VERONICA LAY 1 THE OFFICIAL MONTMORENCY BOWLING CLUB INC. NEWSLETTER
REPORT FROM THE BOARD CHAIRPERSON
This will be my last newsletter report as Chairperson.
It has been a privilege to have held this position for five years but I am very confident with Steve Hillam at the helm it will be onwards and upwards.
We are still a very progressive club, mainly because of the great forward thinking of our members and I feel sure this will continue with our new Board and various committees.
Ongoing Meetings are being held with the council re our new clubrooms.
The wheels are turning slowly but you will be kept up to date on what is happening.
Also, because of the generous grant from Montmorency/Eltham RSL, we should see our five Shelter Shades erected on our Alec Treacher Green sometime in July.
Another ‘first” for our club is bowling East/West during some days in the winter. This is to distribute the wear and tear on our greens and help towards them lasting a bit longer. Alan Benney and his team have done a magnificent job with our new rink markers and, as I recently observed, new lines.
What a crowd we saw on our first winter Monday. I encourage all bowlers to participate, including our new bowlers. It was wonderful to see so many visitors.
Enjoy your bowls over the winter, and for all who are lucky enough to be travelling, stay safe.
MBC on the move – Rod Ward
BENDIGO COMMUNITY BANK - Support our sponsor
Branches at Hurstbridge, Diamond Creek, Eltham, Doreen and Mernda Printing – Courtesy of Vicki Ward MP State Member for Eltham
MAY 2017
EDITOR – VERA LAY
EDITOR: VERA LAY [email protected] www.montmorency.bowls.com.au
e-mail: [email protected]
VERONICA LAY 2
PRESIDENT’S REPORT – MENS SECTION
It has indeed been an honour to serve the Club as President of the Men’s Section for the last two years.
This year, like the last, my job has been made easy due to the fine Committee I had. When Phil Stirling was lost to the Board of Management I did not think I would find a Secretary of his ability. Fortunately, I have in Peter Rubira. Not only is Peter hard working but an energetic and diligent worker in the Secretary role, he also finds time to do other jobs around the Club, he is a genuine asset to the Club.
I had two excellent sub-committees in the Pennant Selection Committee chaired by Clive Gilmore and the Social Bowls Committee chaired by Stephen Fox with assistance of Alan West. Finally, I had a strong back up support in Malcolm Eames who was Vice President and Club Delegate to the Yarra Region. Malcolm is to take on the President’s role and will be a great President.
Planning and Administration start at the top and our Board of Management under the leadership of Rod Ward is strong and progressive. With Rod leading the way in keeping
“Montmorency Bowls Club on the Move”.
I would like to think that one of my achievements has been closer links to the Ladies Section under the leadership of Jean Tulloch. This is exemplified by the success of Thursday social bowls. Jean and I had a great rapport and could approach one other and thrash out issues with ease.
Thank you, Jean, and your Committee for your work, deserved Pennant success and the support you have given to the Men’s Section.
I would like to draw everyone’s attention to the work done by Alan West on the Social Bowls Committee. Alan did not wish to chair this sub-committee but agreed to assist Stephen Fox in the role with the other members being Gary Watson and Trevor Cameron.
Unfortunately, Stephen, Gary and Trevor all suffered health problems during the year leaving Alan as a ‘One Man Band’. Alan dealt with the situation with aplomb and due to his magnificent effort, all events ran smoothly. The club appreciates what you did and thanks you for this great effort.
The Pennant Selection Committee has a difficult job in keeping individual bowlers satisfied and selecting competitive teams. This was achieved despite the loss of key players and a large number of absentees each week. So, thank you, Malcolm Eames, Bill Harris, Mick Lanigan, Peter Watson and Chair Clive Gilmore. Clive is also to be congratulated for his efforts to improve the bowling of individual bowlers and teams through the coaching he has been able to arrange.
Congratulations to all bowlers who competed in the Club Championships in particular our champions:
Men’s Singles - Graham Tuck
Men’s Pairs - Graham Crapper & Peter Watson
VERONICA LAY 3 President’s Handicap - Geoff Price
Men’s Triples - Graham Crapper, Bert Wilson & Mark Brennan Minor Singles - Peter Rubira
Mixed Pairs - Graham Tuck & Heather Wilson
Those in attendance Presentation Night were amused at the looks on the faces of John Beattie and Clive Gilmore when they were respectively announced as the Jean Thomson and Alec Treacher Awards winners. They were a pair of stunned mullets but they thoroughly earned and deserved their awards, well done to both of you.
Most people in the Club contribute in some way be it the odd green duty, kitchen duty, organize social bowls, assist at Community bowls or support social functions and for that I thank you all. However, I will make special mention of:
John Leighton – a well deserved life membership for his work at the Club.
Gary Wills – he and his “Bar flies” perform an essential role.
Alan Benney – a dedicated Greens Director with a bunch of willing greenies to assist.
Vera Lay – does a splendid job producing the Newsletter.
Shirley Crapper & Ian Sanderson – the green thumbs of the Club.
Stephen Fox – who makes Saturday after Pennant such a fun event.
Jacqueline Ward – tireless worker in recruitment, Community Bowls and Corporate functions.
I now would urge all members to fully support the new Men’s Section Committee under Malcolm Eames and the new Board of Management under Steve Hillam.
I know new initiatives will be forthcoming to ensure this Club goes from strength to strength and that the ‘Montmorency Bowling Club will be kept on the Move’.
Finally after 13 years I have re-joined the hoi polloi and find that I have no dedicated parking spot. What a bugger.
Duncan Duke
President Men’s Section
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THE CHASE: Eight year old Nicola told her parents that Liam Parsons had kissed her after school. How did that happen, asked her mother. It wasn’t easy, but three girls helped me catch him.
CHARITY BEGINS AT CHURCH: After the church service, seven year old Jack said to the preacher that when he grew up he was going to give him some money. Thanking him, the preacher asked why.
“Because my daddy says that you’re one of the poorest preachers we’ve ever had.
VERONICA LAY 4
LADIES SECTION PRESIDENT’S REPORT
End of another season, the Ladies Committee have had a very busy and we think a very successful year.
We have had big social days, all well attended, and our bowlers and visitors all enjoyed themselves.
Along the way we have made a reasonable amount of money toward the club funds. Our chocolate sales have kept growing and we thank all who support our stall and buy our goods.
Pennant and Club Championships are all finished and we look forward to a break and all aiming at doing better next season. The highlight of the season has been the new format of our Social bowls on a Thursday.
Mixed bowls has been very successful and we hope many more members will join in and make this day even better.
Thursday night bowls attendance has increased and all enjoy a great night.
To run a Club of this size takes a lot of planning and working and we are very lucky to have so many volunteers who all help in their special way. - The Newsletter, Greens, Garden, Recruitment, Maintenance, Catering and Kitchen duties, the Bar, running of Pennant and Social days and Club Championships. Our umpires, coaches and measurers, we thank you. All these Committees and volunteers can always use more help.
If you feel you could assist in any way please contact your President, Secretary or Committee member. You will be surprised how enjoyable working together can be.
It has been stated before, we ladies are so lucky to have the support of our Men’s Section and we thank President Duncan, Secretary Peter Rubira and their Committees.
Over the break enjoy your social bowls, travel safely, have a good rest and all return for the next season of good bowling.
Jean Tulloch Ladies President.
TUESDAY PENNANT REPORT
The Match Committee is so pleased and proud of all our participating players and emergencies that helped us field 8 teams on a regular basis in the 2016/17 season.
Recognition is given to all players helping four teams to play in finals. With two ladies only teams this year, both teams made the finals and unfortunately played each other in the first final, so only one team could progress.
The results were something for everyone to be proud of:
A flag – No. 1 team promotion to Premier League A flag – No. 1 team Division 1 Section Winner A flag – No. 5 team Division Runner up
A flag – No. 5 team Division 3 Section Winner.
Not to forget the great effort of No. 2 team and No. 8 team, who also played in finals.
A big thank you to the Match Committee with a special thank you to Heather who has decided to retire.
Congratulations to all winners and runners up in the Club championships.
SINGLES – Champion Judy Seymour, Runner up Glenda Swann
PRESIDENTS HANDICAP – Winner Glenda Swann, Runner up Sue McKenna
VERONICA LAY 5 PAIRS – Winners Heather Wilson and Shirley Crapper – Runners up Marilyn Millar and Glenda Swann.
INDIVIDUAL CHALLENGE – Winner Graham Greenway.
It has been a great year, congratulations everybody and thanks to all.
GLENDA SWANN for the Tuesday Match Committee
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RECRUITMENT REPORT
Last time for this season to put pen to paper, than you Vera for keeping everyone up to date with the Clubs’ news.
We have had a successful year with our recruiting, with over fifty new members joining us since the end of March 2016.
It is so rewarding to see many new members joining in and enjoying our Social Bowls. A few even played some of our Pennant season and more will be ready to play next season.
So our club continues to grow.
We have kept our Coaches busy this year but they have done a great job and, even though they’re busy with their own bowling, manage to find the time to teach others “how to bowl’ I thank them all.
A big thank you also to Barry Lay for helping me throughout the year, he looks after everyone so well.
If I tried to thank all who helped me in other ways, with Barefoot Bowls and Corporate days, the list would be very long and would fill the page but I am very grateful for everyone’s in-put as we couldn’t do it alone. That includes Gary Wills and all his bar staff who have also had some very busy functions to cope with.
The Corporate days (and nights) continue to grow and are a great money raiser for the club. I already have some bookings for the end of this year.
I have, however, decided to pass the baton to someone else to run the Friday evening Barefoot Bowls. It is very rewarding and a lot of fun so I am hoping someone will come forward to take it over.
I am happy to help, so please contact me if you can spare a little time to do this important job.
Enjoy your break (I know I will) and come back safe.
Jacqueline Ward Recruitment Director
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SECRETARY’S REPORT
VERONICA LAY 6 As many of you know, in early April we suffered a break-in. Although there was some damage done and cash stolen, bowls took place later that day as usual and has continued since. Repairs and replacements are progressing and it planned to install a more robust safe in the bar area to better secure cash which is necessarily stored there.
The 2016/17 year is drawing to a close from a club administration perspective. Annual Section Meetings have now been held and hopefully, members will enthusiastically fill the various office-bearer positions so vital for day-to-day functioning of the club.
Congratulations to Val McIntyre and Peter Rubira for successfully administering the Ladies’ and Men’s Sections respectively and thanks to both of them for their help and cooperation over the past twelve months.
A club activity that is not part of my direct responsibilities, but is vital to the success of the Club is the role played by the Men’s Section Social Bowls Committee. We all benefit from the work of this group, but it is currently in need of some “new blood” to complement the existing members who have performed invaluable work over the past year. This group has many “helpers”, who although not elected members of the Committee, perform valuable roles in organizing Social Bowls days and other valued work. Please consider helping with this work – either by participating on the Committee or volunteering to help run the various bowls days. There is free tuition readily available.
The Club Annual General Meeting will be held on May 21st. At this stage there is nothing controversial on the Agenda, but if members do have items of importance to raise, that affect the overall club, then this meeting is the chance to raise them. Alternatively, members can contact me in advance to place on the Agenda.
PHIL STIRLING
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SOCIAL BOWLS COMMITTEE REPORT
Overall, the Summer Thursday morning and afternoon games have been successful in increasing our number of players per week. There was a diverse set of team formations ranging from single gender to mixed gender teams.
There was an unexpected fall in player numbers after pennant finished. With no pennant we anticipated numbers would grow but this did not happen. Nevertheless the number of players averaged more than 50 per week, which was an improvement on last year’s figures. The level of prize money will need to be adjusted to reflect the number of players. It is uneconomical to maintain the present prize money allocation when there are less than 50 players per day.
Thursday nights continue to be well attended, with many players who work appreciating the opportunity to play during the week.
The advantage of the selection only format means that a greater variety of games can be played. The organizers - Mick Lanigan, John Hullin and Neil Russell are to be congratulated for their success in staging these nights and making them enjoyable and competitive events.
The Labor Day Merimbula was very well attended and the participants had a great day.
Numbers were up on the previous year, which was gratifying for the organizers. Stephen
VERONICA LAY 7 Fox and his crew made sure everything went smoothly and it was good to see such a wide section of our club members able to attend.
The Easter Weekend events were blessed with good weather on both days. Eighteen teams played on Saturday the same as last year. Twenty teams participated on Monday, which was an increase of two from the previous year. The two days, apart from slight hiccups, ran well due to the work put into planning by the committee of John Leighton, Trevor Cameron, Jackie Leibel, Barbara Brown and Graham Crapper. Their efforts prior to the actual days and during them ensured that they ran smoothly. A great team to work and plan with due to their positive approach and flexibility.
The volunteers who sold raffle tickets, assisted with hot cross buns, prepared the greens, manned the bar and cleaned up are too many to name individually but their input was invaluable. They reflect how so many club members are always there to volunteer. They helped make these two special days run smoothly.
For a variety of very good reasons the Men’s Social Bowls Committee members felt unable to nominate for next year. It was rather disappointing that there were no people willing to nominate for next year. We hope that some people will volunteer to form a committee. New ideas and new faces are needed to make this committee a success.
Please consider becoming an active member. If you are interested have a chat with Trevor Cameron, Alan West, Gary Watson or Stephen Fox.
The Social Bowls Winter Program is as follows –
Monday – Nominated Triples , 15 ends ,starts at 12.30 p.m. Single entries are welcome but if numbers can’t make even teams then some players may not get a game.
Wednesday – Nominated and Selected Triples – all names on the list or those who ring before 11.00 a.m. will get a game. The format of the game may be changed at the organizer’s discretion.
Thursday – Thursday evening, 7.00p.m. start. Format will be decided on the night.
Saturday - Selected . The format of the game will be decided when the organizers have finalized entries. 11.00 a.m. is the preferred time for entries to be registered but most days a late call up to 11.30a.m would suffice.
Our club relies heavily on the support of its members to make social bowls a viable and vibrant part of the organization. We look forward to your support during the coming Winter Season.
Men’s Social Bowls Committee
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SATURDAY MATCH COMMITTEE REPORT
Firstly I would like to thank all the bowlers who participated throughout the season, although we had only two sides that played finals, a little disappointing.
On the positive side we had a number of new bowlers who played only part of the season and showed a lot of potential, this will only go to strengthen our sides in the coming season and put pressure on our existing bowlers to perform. We also have a number of new bowlers who, I understand, will be playing Pennant next season. Well done to Jacqui Ward, Barry Lay and their helpers. On the negative side the attendance at our pennant
VERONICA LAY 8 training sessions was very poor, there are a lot of bowlers who think that social bowls both at Montmorency and other clubs are practice, not the case.
Hopefully next season, working with some of our club coaches, we can organize formal practice sessions pre-season and throughout the season, and hopefully get commitments from our bowlers to attend.
Saturday pennant forms are available at the club and we need them completed ASAP and placed in the respective box. We need to know the numbers as to how many sides to enter for the coming season.
Lastly but not least, I would like to thank all the members of the Saturday Match Committee for all the hard work and long hours they put in throughout the season. Well done guys.
Clive Gilmore
Chairman Match Committee.
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VALE - JUDY WHITEMAN
Earlier this year, we lost one of our universally admired and truly esteemed members.
A longtime local resident of Montmorency, Judy took up lawn bowls at MBC in April 1997, along with her husband David and during her long association with the club, enjoyed considerable on-field success. She played consistently at the highest Pennant level and won many club championship events, the highlight of which was Ladies Club Champion for season 2001-02.
As well as on-field success, Judy was also highly effective as a leader in the general running of the club, occupying various administrative roles and culminating in Ladies President for the period 2009-2011. Judy also filled the role of Chairperson of the Board for 2009 -10, a busy year, but handled with her usual calm approach to matters. Judy’s style was an ever-welcoming charm that no one could resist.
In Judy’s final weeks, she was well enough to participate in celebrations of the Ladies First side winning their Section Premiership and also the overall Division 1 Premiership.
She took great delight in sharing in this achievement.
The attendance at her funeral was overwhelming with at least a hundred club members forming a guard of honor to bid her a final farewell.
Her memory will be cherished. Judy was held in high regard and loved by all.
VERONICA LAY 9
PROFILE OF A NEW BOWLER
Sometimes new bowlers are at our club for some time before getting to know other members and being recognised. Our subject, Jim Adams has been with us for a short time and has played on Thursday nights and summer Mondays. He also can be seen very often practicing, and can be easily recognised as the man with a bowler’s arm and a walking stick. Jim’s feet are not his favourite body parts, but he is progressing very well with his delivery in spite of this. Geoff Tulloch coached him, and this got him on the right track. Another way to recognise Jim is that he talks in a strange manner. Oh, I forgot, he was born in Edinburgh.
Jim was born in 1943 and lived with his parents and three siblings. He married the vivacious Eileen in 1965 [Jim thinks] and eventually they moved to Australia in 1969. Three children arrived over the years. One daughter is a lawyer, another daughter is Jennifer Adams, the well-known producer of travel documentaries, and a son is a comedian who works on producing digital animation.
Jim himself has worked in several roles in Scotland and Australia. Firstly he was a telephone engineer, and then in Australia he worked as a carpenter for two years. He then progressed to a partnership in a company again employed in telephony, and fifty staff was required to operate this business.
Jim sold out of this after a period and moved on to set up a company operating in the field of microwave radio.
Eventually retirement came along, and Jim and Eileen settled in their house of 43 years in Eltham. They have five grandchildren that keep them busy, and Eileen loves to tour around Australia, and Jim and Eileen like the garden and now, he has bowls. If you see Jim practising away, or happen to play with or against him in a team, have a chat to him. He is a modest but engaging character.
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VERONICA LAY 1 0
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VERONICA LAY 1 1