With Covid-19 restrictions easing we anticipate being able to kick off this season's Club Championships from Monday November 16. Sign-up sheets and the Conditions of Play have been posted on the noticeboard.
Club Championships are open to Bowls Members and Life Members with additional restrictions for specific championships such as Ladies, Minor and Novice. The entry fee is $5 per player per championship and the closing date for entries is Friday November 13 - barring any further pandemic setbacks.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
On Thursday Albert Park's top midweek pennant side completed a very successful season by winning their sectional final and securing another pennant flag for the club. Our side defeated Burwood District's top midweek side by 63 to 54 shots. With 5 ends left to play the scores were evenly matched but our players were able to finish strongly to secure our second pennant in as many years. Congratulations to all who participated in this successful pennant campaign. We not only comfortably avoided the one-off relegation of half the section by finishng top but with this win now have the challenge of divisional finals to look forward to.
Several important sign-up sheets have recently appeared on the noticeboard in the clubhouse. New members should note that the noticeboard, to your right as you enter the clubhouse, is the primary place to sign up for events and competitions. This is rarely possible by email and as yet never through the website. Although you should be advised of new opportunities via the Albert Parkers, and occasionally via the website, you will nevertheless do well to get into the habit of checking the noticeboard each time you visit the Club. So what has appeared there recently?
Firstly with both Midweek and Saturday Pennant competitions about to start, two important sheets have appeared for both. First is the opportunity to sign up for these competitions, for which full and junior members are eligible. Most who are interested have already signed up but it is never too late. The second Pennant related sheets are those indicating unavailability. Ideally all participants are available for all 18 rounds of Pennant but realistically there are going to be absences and it is vital to make the selectors aware of any known absences as far ahead as possible.
Secondly you will now find sign-up sheets for our Club Tournaments, also open to full and junior members. These include a diverse range of formats such as singles, pairs and triples. New members who have been enjoying early success with their bowling might like to consider signing up for either the Men's or Ladies' Minor Championships.
If you're reading this post then you will have spotted that changes have been made to the members area of the APBC website, which is now called the 'Clubroom'. The good news is that members no longer need to enter a password to access a wide range of useful content. This change is part of an overall redesign of the APBC website, which will be going live in the near future once our avid designers have agreed on the final style and structure. Nevertheless the Clubroom has been given approval and is where members will come to read the latest news or notifications or to search for club or bowls related information that might be of use to them. We're excited that this will be yet one more way to strengthen the community of our members.
