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March 7th: The Day of the Succulents

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Succulent Plants for Sale

Following our successful 2019 Succulents Sale several members were motivated to strike new plants for sale the following year – but 2020 brought unforeseen challenges. The sale that year was cancelled as a deadly virus confined everyone to their homes. Meanwhile the once baby succulents kept growing and dividing and growing and growing; taking over verandas and patios, spare rooms and living spaces. Well meaning horticuluralists were trapped indoors with a rampant vegetative invader. The world had not known such horror since the Day of the Triffids! Thankfully relief is at hand and we are able to announce our 2021 Succulents Sale. The sale will be held on Sunday, March 7th from 10am to 4pm at the Albert Park Bowls Club, St Vincent Gardens and is a COVIDSafe registered event. This year, expect more plants, expect bigger plants, and expect the usual low prices. These really do make attractive low maintenance additions to your home … unless of course you try to grow 500 of them in a highrise apartment!

Pennant is Back!

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Bowls Victoria Logo

Freedom is back! and pennant is back! Fling off your face masks and leap onto the green! Okay don't leap - there are still some rules, like those protecting our playing surface. Hats off to Bowls Victoria who have configured the compacted season at short notice and to our midweek selectors who have already posted the teams for this Thursday's 7-a-side match. Links to the results / ladders on Bowlslink for all the sections in which our sides compete can be found on the Competitions page. Good luck to all members competing this season - let's make it memorable for the best of bowling reasons.

2019/20 Presentation Night Report

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Most of us are missing our bowling but spare a thought for those whose season highlight is the dramatic presentation of the Most Valuable Player award. Due to the virus lockdown, Presentation Night was not held and there was no nailbiting anticipation as the presenter declared "with just 6 rounds to go the race for most valuable player looked like this ... then came unlucky round 13 and our erstwhile leader was panned by rinkmates and opponents alike ...".

But wait! there's a 2020 Presentation Night Report for all of us to digest in the safety of our own homes. True you'll not be able to relive the tense drama of the contest for most valuable player but there are a couple of player ranking tables based on the match 'exit polls'. Other sections of the report, which are arguably more concrete, sum up both the club's winter and summer pennant performances while the final section contains a roll call of those who have triumphed in this season's Club Championships. Enjoy!

Pennant Season Finale

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The metropolitan pennant season is once again coming to an end. Sectional play is complete and just one of our five sides has made finals - congratulations to weekend pennant Side 1. See our competitions page for links to the final standings for each of our sides. Midweek sides struggled this season following the loss of several top players but both narrowly avoided relegation and achieved some notable wins along the way. With newer players refreshing their ranks, the weekend sides fared better and all had at least some chance of making finals with a couple of rounds to go. The highlight was Side 1 who were in the four for most of the season. Some results, however, did not go as hoped and our fourth place finish leaves us facing an away semi-final at Bentleigh. Strong support at the away venue could make all the difference so members are encouraged to make the trip to Bentleigh on Saturday to support our players.

Championship Winners

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Congratulations to all of this year's Champions and Runners-Up, as shown in the table below, and especially to Ben Mantynen, Club Champion and Kylie Murphy, Ladies' Champion.

Championship Champion(s) Runner(s)-Up
Club SinglesB. MantynenA. Singh
Ladies SinglesK. MurphyM. Rolls
Club PairsM. Stevenson & W. GillB. Mantynen & R. Oakley
Ladies' PairsC. Rafferty & M. KeenanB. Beedle & C. Greenhatch
Mixed PairsR. Oakley & J. TesorieroC. Rafferty & M. Pelzer
Club TriplesM. Stevenson, M. Scriven & W. GillS. Gill, R. Oakley & G. Atkins
President's HandicapB. TollT. Edmonds
Club ProportionalJ. KibblewhiteK. Edgar
Ladies' ProportionalJ. KibblewhiteM. Keenan
Club MinorB. TollR. Magnusson
Club NoviceR. MagnussonL. Chaloner
Our resources page links to a list of open and ladies' champions dating back to the 19th century as well as a list of all singles and pairs champions since 2000.

Ladies’ Champion of Champions

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This year we have an opportunity to support two club members in the final eight of the Sandbelt Ladies' Champion of Champions competition. These quarter finals will take place at 9:00am on Sunday Feb 16 at Hampton Bowls Club. Both Kylie Murphy, our Ladies' Champion, and Heather Brodie, Ladies' Champion at RMGC but a dual member at our club, have reached the quarter final stage. Unfortunately the opportunity to support both players will be somewhat limited as they are playing each other! That does mean, however, that one of them will still be competing at the semi-final stage, which is scheduled for 12:00 noon at the same venue. Congratulations to both for their success so far.

Roll Out The New

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It's finally installed and ready to play on. Our long awaited replacement carpet promises to guide your bowls inerringly towards the jack, or maybe not - it's up to you. We bid a not too regretful farewell to our worn, faded and quirky old carpet and look forward to bowling on a fresh looking surface that runs true. We've yet to receive images of the new carpet in use but our newsletter has been chronicling its installation over the last few weeks.

Tea On The Green?

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The very latest edition of our Parkers newsletter can be accessed here. Read about the upcoming tea party in support of the Cancer Council where you can say farewell to a stalwart of our club. 'Who is that stalwart?' you might ask - none other than our quirky fading carpet. Some might say, 'good riddance', but be advised, there will be no prize for the first person to say 'I miss our old carpet'. Also in this edition is a fascinating timeline of our club's history, an introduction to Albert and notification of a sale of succulents in the Spring. Succulents? - is that what's been growing on our old carpet?

A Close Measure

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Umpire Measuring with Trammel and Calipers

You know it's a close measure between two bowls when the marker can't call it, the players can't agree it and a string measure can't determine it. This was what happened on the very last end of this year's Ladies' Singles Championship final. Sal Rayner clearly had shot but needed two for the win, while Chris Greenhatch was hoping that she held second shot in order to keep her hopes of a comeback alive. After a couple of unsuccessful attempts by the marker to measure for second shot the umpire was called. He duly arrived at the head with trammel and calipers in hand. After much careful positioning and adjustment of the measurement tools the spectators' patience was rewarded - the closer bowl was indicated and it was Sal's. We therefore congratulate her on becoming this year's Ladies' Singles Champion.

Rain Delay

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Waterlogged Green

Sometimes you just have to accept that bowling isn't going to happen! The advantage of a fast-draining synthetic green, however, is that you probably won't have to wait long before bowling is possible. This snap was taken after a deluge late on Friday afternoon and the green was perfectly usable for a pennant match the following day.