In 1946 the club still had separate men's and ladies sections. In a folder of papers I came across this list from 1946. Does anybody know anything about the people mentioned?

At that time the club games were generally fours and there is a bit about the rules for games. I quote:

"When a team has only 3 players that team must give one point at the end of each 4 ends to the opposing skip"

I've been trying to work out the logic of that. The conclusion I came to was that the team of four bowled two bowls each (8 bowls) and the team of three bowled three bowls each (9 bowls) and since the team of three bowled more bowls they had to give the opposition 4 points during the game.

If you applied that rule to one of our two against three jitneys. The team of three would have to give 2 points each game to the team of two!

Last season we did not manage to run the Sadie Hawkins tournament as it was twice rained off so the rain of Friday night was bad news and it threatened the tournament once again. So full marks to Peter Kurita for decision making in that rather than call it off he made a decision to delay until 11.00am. By then the rain had stopped and the greens were dry enough to get play under way. However, because of time constraints it was decided to cut short the tournament by playing  six end games instead of the traditional ten. There were 16 teams of doubles competing

As usual in the Sadie Hawkins tournament the formats in each game were different. In the first the jack was placed in a certain spot on the green and could not be moved. In the second the game was “Yard On” and all bowls within a yard of the jack scored points. In the final game the game ended was timed and the number of ends were irrelevant – the game ended when the buzzer went.

As you will see form the photos on the photos page the dress code was well adhered to! (Thanks to Peter Kurita for the photos)

Steve Haslam, playing with Fran Marsh enjoyed his second tournament win in three days with 3 wins for 48 points. He and Fran are pictured with Al Hoffman (and his mother in law) from sponsors Hogan Hearing Aid Centres.

The full results are on the results page.

I was not at the tournament myself as I was playing in the Provincial Novices championships at Sarnia. In difficult conditions we were not at our best unfortunately. The top two in each group of four would proceed to the quarter finals but our record of 1-2 meant we finished third in our group – a disappointing outcome having done well last year.  There are some photos of the event on the photos page.

What  a great finish we had to our 2014 open tournament season today. Martin Foxhall and Steve Haslam took the title by a whisker after a great day's bowling.

We had another  top class field including several Ontario champions. Twenty two  teams competed – 11 home teams and 11 visiting teams from Peterborough, Oshawa, Campbellford, Port Hope, Madoc and Milwaukee Lake Park (Wisconsin).

After the early morning mist the sun shone relentlessly and as the day wore on the greens got faster and the play got better. Each team played three 12 end games and after the first round Ken Bunner and John Mackenzie of Oshawa were the top scorers with a maximum 18 points. It was clear at that stage that this would be a tight tournament as close behind were Martin Foxhall and Steve Haslam with 15 points and most people’s favourites, the Steffen brothers  Rob and David of Oshawa also with 15

Bunner and Mackenzie put the pressure on with another win and another maximum 18 points in the second round. Martin and Steve and the Steffen brothers both won with 15 points. In the final round the Foxhall and Bunner teams went head to head whilst the Steffen brothers played another Oshawa team skipped by Suzie Palmer. The Steffens won their game to finish with 3 wins and 43 points.

In the last game on the greens Foxhall and Bunner were tied after 12 ends and an extra end was played to break the tie. Martin and Steve won the extra end and incredibly finished with the same record as the Steffen brothers – each had 3 wins and 43 points. In those circumstances the tie decider is points against. Martin and Steve had 23 points against compared with the Steffen brothers 25. A great finish and some great bowling. Pictured are the sponsor Scott MacCoubrey, Steve Haslam and Martin Foxhall.

The full results are on the results page and we should also congratulate Geoff Montgomery and Heckie Langford who were in the prize money in fifth place with 2 wins and 41 points.

Other Cobourg teams with 2 wins  were:

Louisa and me  (7th) 2 wins and 35 points
Dianne Lauder and Marilyn McMillan (9th) - 2 wins and 30 points (26 against)
Eve Gorringe and Roy Thorneycroft (10th) - 2 wins and 30 points (32 against)

One of the encouraging aspects of the last few opens has been the number of home club entries .Lets try and keep this up next season. Entering these tournaments can be a bit daunting  if it is your first time but in the long term it improves you as a bowler.

And finally I have to tell you that Steve Haslam should not have been playing today. At 6.00 pm on Wednesday night I was told that a player was double booked so some swift re-arranging of teams was required and I recruited Steve to play with Martin. I think he's glad he said "Yes"

We held our biggest open tournament of the season on Monday September 1st with a maximum entry of 24 teams for a mixed pairs aussie 242 tournament. We had eight Cobourg teams competing against top class opposition from, Georgina, Peterborough, Campbellford, Oshawa, Whitby, Pickering, Kingston, Trenton, West Toronto and Port Hope.

We had a new sponsor for this event, Amica at Quinte West, who laid on a great lunch and provided door prizes. Marilyn McMillan won the top prize in the draw and got a 3 night stay at their Belleville residence.

On a perfect day for bowling and watched by the many Labour Day visitors to Victoria Park each team played 3 twelve end games and three of the Cobourg teams were first round winners but, as so often this season, it was the Peterborough teams  that were setting the early pace with Norm and Mary Smith recording a maximum 18 points in their first game.

After two rounds there were six teams with a perfect record of two wins and the top game in the final round was Smith against Mike Rehner and Eleanor Henderson of Kingston. Smith recorded a resounding 18-9 win to finish with 48 points to claim the trophy and  relegate Rehner to third place. The only Cobourg team to have two wins after the first two rounds was yours truly playing with  Louisa but we had to play Al  Handlechner in our final game. Al has been my nemesis this season and every time we got in a good scoring position he would come in with a crucial bowl. He  and Anna played exceptionally well to win 18-4, a score that put them into second place and sent us down the standings.

Dave and Kathleen Shirley got the prize for the one game high with a score of 38. The leading Cobourg teams after three games were:

Eve Gorringe and Roy Thorneycroft 7th  - 2 wins and 36

Ralph and Norma Stoffers 9th  - 2 wins and 33

Marilyn McMillan and Ben Van Steijn 11th – 2 wins and 25 points

Bill and Louisa Arthur 12th – 2 wins and 25 points

For once I didn’t do much photography. I just got the winners who are pictured with Deborah Row and Garnet Thompson of the sponsors. However there were lots of photos taken by SNAP’d and also a photographer from Northumberlandview.ca. So watch out for photos from them.

The full results are on the results page