Men’s bowls
The past month has been mammoth in relation to annual events, fundraising events, tournaments, championships and, to a lesser extent, social bowls.
Chittick Day
The annual ‘Chittick Day’ was held on 21 October in remembrance of the Chittick family matriarch, Mrs Susie Chittick. Whilst it is essentially a fun day, 36 bowlers participated and competition was keen with members of the Chittick family teamed up with regular bowlers for three games of six ends to determine the finalists. The final winners were Jim Abbott, Terry Bezant and Matt Dallorto and the runners-up were ‘Tige’ Lidbetter, Irene Dunn and Jackson Bryant. However, the real winners were all who participated as a great day was had by all and we were all treated to a BBQ after the game, followed by a smorgasbord of delicious cakes and slices provided by members of the Chittick family. Congratulations to ‘Jingles’ for organising the event and the entire Chittick family for a wonderful day, which is firmly fixed on the bowling calendar.
‘Pink-Up Berry’ and Melbourne Cup Day
On 28 October Berry Bowling Club hosted the annual bowls event in support of the ‘Pink -Up Berry’ fundraiser for the McGrath Foundation. Everyone got in the spirit of the day, which was more about fashion (not sure that fashion is the right word) than bowls. Nonetheless, over 90 bowlers (also not the right word), dressed in pink, competed in ‘fours’ matches for $200 in prize money. Jim Abbott’s team won the event and promptly donated the prize money to the McGrath Foundation – well done Jim.
Melbourne Cup Day was the final event at the Berry Bowling Club for the ‘Pink-Up Berry’ fundraiser which comprised numerous events over the month of October. Once again, the theme was pink and everyone excelled themselves, both in their dress and their generosity. I understand that the organisers of the ‘Pink-Up Berry’ events raised in excess of $52,000 over the month. Congratulations to Debbie Woolford and her team for an amazing outcome.
The Robertson Potato Triples Tournament
Players from Kangaroo Valley were well represented at the recent Robertson Potato Triples Tournament, held over two weekends.
On Sunday 5 November we arrived in Robertson to fog and drizzle, which kept the temperature nice and cool for three games of 14 ends. Jingles Chittick, ‘Skippy’ Chittick and Darryl Goodger had a bye in their first game, and Nathan Bezant, Rob Folkard and Tige Lidbetter won their first match against another Berry team by 15 points to 11. We then played against each other in the second game and, despite getting out to a very solid lead, we were eventually chased down by Jingles, Skippy and Darryl to lose the match by one point due to an excellent final bowl by Jingles. Lesson learnt! We went on to play against a Robertson team whom we defeated by 19 points to 11. Jingles’ team also won their final game of the day and both teams were through to the finals on the following Sunday.
On 12 November we returned to Robertson for a much hotter day – a complete contrast to the week before. In the sudden death quarter-final Jingles, Skippy and Darryl played a team from Corrimal and went down by 15 points to 8. Nathan, myself and Tige won our quarter-final against a team from Robertson by 16 points to 14. In the semi-final we played another very strong team from Corrimal. Despite holding a solid lead in the early stages of the game, we went into the final end with the scores locked at 13 all. Sadly, although the lead changed numerous times during the final end, we lost the match by 14 points to 13 and the two Corrimal teams played each other in the final.
Singles Championship
Bill Chittick progressed to the next round of the Men’s Club Singles Championship by defeating Lindsay McNamara by 25 points to 15. In his next match Bill played a hard-fought game against Col Agar, but eventually went down by 25 points to 19. Well- done Bill for making it this far.
Adam Rigney, who has won this event a number of times, played a real nail-biter against David Badger, who has also previously won the event. With the scores locked at 23 all, David scored two on the final end to bundle Adam out of the competition, winning the match 25 to 23. Bad luck Adam, but there is always next year.
Mixed Fours Competition
In the first round of the Mixed Fours competition on 26 October, Enid Hall, Keith Pepper, Sue Sheil and Rob Folkard defeated Marge Wilkie, Terry Bezant, Gillian Portener and David Badger by 31 points to 10. In the other match Bernice Dobson, Jingles Chittick, Deb Folkard and Terry Hayes were defeated by Ruth Willdig, Col Agar, Judy Whitton and Nathan Bezant by 24 points to 16.
The final was a very close game, but eventually Ruth, Col, Judy and Nathan were victorious over Rob’s team by 23 points to 20.
Social Bowls
18 October: Darryl Goodger and Terry Hayes 29 – Laurie Watson and Tige Lidbetter 17. Deb Folkard and Steve Kellett 21 – Keith Pepper and Tom Froggatt 12. Derek Raymond, Ron Nelson and Neil Agar 26 – Bob Burney, Col Agar and Rob Folkard 14.
24 October: M. Wallace and Tige Lidbetter 20 – Keith Pepper and P. Hewate 11. Russell Tulloch and Terry Hayes 19 – Rob Folkard and Barry Jorgenson 16. Cut-throat Darryl Goodger 12, Tom Froggatt 9 and Ron Nelson 7.
8 November: Bob Dunn and Bill Chittick 17 – Bob Burney and Lindsay McNamara 16. Laurie Watson and Terry Hayes 23 – Derek Raymond and Rob Folkard 13. Ron Nelson and Jingles Chittick 27 – Tom Froggatt and Darryl Goodger 15.
Rob Folkard
Women’s bowls
Unlike the men’s club, this month the ladies’ club hasn’t had anything on, other than ‘Pink-Up-Berry’ fun day and Melbourne Cup of course! Therefore, I will leave my usual reporting space to the men’s report.
We are looking forward to our Consistency competition on 28 November, on which I will report next time.
Deb Folkard