Wow- what a week that was, District seniors playdowns; Milligan Memorial triples; Chex TV filming; anniversary tournament and anniversary dinner. Where to start?
Well first of all I would like to refute all allegations that I did not turn up at the anniversary dinner to avoid buying drinks for throwing not one, but two, wrong bias bowls during the tournament! After having gone all season without one I've had three this week.
Seriously though Louisa and I were very disappointed to miss the dinner but after her fall at the end of the tournament it was in our best interests to keep her home. Thank you to all those who have enquired about her. She is much better although rather sore.
Anniversaries are always a time to look back and we can only speculate on what the founders of the Cobourg lawn bowling club saw as the future of the club and the sport when they formed the club in 1907. They probably hoped that the sport would thrive and the club would have a long life. But would they have foreseen the club remaining in Victoria Park for 110 years and that the club house, which was built in 1925, would remain more or less unchanged except for a 1930s addition? They would not have foreseen the changes in technology which have led to bowls being made of a hard plastic composite material when originally they were made of lignum vitae, a dense wood which led to bowls being referred to as “woods’ – a term still used in the north of England. Neither would they have seen the creation of coloured bowls which are now prevalent in the game. Another change, which in some ways has gone full circle, is dress code. Photos from the 1920s and 1930s show players in what may be described as every day wear. But then later the dress code moved to all white. Now almost anything goes for general club play and coloured shirts are practically the norm in tournament play.
Another change which they would not have foreseen is the use of a stick or launcher to deliver the bowls. This is a relatively new innovation that allows less mobile players to deliver their bowls from an upright position using a launcher in much the same way as a stick is used in curling. Gerry Wilson is a first year bowler and he uses a launcher. He has quickly got used to it and is proof that you can bowl successfully with it from an upright position. When we held the anniversary tournament yesterday Gerry became the first person in the club to win a tournament using the launcher. Playing as lead with skip Dianne Lauder and vice Norma Stoffers they won three games to win the tournament which was sponsored by HTM Insurance. No wonder Gerry looks so happy in this photo - he got the money and the girls!
Sixteen teams competed and it was a great performance from Dianne's team who won their three games very easily with outstanding scores of 15-4, 13-3 and 15-4. The full result is on the results page.
Earlier in the week two Cobourg men’s teams and two ladies’ teams competed in the District 14 senior playdowns in Lindsay. It was an all Cobourg affair in the ladies competition with Dianne Hawryszko, Kathleen Shirley and Nan Hendren beating Carol Dewey, Louisa Arthur and Mary Thibault. Dianne's team qualified automatically for the Provincial seniors in Almonte on August 1st and 2nd but Carol's team will also be there because some Districts did not have entries and Carol's team was invited to fill one of the spare places.
In the men’s event there were five teams competing including John Hawryszko’s team and Bob Bates’s team. This was a tough competition with some excellent bowling and John's team was unfortunate in losing four tight games. Bob, bowling with Ralph Stoffers and me had better luck winning three of our four games. However we lost the vital game to the eventual winners from Oshawa. Despite being 2-16 down after eight ends we fought our way back and were down by only one point going into the final end but it was too little too late and we lost that match and finished second.
The club also hosted an open triples on Wednesday July 12th. This was sponsored by Sharyl Ann and Dan Milligan in memory of their parents Ron and Trudy Milligan. Fourteen teams from Pickering, Oshawa, Peterborough and Campbellford as well as the host club competed in a tournament of three twelve end games. Regular readers ill recognise the name of the Steffen brothers from Oshawa who are amongst the best bowlers in Ontario. And it was no surprise that they were in the prize money. On this occasion David Steffen was playing with Al Handlechner and ex USA international, Steve Nelson and they came out on top with 3 wins and 42 points. Brothers Rob and Alan Steffen were playing with their mother Marilyn and they were also in the prizes, placing fourth with 2 wins and 40 points. In second place was the team from Pickering of Lorne Schiele, Jackie Dunkerly and Frank Mayal. The top Cobourg team was that of David Brister, Steve Haslam and Carl Ferguson. They came third with 2 wins and 43 points. It's always nice to have a Cobourg team picking up prize money. You can find the full results and photos on the respective pages.
If you missed the Chex TV report there is an on line video and there is a link to it on our home page. Thanks in particular to Nancy Fargo and Braden Saunders who I coerced into appearing on camera. You did a great job. Nan Hendren had no choice - as President she had to appear! There are some photos below from the filming.
I'd just like to mention that in addition to all the results, photos and news on here Gerry Childs has recently taken over from me as our Facebook Administrator/editor. That is also a great source of information and I'd like to thank Gerry for the way he is developing that page. If you are on Facebook and have not yet liked/followed our page I would encourage you to do so and to invite your friends to do so. I know not many of you are on Twitter but if you are please follow our Twitter feed for information as well. All the news in 140 characters.
Whatever you are doing have a great week.
Bill Arthur
PS - I wonder how many of you know the significance of this blog title?
Well first of all I would like to refute all allegations that I did not turn up at the anniversary dinner to avoid buying drinks for throwing not one, but two, wrong bias bowls during the tournament! After having gone all season without one I've had three this week.
Seriously though Louisa and I were very disappointed to miss the dinner but after her fall at the end of the tournament it was in our best interests to keep her home. Thank you to all those who have enquired about her. She is much better although rather sore.
Anniversaries are always a time to look back and we can only speculate on what the founders of the Cobourg lawn bowling club saw as the future of the club and the sport when they formed the club in 1907. They probably hoped that the sport would thrive and the club would have a long life. But would they have foreseen the club remaining in Victoria Park for 110 years and that the club house, which was built in 1925, would remain more or less unchanged except for a 1930s addition? They would not have foreseen the changes in technology which have led to bowls being made of a hard plastic composite material when originally they were made of lignum vitae, a dense wood which led to bowls being referred to as “woods’ – a term still used in the north of England. Neither would they have seen the creation of coloured bowls which are now prevalent in the game. Another change, which in some ways has gone full circle, is dress code. Photos from the 1920s and 1930s show players in what may be described as every day wear. But then later the dress code moved to all white. Now almost anything goes for general club play and coloured shirts are practically the norm in tournament play.
Another change which they would not have foreseen is the use of a stick or launcher to deliver the bowls. This is a relatively new innovation that allows less mobile players to deliver their bowls from an upright position using a launcher in much the same way as a stick is used in curling. Gerry Wilson is a first year bowler and he uses a launcher. He has quickly got used to it and is proof that you can bowl successfully with it from an upright position. When we held the anniversary tournament yesterday Gerry became the first person in the club to win a tournament using the launcher. Playing as lead with skip Dianne Lauder and vice Norma Stoffers they won three games to win the tournament which was sponsored by HTM Insurance. No wonder Gerry looks so happy in this photo - he got the money and the girls!
Sixteen teams competed and it was a great performance from Dianne's team who won their three games very easily with outstanding scores of 15-4, 13-3 and 15-4. The full result is on the results page.
Earlier in the week two Cobourg men’s teams and two ladies’ teams competed in the District 14 senior playdowns in Lindsay. It was an all Cobourg affair in the ladies competition with Dianne Hawryszko, Kathleen Shirley and Nan Hendren beating Carol Dewey, Louisa Arthur and Mary Thibault. Dianne's team qualified automatically for the Provincial seniors in Almonte on August 1st and 2nd but Carol's team will also be there because some Districts did not have entries and Carol's team was invited to fill one of the spare places.
In the men’s event there were five teams competing including John Hawryszko’s team and Bob Bates’s team. This was a tough competition with some excellent bowling and John's team was unfortunate in losing four tight games. Bob, bowling with Ralph Stoffers and me had better luck winning three of our four games. However we lost the vital game to the eventual winners from Oshawa. Despite being 2-16 down after eight ends we fought our way back and were down by only one point going into the final end but it was too little too late and we lost that match and finished second.
The club also hosted an open triples on Wednesday July 12th. This was sponsored by Sharyl Ann and Dan Milligan in memory of their parents Ron and Trudy Milligan. Fourteen teams from Pickering, Oshawa, Peterborough and Campbellford as well as the host club competed in a tournament of three twelve end games. Regular readers ill recognise the name of the Steffen brothers from Oshawa who are amongst the best bowlers in Ontario. And it was no surprise that they were in the prize money. On this occasion David Steffen was playing with Al Handlechner and ex USA international, Steve Nelson and they came out on top with 3 wins and 42 points. Brothers Rob and Alan Steffen were playing with their mother Marilyn and they were also in the prizes, placing fourth with 2 wins and 40 points. In second place was the team from Pickering of Lorne Schiele, Jackie Dunkerly and Frank Mayal. The top Cobourg team was that of David Brister, Steve Haslam and Carl Ferguson. They came third with 2 wins and 43 points. It's always nice to have a Cobourg team picking up prize money. You can find the full results and photos on the respective pages.
If you missed the Chex TV report there is an on line video and there is a link to it on our home page. Thanks in particular to Nancy Fargo and Braden Saunders who I coerced into appearing on camera. You did a great job. Nan Hendren had no choice - as President she had to appear! There are some photos below from the filming.
I'd just like to mention that in addition to all the results, photos and news on here Gerry Childs has recently taken over from me as our Facebook Administrator/editor. That is also a great source of information and I'd like to thank Gerry for the way he is developing that page. If you are on Facebook and have not yet liked/followed our page I would encourage you to do so and to invite your friends to do so. I know not many of you are on Twitter but if you are please follow our Twitter feed for information as well. All the news in 140 characters.
Whatever you are doing have a great week.
Bill Arthur
PS - I wonder how many of you know the significance of this blog title?
