Blog Posts

Palisade Gardens Mixed Pairs August 17th

8/18/2024

Given the weather forecast on Friday night most of us expected to be told on Saturday morning that our open mixed pairs tournament had been called off. But no, Cobourg's eco system meant we had an almost completely dry day.

We have a new sponsor for this tournament Palisade Gardens Retirement Community and we were delighted to welcome Brenda Thompson, representing the sponsor, who presented the prizes.

The winners of the tournament were Cobourg's Peter Stuart-Sheppard playing with Sharon Paxton from Oshawa. Congratulations to them.

Click here for the full result.

Club Singles

8/11/2024

On August 10th we held the best club singles championship for many seasons. Twelve ladies entered and eleven men and there was some excellent bowling and close games. The ladies championship was sponsored once more by Carol Dewey and Carol presented the prizes. The men's was sponsored by Martin Foxhall but Martin was not able to attend and drawmaster Tammy Browes-Bugden did the honours.

The format was round robin for ladies and men's with each game being eight ends. There were two groups of six in the ladies and in the men's one group of six and one of five. The top players in each group contested the final and the second player in each group contested third place.

Ladies – Lynn Bryans won Group A with a perfect 15 points. Runner up was Sheri Perkins with 12 points
In Group B Laura Mounce won with 12 points and the runner up was Mary Salter with 10.
In the finals Lynn beat Laura 9-4 and Sheri beat Mary 12-2 so the final result was:

Winner – Lynn Bryans
Second – Laura Mounce
Third – Sheri Perkins

Men– Carl Ferguson won Group A with a maximum 12 points. Runner up was Bill Arthur with 9 points
In Group B Bill McCollam and Al Bell tied with 12 points but Bill was the winner having won the head to head.
In the finals Bill beat Carl 8-3 and Bill beat Al 9-7 so the final result was:

Winner – Bill McCollam
Second – Carl Ferguson
Third – Bill Arthur

A big thanks to all the players for making the tournament a success. Also to the volunteer markers, the greenskeepers, the kitchen staff and the drawmasters Tammy Browes-Bugden and Martin Bugden who ran a very smooth tournament on their first outing as drawmasters

Open Novice Triples

8/11/2024

Twelve teams competed in an open novice triples on August 8th. The tournament was sponsored by Louisa and Bill Arthur.

The winning team of Chad Burgie, Derek Ash and Elaine Antaya was from Lindsay and they put in a great performance winning all three of their twelve end games with a magnificent score of 53+4, only one point away from the maximum. The Cobourg team of Terry Bradshaw, Al Bell and Laura Mounce won their first two games but were well beaten by the Lindsay team and that loss dropped them out of the prize money.

The second placed team of Henry Kowalski, John Ledgerwood and Helen Kowalski also won three games with a total of 39+10. The story behind that result is that they won both their first and second games in the final end before finishing with a big score in the final game.

You can find the full result by clicking here

District 14 Mixed Pairs Playdowns

7/29/2024

The District 14 Mixed Pairs playdowns were held in Oshawa on Saturday/Sunday July 27th/28th. The winners were Ben and Baylee van Steijn who won three of their four games to qualify for the Ontario Mixed Pairs Championships in Woodstock on August 10th /11th.

The top two teams qualify for the championship and there was a three way tie for second place which meant tie breaking games. I’m delighted to say that Peter Stuart-Sheppard and Lori Wills won the tie break to claim second place and will also be competing in Woodstock.

Congratulations to both teams and good luck in Woodstock

Bill Arthur

Club Novice Tournament

7/27/2024

The idea of entering a tournament is daunting for a new bowler. No matter how much people tell you it's just like a jitney and it's fun and not too serious the prospect is not an easy one to contend with. Congratulations therefore go to the new bowlers who signed up for the club novice tournament on Saturday July 27th. They did enjoy it and learned a few things along the way.

Eight teams competed and the numbers were such that some teams were pairs and some triples.

Terry Dyche's team were the big winners in round one, just ahead of Henry Kowalski's team and they met in round two with Henry's team beating Terry's by 14-3. Terry bounced back in round three. In an extraordinary game against Laura Mounce's team they were ahead 15-2 with two ends to play and Laura bounced back with 8 points in the last two ends but it was too little too late and Terry held on to win and take second place.
Meanwhile Henry Kowalski's team completed the day with an emphatic win against Terry Bradshaw's team to win the tournament with 3 wins and 41+6 points.
Winners – Henry Kowalski and John Ledgerwood
Second – Terry Dyche, Dave Johnson, Jenn Wetherall and Brent Bayley (Jenn and Brent shared the day)
Third -Al Bell, Robert Eals and Jan Moynes
One game high – Laura Mounce , Wes Witlox and Stacey Hyatt

That was the week that was.....

7/22/2024

A round up from the last ten days

Campbellford Mixed Pairs Friday July 12th - Second place with 3 wins: Bob Bates & Pat Bylok

Pickering Open Pairs Saturday July 13th - Winners: Bill McCollam, Pierre Vanderhout (Kingston) Last Game High: Bob Bates and Pat Bylok

Oshawa Open Pairs Sunday July 21st (Skip must be novice) - Winners Peter Stuart Sheppard and Lynn Frost (Cosburn Park)
Second - Terry Bradshaw and Al Bell

District 14 Senior Pairs - July 17th
Winners Ladies - Janice Slobojan and Marion Chisholm (Lindsay)
Winners Men - Bill Arthur and John MacKenzie (Oshawa)
Note: ladies runners up Nan Hendren and Kathleen Shirley have been invited to fill a spot at the Ontario Championship.

Anniversary Tournament

7/13/2024

In 1907 a lawn bowling club was established in Victoria Park. 117 years later we are still here in this historic corner of Cobourg.

We celebrated, as we always do, with an anniversary tournament sponsored by HTM Insurance. There was a huge car show in Victoria Park with different bands playing all day which added to the fun atmosphere of the day.

Normally we play three ten end games but because of the heat the second and third games were reduced to eight ends, a move that all the bowlers were grateful for.

After the first round Terry Bradshaw's team and Kathleen Shirley's team were setting the pace with both teams scoring the maximum 15. They played one another in round two with Terry victorious by 11-4. Meanwhile Bill Arthur's team was making good headway by winning their second round game to set up a third round game against Terry. In a tight game it came down to the last end with Terry winning the game and the tournament. That loss for Bill's team allowed Kathleen Shirley's team to come through into second place.

Winners – Terry Bradshaw, Lisa Collins and Monica Miller 3 wins 34+1
Second – Kathleen Shirley, Brodie Johnston and Dennis Kirby 2 wins 30+2
Third – Bill Arthur and Ken Bevan 2 wins 27+1
One game high – Ann Tough, Laura Mounce, Fran Marsh and Ralph Hewitt (who shared the day)

Thanks to the drawmasters, Mona Attard and Ernie Sapinski and everyone else who helped to make the day successful.

And last but not least to Foodland for the anniversary cake.

Ladies By The Lake

7/7/2024

On Thursday July 4th our open ladies triples was hotly contested, in more ways than one. The afternoon heat was stifling and the top match went to an extra end to decide the winners. The match was between Nicky Chamois team and Carol Dewey's and it went down to the very last bowl with Nicky getting the decisive winning shot. That result dropped Carol's team to fourth place.
Winners – Nicky Chamois, Nancy Myers, Sue Logeman (Oshawa)
Second – Nan Hendren, Kathleen Shirley, Ann Tough (Cobourg)
Third – Janice Slobojan, Marion Chisholm, Tracey Warren (Lindsay and Cobourg)
Fourth – Carol Dewey, Tammy Browes-Bugden, Mary Thibault

Some great bowling and thanks go to Dave Shirley for organizing the kitchen and to the sponsor, Bob Bates, who was also the drawmaster.

You can find the full results with scores by clicking here

Canada Day

7/2/2024

The sun shone, the park was packed with visitors, the band marched past the club, we had breakfast in the park.....yes it must have been Canada Day.

What a great turnout we had. Sixty members played in fifteen triples teams and, as usual, it was quite the spectacle for all the people walking past the club and watching the games.
I will start with thanks to:

The sponsor - Thomas Motors
The drawmasters - Pat Bylok, Fran Marsh and Ralph Hewitt
Al Bell and Laura Mounce for getting everything ready at the start of the day and Al for grilling
Ralph Hewitt – for the share the wealth
Kitchen staff – Dot Macrae, Dale McMillan, Laura Mounce, Carol Dewey, Mary Salter (with apologies to any one I missed
And to all the players and visitors for making it a great day

And what about the tournament?

The top scorers in the first round were my team and Sarah van Steijn’s both with 15+1. We played each other in round two and Sarah had a resounding win. Meanwhile Carl Ferguson’s team followed up a good first round win with an empathic 14-6 win to be tied on points with Sarah after two rounds and set up a match against one another. Carl’s team had yet another convincing win to win the tournament with a magnificent score of 3 wins and 44 points.

Two other teams won all three games, Donna Longman’s and Jacob Hyatt’s but Donna pipped Jacob into second place by one point. Ironically Jacob’s Mom, Stacey, was on Donna’s team.

Click here to see the full result

I did do a little live streaming on Facebook during the day, including, the prize giving. Apologies for the fact that there are a couple of minutes with nothing happening at the beginning of the section. Fast forward to get to the action. I will edit in due course and post on YouTube.

Bill Arthur
N.B Prizes were presented by Dean Johns from Thomas Motors

Gordon Insurance Men's Pairs

6/24/2024

On Saturday June 22 we held our only Men’s Tournament of the year, the Gordon Insurance Men’s Pairs. Gordon’s has been a sponsor for many many years & their support is greatly appreciated. The timing this year wasn’t the best as on the same day the Ontario Men’s 5 a side was being played in Pickering . . so we had a smaller field than normal (12 Teams). The teams came from Lindsay, Pickering, Oshawa, Whitby, Campbellford, Belleville and 5 teams from Cobourg.
The weather was ‘iffy’ for bowling as storms ran through the area in the morning. Thankfully they were gone by 8am. They did however leave puddles of water on rinks 2,3 & 4 leaving them unplayable in the morning. Thanks to our masterful greens crews the other rinks were in great condition and playing fast once again.
The 2023 winners (Ben van Steijn / Dan Milligan) were there to defend their title. There was a ‘Bounty’ on their heads. The first team to beat them would win $30. The team with the first chance were Dave Saliba (Pickering) & Frank Dinardo (Brampton). They almost captured the prize but lost in an extra end. They must have been very demoralized as they went out and lost their 2nd game 26-0 (!) to Carl & Ernie.
With rain in the afternoon forecast we cut the games down to 3-Bowl Pairs to finish before 3pm . . but it turned out to be great weather for bowling all day long. They weren’t so lucky in Pickering where I understand it rained (with lightning) and they were not able to get in all their scheduled games.
The final results:
1st Place: Al Purcell / Berkeley Emmons (Belleville)– 3 wins 48 pts
2nd Place: Ben van Steijn / Dan Milligan – 3 wins 44 points
*Note . . Ben & Dan also won the $30 Bounty as no one beat them during the day.
3rd Place: Wayne Wallwork / Lorne Schiele (Pickering) – 2 wins 41 points
4th Place: Rick Tomkins / Bob Guppy (Campbellford)– 2 wins 40 points
High Last Game: Peter Robb (Whitby) – 15

Al Purcell has been winning tournaments left & right this year. After the games I asked him when was the last time he lost a game . . and he said he couldn’t remember that far back!
Thanks to the volunteers who came out to run the kitchen, set up the equipment, monitor parking passes, run the Share the Wealth and many other tasks.

Open Tournament Convenor
Bob Bates

Congratulations to Bill McCollam and to Martin Foxhall. Their respective 5 a side teams qualified for the play offs that will decide the Ontario Championship and the right to represent Ontario in the National Championship.