Blog Posts

District 14 Mixed Pairs

7/23/2023

Now that all the open Ontario Championships have been completed we move on to those championships requiring district playdown qualifiers for the Ontario Championships. The first of these, the Mixed Pairs, was contested in Oshawa on Saturday and Sunday July 22/23.

There were seven teams competing, including two from Cobourg, Carl Ferguson and Nan Hendren and Bill Arthur and Mary Salter. There was one group of four and one group of three. After round robin play in the group stage the top two in each group qualified for semi finals and finals on Day 2.

Unfortunately the two Cobourg teams were drawn in the same group. Both of our teams lost their first game and met in the second game. It was tight all the way through and after 17 ends (I forgot to mention it was 18 ends of 3 bowl pairs) we were tied coming home. Carl and Nan were sitting two when I played my last shot and although I moved one of their bowls out it was not quite enough to move the second bowl which was about 1/4" nearer to the jack than ours. So, after two games Carl and Nan had one win and I had none. Carl lost his final game whilst Mary and I won ours. That meant three teams tied for second place, each with one win. I won't go into the details of how a tie breaker works in these circumstances suffice to say that Carl and Nan won their first four end tiebreaker and then played Mary and me. This time we were the victors and qualified for the semi final on Sunday morning against Arnie Markowitz and Janice Slobojan from Pickering.

Mary and I were fast out the gates and built up a good lead. After 11 ends we were still in good shape but a run of 6 ends without scoring meant that we went into the last end 2 shots down. Mary played a fine shot, moving the jack to give us one point but I could not build on that to get the second shot we needed to keep the game alive. The final score was 18-19.

Bob Bates will recall a similar situation in the Ontario Seniors last year when we were two down against Arnie going into the final end but could only score one! Arnie and his team went on to win the gold medal at the Canadian Seniors.

At the time of writing I don't know who won the final of the playdowns, Rhys and Tracey Warren (Lindsay) or Arnie and Janice.

Thanks for the support from Dave and Kathleen Shirley on both days.

Bill Arthur
July 23rd

From Lindsay to Woodstock (and points in between)

7/16/2023

What a week that was with bowling events all over the place. Here we go!
Ontario Singles
Peter Stuart-Sheppard and I were at Cosburn Park on Saturday July 8th for the Ontario singles championships.

Once again the format was double knockout and you probably know by now that this means you are eliminated after two losses. Thirty Two players competed.In singles the winner is the first to 21 points and there was a 2hour 15 minute time limit. In his first game Peter was tied 18-18 when the time limit expired so had to play an extra end to determine the winner. Unfortunately Peter lost.

In my first game I was drawn against Jeff Harding who was a gold medallist in pairs. I got off to a bad start and was 7-0 after three ends. After that it was close but I lost 11-21.

So on to round two – a must win match. Peter lost 16-21 although it was a tight game most of the way and I lost 11-21 mainly due to a run of three bad ends in the middle of the game. Disappointing for us both but the level of competition was extremely high and singles is always a great experience.

Cobourg at Lindsay – Sun July 9th (report by Bob Bates)

On Sun July 9 a contingent of 24 enthusiastic Cobourg bowlers made their way to Lindsay for a fun day of friendly competitive bowling. The weather co-operated with the cloud cover keeping a hot sun off our backs.

The Lindsay organizer Keith Olan was quite impressed even before the games started as half of the people helping set up the green were from Cobourg. Home & Away skips drew their rinks at random & the games began. The clubs were evenly matched as both Cobourg & Lindsay teams were made up of more than 50% Novices.

It took a couple of ends for our bowlers to get used to the longer Lindsay greens. In the end there were several hotly contested low scoring games in the morning. No team scored more than 14 points. When the dust settled & lunch time came both clubs had won 4 games & lost 4 games.

After lunch the 8 winners of game one were matched against each other as were the 2nd place teams (i.e.Losers). Once again no team managed to get more than 14 points in the 10 end games. Cobourg teams managed to win 5 of the 8 afternoon games besting Lindsay's 2 wins. One game ended in a tie.
All the teams played well. 3 Cobourg teams won both of their games which in the end secured our bragging rights over Lindsay (until next time). The 2 game winners were:

Ann Tough, Kathleen Shirley, Brent Bayley
Sarah van Steijn, Lynn Bryans, Michelle Tinney
Mary Salter, Brian Rogers, Emerson MacRa

The Share the Wealth draw was split with 2 winners from both clubs. Thanks from Lindsay for Cobourg bowlers support in purchasing an abundance of draw tickets.
The next Friendly match is in Wilmot Creek on Thurs Aug 17 at 10am . . . followed on Sun Aug 27 with a return match with Lindsay at Cobourg (looking to even things up). See the Bulletin Board to sign up.

Monday Night League

The team of Carl Ferguson, Nan Hendren and Mike Hendren is still unbeaten having played 4 games and top the standings with 8 points. Bob Bates, Ernie Sapinski and Mona Attard are in second place with 6 points but they have played one game more. In third place are "The Titans" (Peter Stuart-Sheppard, Mike Place and Bill Arthur) with 5 points from 5 games. There are four more rounds to go before the playoffs. Who can stop the Ferguson/Hendren team?

Milligan open triples

Sixteen teams competed including teams from Cosburn Park, Lindsay, Pickering, Agincourt and 8 teams from Cobourg. Club member Martin Foxhall was part of a team entered by Lan Tran and Ricky Lau from Agincourt. Lan and Ricky are very experienced players so with Martin (Ontario Gold Fours) and Lan (Ontario Silver Pairs) they formed a formidable team and won the tournament with 3 wins and 43 points, one point ahead of the Lindsay team of Rhys Warren, Alan Hunter and Tracey Warren. The best performing Cobourg teams were those skipped by Carl Ferguson (2 wins and 40 points) and Terry Bradshaw (2 wins and 33 points). Thanks to Sharyl Ann and Dan Milligan who sponsored this tournament in memory of their parents Ron and Trudy. And thank you to Sharyl Ann for presenting the prizes. You can check out the full result by clicking here and the photos by clicking here

Away Days

Bob Bates, Pat Bylok Louisa and I were at Campbellford on Friday 14th for a Pairs tournament. Just to prove that we don't just report on successes I can tell you that none of us won any prizes and we didn't have the best of days (in a bowling sense) although it's always a good day visiting Campbellford. I don't know what they have against Cobourg as Louisa and I were on rink 8 in the first game and Bob and Pat were on rink 1. If you've been to Campbellford you'll know what that means! Bob and I had a better day at Pickering on Saturday July 15th with two wins but two points short of prize money.

Anniversary In-Club Tournament – July 25/2023 (report by Donna Ball)
Thirty bowlers participated in the club’s 116th Anniversary Tournament. Due to the threat of rain, the format was changed from 3 --10 ends to 3 – 8 ends. As it turned out this was a good decision. Light rain started as a few teams still playing their third game, were on skips bowls for the final end. Good timing indeed!

During the second break Carol Dewey, our Club President, cut the cake we always have to mark another year of “Friendship by the Lake”. Competition this year was close, with many low scoring games. The only team with three wins, and therefore the trophy winners, was the threesome of Terry Bradshaw, Nan Hendren and Dot MacRae (with Mary Thibault playing the first game for Dot).

In second place was the team of Dave Carlton, Brian Rogers and John Clews. In third place was Dave Shirley, Jenn Wetherall and Eve Gorringe (with Lynn Bryans playing the first game for Jenn Wetherall). The High One Game winner was Dianne Hawryszok, Laura Mounce & Nancy Kirby (with Lynn Bryans playing the second game for Laura). Thanks again to all members who support the club by playing in these events; buying “Share the Wealth” tickets and working in the Kitchen, the Office and on the Greens.

Ontario Youths (a report from Sarah van Steijn)

Well! Well! Well! It was a wonderful weekend at the Woodstock Lawn Bowling Club. The kids bowled in the rain and the sun and some more rain!

Baylee is our U25 Gold winner! Emmalee is our U25 Bronze winner, Ben is our U25 Silver winner! And last but not least Jacob is our U18 Bronze!

Thank you to Woodstock Club for an amazing weekend!

Enjoy your week ahead and good bowling

Bill Arthur
July 16th 2023

This week in Bowls

7/7/2023

Monday - July 3rd
Three teams from Cobourg competed in Campbellford in a ladies triples. Hot day, no prizes but I believe some teams had two wins (Reminder – send me news when you play out of town so I can report in more detail).

Some of the ladies rushed back to Cobourg to play in the Monday Night League. After a slow start because of rain on Mondays we are now getting regular games in each week plus some catch-up games. Most teams have played 3 games and the Hendren/Ferguson team leads the way with 3 wins and 6 points followed by the Bayley team with 2 wins and 4 points. Bates is in third with 4 points from 4 games (one win and two draws)

Tuesday July 4th
Great turn out for the strawberry social. 75 members attended. Thanks to the social committee for organising this and thanks to Jen Wetherall who made 80 scones to go with the strawberries and ice cream. It was followed by a well attended jitney with 54 members playing.

Wednesday July 5th
Two Cobourg teams went to Kingston for an open Pairs tournament. Ten teams competed. Bob Bates and Pat Bylok were there as were Peter Stuart- Sheppard and me. The format was 242. We were due to play 3x12 end games but because of the heat we played a 12 end game, a 10 end game and an 8 end game Bob and Pat lost their first game to the eventual winners but went on to win their second and third games. Peter and Bill did the opposite and won their first two games before losing their last. In the battle of Cobourg Peter and Bill won with 2 wins and 28 points as opposed to Bob and Pat's two wins and 27 points. None of us were in the prize money though.

This was my first visit to the Kingston club. It's a nice club with a fine club house. The greens were running well. They have two greens but one is not in use because of the number of members and their low tournament numbers.

Thursday July 6th
This was the first time since 2019 that a ladies triples and luncheon had been held and it was great to have it back on the tournament schedule.It used to be sponsored by the Wicks family but the new sponsors are Louisa Arthur and me. Ten teams competed from Cobourg, Cosburn Park and Lindsay. The first round went well for two Cobourg teams. Carol Dewey (playing with Bonnie Sheridan and Tammy Browes-Bugden) had a 16-4 win and Ann Tough (playing with Kathleen Shirley and Nan Hendren had a 19-3 win.
After that strong start those two teams found it hard to follow up with a second win. Ann's team lost to Maureen Guppy's team from Lindsay and Carol lost out by 11-18 to Sandy Johnson's team from Cosburn Park. Sandy's team won the tournament with 2 wins and 36 points. Ann Tough's team was fourth with one win and 27+1 points.

Click the buttons below for the full result and photos.

That's it for another week. Peter Stuart-Sheppard and I are playing in the Ontario singles this weekend. It will be tough but win or lose we will let you know what happened next week.

Good Bowling
Bill Arthur
July 7th

Ladies Triples Results

Ladies Triples Photos

Welcome to July

7/2/2023

July came in with a bang, not only in the sense of fireworks, but also at the club with our Canada Day tournament.

On a hot and humid day 16 triples teams competed for the trophy sponsored by Thomas Motors. It was too much for some members to play in all three games so some leads shared the day. First round winning teams (in no particular order) were Terry Bradshaw, Dave Carleton, Kathleen Shirley, Carol Dewey, Ken Bevan, John Hawrysko, Baylee van Steijn and Nan Hendren. Nan was the top scorer with a win by 17 (15+2) against 5. They continued with another big win in the second round by 16 (15+1) against 6. John Hawrysko, Ken Bevan and Baylee van Steijn also had two wins after round two.

Baylee and Nan met in round three and in a tightly contested game Nan claimed the trophy with an 11-10 win.

Thanks go to all those who made the day go so well, the drawmasters Pat Bylok and Donna Ball, Bonnie Sheridan and Dale McMillan in the kitchen and indeed all the players for some fine competition.

You can see the full results and photos of the prize winners by clicking the buttons below.

Also, here is a slideshow of other photos from the tournament

Bill Arthur

Full Results

Photos

Rolling, Rolling, Rolling.....

6/26/2023

After a quiet week it was all action again this last week with so much happening.

I'll kick off with news of two tournament wins for Peter Stuart-Sheppard. He was at Lindsay on Monday June 19th playing with Ron and Cathy Larking (Cosburn Park). They were the tournament winners with 3 wins. Peter followed up on Tuesday June 20th with another tournament win, at the Open Triples "Home Hardware" tournament in Bobcaygeon. Peter captured this trophy playing with Rhys and Tracy Warren (Lindsay LBC).

The Monday Night League got underway on June 19th. There were no games the previous week because of rain. I will bring you updates on the standings as the league progresses except to say that my team didn't live up to their name of the Titans!

Wednesday June 21st was a demanding day for the club coaches. It kicked off with a visit of twenty four 8 to 10 year old pupils from C R Gummow school. After some basic instruction they were split into triples teams and played a short game. The children were enthusiastic and enjoyed the session very much. The coaches were exhausted but then held free lessons for new bowlers on Wednesday afternoon and evening. It was all worthwhile though as we are now up to 118 adult members.

Thursday June 22nd was almost as busy. A Probus club came for lunch and some bowling. And......(drum roll please) our new Toro Greensmaster mower was delivered. This was purchased through a grant from the New Horizons program.

And so to the weekend with the club hosting the Gordon Insurance Men's Pairs. Here is a report from Bob Bates:

“On Saturday June 24 we hosted the Gordon Insurance Men’s Pairs tournament. The event was well attended with 18 teams coming from Belleville, Cosburn Park, Lindsay, Oshawa, Pickering, Whitby, Campbellford and 7 teams from Cobourg.

On Friday night the weather forecast was not good. Rain was almost certain to come on Saturday morning and continue on and off throughout the day. A couple of teams called hoping that the event would be cancelled but we rarely cancel a tournament until the morning of the event as the weather is so unpredictable. As happened, anyone coming from west of Cobourg drove through heavy rain storms to arrive and find our club as dry as a bone.

Anticipating wet weather we cut the games down to 3 bowl pairs to try to get all the games in. It worked out well as we finished around 2:45 with the rain coming about 45 minutes later.
The weather turned out to be almost perfect for bowling. 4 teams won their first 2 games and faced each other in the 3rd for all the marbles. In the third game Ben van Steijn and Al Purcell tied 10-10 before Ben and Dan Milligan took the extra end to win the tournament. Martin Foxhall took an 8-1 lead in his game over Bob Bates and Ernie Sapinski then had to survive a strong comeback surge to hold on for a close 11-10 victory and take 2nd place." Click here for the full results.

Sharyl Ann Milligan

Between the 2nd and 3rd games of the Gordon Insurance tournament Sharyl Ann Milligan was presented with a plaque from the OLBA in recognition of her induction into the Ontario Lawn Bowls Hall of Fame (Builder’s Division).

Her brother Dan and Ben van Steijn paid tribute to Sharyl Ann highlighting the many successful achievements she had during her career. These including bowling championships won, leadership particularly in Youth programs, umpiring and many other achievements in over 50 years of involvement with lawn bowling. Congratulations Sharyl Ann.

Photos from that event are on the photo gallery page Click here

Finally news from the Ontario Men's Pairs Championships. I was playing with Jake Masterson in this event. Jake is originally from the Peterborough club and I have watched him come through the youth ranks to become an excellent bowler. The championship was held at the Woodstock club and there were 25 teams competing. The format was double knock-out. Two losses and you've gone! We had the misfortune in round one to draw the team that would go on to win the gold medal..... and lost. And with that one loss every game becomes a pressure game to stay in the Championship. We won our next two games and were down to the last ten teams. After 17 ends we were two ahead and in the 18th and last end we we were one down with the opposition having last shot. Unfortunately for us their skip played a great shot to remove our bowl which was lying second and scored three. Heartbreak!

Good Bowling
Bill Arthur
June 26th 2023

Weekend Wrap

6/12/2023

It was a very busy weekend for members playing in different events.

I'll start at home with the club cut throat tournament (4321). This was sponsored once again by the Culhane/Childs family and we were delighted to have Gerry Childs in attendance to present the prizes.

In this tournament things can change very quickly in each round. In the first round the leader was Al Bell with 43 points, just ahead of Tom Bevan on 42. In the second round Tom had another high score with 40 points, giving him a cumulative score of 82 points two ahead of Al with 80 points. The final round was very competitive and there was an opportunity for some of the lower scorers to come through as the leaders took points off one another. And that's exactly what happened as Al and Tom scored 36 and 26 respectively whilst Kathleen Shirley scored a magnificent 60 points to finish with 115 points. However, it was not quite enough to catch Al Bell who won the tournament with 116 points to Kathleen Shirley's 115. There were only 6 points between the top five players. What a close finish! You can see the full result by clicking here and click here for photos.

Campbellford Mixed Triples Tournament

Nine club members travelled to Campbellford for an open triple tournament. Each team had to include at least one novice. Our three teams were:

Bob Bates, Peter Stuart-Sheppard and Sheri Perkins
Al Gourd, Deb Gourd and Brent Perkins
Ben van Steijn, Jacob Hyatt and Mary Salter

My correspondent (Bob Bates) reports as follows:

Best news to report is a nice showing by Al Gourd (skip), Deb Gourd & Brent Perkins. They were very happy to have won 2 games . . only losing to the tournament winner Rick Barnard in the 2nd game.

Our team of Bob (skipping), Peter & Sheri won our 1st 2 games (2nd in an extra end over Ben, Jake & Mary Salter) before losing to . . you guessed it . . Rick Barnard in game 3.

Sounds like a good tournament with some good bowling from our teams

Ontario Mens Fours Championships

I travelled to Windsor to play in the Ontario Fours Championships with Jake Masterson, John MacKenzie and Rick Lyons. Cobourg was also represented by Martin Foxhall playing with David Llewellyn and Eric and Rob Galipeau. Last year Martin's team won silver. And wouldn't you know it the draw meant that my team had to play Martin's in the first round.

There were 16 teams competing and the format was double knockout. That means if you lose two games you are eliminated and it is imperative to get off to a good start since losing your first game means you have to win every game to stay alive. In a very tight game we lost 11-13 and Martin's team then went on a great run to win their following games quite easily and won the gold medal and qualified for the Canadian Championships. Congratulations to them.

Our team (who have never played together before) responded really well with wins of 17-9, 22-16 and 15-4. That meant one more win and we would be in the silver/bronze game. However our luck ran out and in a very tight game we lost 13-17 to Gary Pickering's team who went on to win silver.

A great weekend and very proud of the team's performance but ultimately disappointing. I have to mention the two young guys on our team, Jake was skipping and played magnificently and Rick was leading and set up some great ends for us. The old guys (John and me) did pretty well as second and vice and overall we were a really good team. We surprised a lot of people.

Bill Arthur
June 12th

We-Fix-U Mixed Pairs Tournament

6/4/2023

There was an excellent turn out for this mixed pairs tournament with 20 teams competing. In addition to eight Cobourg teams there were teams from Campbellford, Cosburn Park, Whitby, Oshawa, Pickering, Belleville and Willowdale.

In the first round there were notable wins for some of the less experienced Cobourg teams of McMaster/Bryans, Bell/Wetherall and Brent and Sheri Perkins. The Bates/Bylok team also got off to a good start and continued their good form from last week when they won a mixed pairs at Cosburn Park.

McMaster and Bryans followed up with another win in round two before finally falling to the Cosburn Park team of Frank Hibbs and Jan Uyesugi 8-12 in game three. The Perkins team had the misfortune to be paired with the in form team of Bates/Bylok in the second round and Bell's team had a close game with the Adams team, losing 10-12. Overall, some really good performances from Cobourg's novices.

There were three teams with three wins but Bob Bates and Pat Bylok had 45 points, three more than Frank Hibbs and Jan Uyesugi.

You can check out the full result and photos by clicking on the respective buttons below.

Full Result

Photo Gallery

This week in Cobourg

5/28/2023

Monday May 22nd
Our tournament season got underway in the traditional manner with an open fours tournament on Victoria Day. On a bright but cool day 14 teams from Windsor to Kingston competed for the Lauria Hyundai trophy. The defending team was Derek McKie, Martin Foxhall, David Llewellyn and Pierre Vanderhout and after two games it looked like they may be on route to retaining their trophy. However they came up against Cary and Mark Lucier (Windsor) and David and Rob Steffen (Oshawa) who played very well to take the trophy. Pete Fisher of Today's Northumberland was on hand to report on the tournament. Click here to read his report There are photos of the winning teams on the photos page

Tuesday May 23rd
Bowls Canada announced that Baylee van Steijn had been selected to represent Canada in the World Championships in Australia in August. There are five ladies in the team and Baylee will play in the triples and fours. There is another report from Pete Fisher on this, Click here

Wednesday May 24th
This was the second of our Wednesday night practice sessions and we had a number of potential new bowlers turn up for their first free lesson. Thanks to all those members who turned out to help with the lessons and to Nan Hendren and Helen Beaton for making the arrangements.

Bob Bates, Pat Bylok, Peter Stuart-Sheppard and Bill Arthur travelled to Campbellford for an open pairs. After a delayed start because of rain the tournament was reduced to three ten end games. It was a good day but no success to report as both teams won only one game.

Saturday May 27th
Our first club tournament of the season was sponsored by Spectacular Water Systems. Twelve teams competed and the prize winners were as follows:

Winners: Brodie Johnson, Dave Carleton, Bonnie Sheridan 3 wins 36+4 points
Second: John Ledgerwood, Laura Mounce, Eve Gorringe & Mary Thibault (shared the day) 3 wins 26 points.
Third: Carol Dewey, Jenn Wetherall, Ian Hartford , 2 wins, and 30 +9 points.

Click here for photos

Deja Vu as those who played in Campbellford travelled to Pickering for another tournament. It was a beautiful day but the results were the same with each team winning only one game. Martin Foxhall also played in the tournamnet with friends from Willowdale but guess what... he only won one game as well, but at least he got some prize money for the one game high.

Sunday May 28th

A good end to the week for Bob Bates and Pat Bylok as their luck changed with a win in a mixed pairs in Cosburn Park.

And that was the week that was!

Bill Arthur

Opening Day

5/14/2023

The sun shone, the lake sparkled, the greens were manicured, the tables heaved with food, the veranda was packed with members - it was the opening day of the 2023 season.

Thank you to all those who contributed to a wonderful first day. It was the best for quite a long time and great to renew old acquaintances and welcome some new members.

Town of Cobourg Councillors Adam Bureau and Aaron Burchat were the guests of honour and after a few instructions from President Carol Dewey and Vice President Peter Stuart-Sheppard rolled in the new season with some good bowls.

Just over 60 members played in a ten end jitney and the first winners of the season were Ben van Steijn, Jacob Hyatt and Laura Mounce.

It takes a little while to get back in the swing and there were some frustrations shown but also a lot of good bowling and laughter.

There is a short three minute video on YouTube with highlights. Click the picture below to watch the video
Bill Arthur
May14th 2023

Spring General Meeting

5/4/2023

The Spring meeting was held at Trinity Church on Wednesday evening, May 3rd. There was a very good attendance and before the meeting members were able to renew their membership for the upcoming season and pay their locker fees. The draft minutes will be sent to members in due course but in the meantime here are a few highlights.

The two Executive Committee vacancies have been filled by Laura Mounce and Alan Bell. Laura is Director of Communications and Marketing and Alan is the new Greens Director. Other changes since last season include Mona Attard becoming the administrator of the club email account and Michelle Tinney is now responsible for sponsorship and advertising.

It was also announced that Nan Hendren is the new Vice President of OLBA.

There were a number of forms for members to complete to indicate that they wish to volunteer to help with club activities and it was great to see many of these being completed. There are opportunities to help with greens keeping and the club surrounds, kitchen help, tournaments etc. If you weren't at the meeting there will still be opportunities in the coming weeks to sign up for various activities.

One of the changes for the coming season is that the Monday Night League, which was previously different fun games, will become a competitive triples league. Alan Bell is organising this and members can enter as a team or individuals can sign up and be put on a team.
Below is a slideshow from the meeting.

Bill Arthur

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