DECEMBER 2016 NEWSLETTER

Heathy’s 2 Bob…

Season’s Greetings

I wish the very best to everyone in this holiday season. Have some fun, and most

importantly, keep safe!

Welcome to New Members

We extend a very warm welcome to Wayne Partridge (Parts). Wayne joins

Bentleigh from the Burden Park Bowling Club. Wayne is an accomplished bowler and

has skipped in Burden Park’s Div 1 side. Wayne’s experience will be a valuable

addition to our top side and Keith Ronaldson reckons he’s also a top bloke! Wayne’s

rink on Saturday has already been referred to as “The Pear Tree”, “The Partridge

Family” and “Spare Parts” – it doesn’t take long at Bentleigh!

We also extend our warmest welcome to Chris Cook. Chris has been a regular on

Thursday evenings for a while now and is getting the hang of bowls quickly. Chris also

joins us as a Full Member, so we look forward to Chris throwing on the uniform and

representing Bentleigh in Pennant some time soon!

A Touch of Housekeeping for the Bowlers

Please keep an eye on the Duty Rink each week on the Selection Board. We’ve had

many Pennant days (both Midweek and Pennant) where mats, flags and sunshades in

particular have been left out. If the wind gets up even a bit, it can put a lot of

pressure on some parts of the shades and one had to be repaired recently.

If the Duty Rink doesn’t do its (pretty basic) duties, it usually falls back to one or two

other individuals. We are very lucky to have quite a few new bowlers here at

Bentleigh, so if you’re not sure what is required of the Duty Rink, please ask one of

the older hands for help – you might be pleasantly surprised that they’ll chip in and

help out as well as showing you the ropes!

Our purpose is to be a respected and competitive lawn bowls club that also

provides members and guests with a fun, safe and social off-green

environment...

Our ambition is to be the most respected Club in our region…

Bowling Matters!

Club Openings over the Break

The Club Rooms will continue to open on Thursday evenings and Saturday afternoon during the break to facilitate practice and for members to socialise.

Where we’re at for the season break

Midweek Pennant

The Midweek Pennant sides are both looking very strong for finals, with the top side sitting at the top of the ladder and the 2nd side a close second to Mulgrave Country

Club (the side they beat on all 3 rinks just this week).

Saturday Pennant

For Saturday Pennant, the top side is sitting 6th on the ladder and has a similar run

home to last year with most games to be played away. I’m sure the team is up to the

challenge and will do the best they can to try and get to the top 4 – a big ask, but definitely possible.

The Seconds are currently 4th on the ladder and you could throw a blanket over the

top 3 clubs. The seconds will definitely be eyeing off playing in the finals, but Chelsea and Mordialloc will be breathing hard on their heels – go the Magoos!

The thirds are looking sweet at the top of their ladder, but the next 3 clubs are not too

far away and will be playing to knock Bentleigh off the top. A strong run home is still required to earn a home final at the end of the home and away season.

The fourths have knuckled down after a not-so-flash start to the season and are

sitting in 7th place on their ladder and just 5 points away from Beaumaris. Time may be running out for finals, but “The Force” will continue to play hard to show they earned the promotion to Division 6.

Electric Light

The SDELBA seem to do things a little strangely. Our firsts are on 41 points but are

listed below Elsternwick Park with 35 points. With that in mind, I think we can claim

3rd spot. Burden Park and South Oakleigh have shot out and lead the pack by a fair

bit, but finals is a solid target for the first side.

The seconds are also sitting in 3rd spot but with St Kilda real close behind. Another

good chance for finals if we can keep up the wins.

For the thirds, the top 6 clubs have opened up a bit of a lead. Bentleigh sits in 7th place 11 shots behind the Hampton RSL and Sandringham on 40 pts. Again, time may

be running out for finals, but this is a side with plenty of fight in it who will continue to put in their best to do the Club proud.

Number 1 (Top) Green and Doug Osborne Green

The top green has re-opened after a big rejuvenation by Andrew. Members have

reported the green bowling very true, if a bit slow. To encourage more traffic on the top green, the Doug Osborne Green will be closed over the break.

Andrew wishes to top dress the Doug Osborne green to ensure it remains a peak

grass green and expects to do this pretty soon after the Century 21 tournament. This

means that will not be playing pennant on the Doug Osborne green for over a month, so all the more reason to practice on the top green and re-learn the prevailing wind

conditions up there.

Another 8!

You’d be starting to think these 8s are easy come by! Lawrie Rocher's rink of Peg Woolley, Rocco Franconeri and Rae Pocknee

scored an 8 against Waverley Golf in Round 11 of Midweek Pennant!

Congratulations guys!

Club Championships

The Mens and Ladies Singles and Pairs events have all been run and won.

Sandbelt Region Championships

Tina Boquest has been representing the Bentleigh Bowling Club

with pride in the Sandbelt Region Championships.

Tina progressed through the first couple of rounds and played

Ann McCarthy from Caulfield Park in the Quarter Finals at Clayton

last Sunday. Unfortunately Tina lost that game in a tight one, but

not after a spirited come back.

Well done Tina!

Tips from the Coach’s Box…

The score cards for the individual practice drills are yet to be loaded

onto the website (Editor: Sorry Ronno – I’ll get onto it).

To assist you with individual practice over the break, I have prepared

hard copies of the drill score cards and placed the originals in the

Coach’s Stuff section of the main notice board. Please feel free to make copies, or if some kind soul can make a supply, take one of

those. And remember, if you’d like to discuss your scorecards with me to see what

areas of your game we need to focus on, please do so.

Saturday Pennant resumes on January 14. I wish to dedicate the practice session on

Thursday 12th January to members of the 3rd and 4th sides. If you’re a regular in

these sides, please make every effort to attend this practice session.

CONTINUED GOOD BOWLING TO ALL!

KR

Social News

Xmas Party

The Xmas Party on 17th December went very well

again with 70+ in attendance. Once again John Wells entertained with music from across many

generations and we enjoyed a great spit roast

dinner.

Xmas Eve Drinkies

Yeah – it’ll be on again this year! Rock up to the Club from around 4:30pm on Xmas

Eve (that’s Saturday 24th).

Tony Heath has requested a visit from Grown Up Santa but hasn’t had a reply yet so cross your fingers he can visit us for a drink before delivering the presents to the

kiddies!

The Trading Table is Back in Business

The Trading Table is now back in business after a couple of years of holidays. There’s

currently a selection of genuine home-made jams and relishes available but you need to be quick – around half went in the first day! Thanks Lawrie Rocher for bringing

these in!

BBC Shenanigans!

Stone The Crows

Or so Pete Blee reckons! During the long delay before pennant play commenced at St

Kilda, a very industrious crow smelt some pretty tasty morsels in Pete’s bowls bag. He

had carefully re-wrapped his partially consumed BBC salad roll and covered it with his bowls cloth. Sallie Hinson captured the resulting salad roll deconstruction…

They don’t seem to be too keen on the vegetable stuff DJ, but there’s no signs of the cold meats left…

Bangers & Mash

Alan Marsh reckons that on the grounds of the blossoming relationship between

Garry Waldron and Robbie Michael, Robbie MAY now be referred to as Mash – he’ll still be a Bloody Menace to me though!

…and here’s the video sent in by Sallie…

https://youtu.be/J_s5ytxFOB8

Taking the BBC to the World

Brades’ youngest daughter Jo is travelling in the US. Brades snuck his spare Club shirt into Jo’s bag with

instructions to take a good snap or three.

Jo has ducked up to Canada and sent through this snap

from Toronto – Jo says it was a relatively warm day at minus 1 Celsius (she’s now in Montreal basking in minus

17 Celsius - top!)

If you’re going away on holidays, remember to pack your Club shirt and send me a photo.

Future Newsletters

If you have any announcements or something you’d like to see in future Newsletters,

please see Steve Brady or email brady1sj@gmail.com.