Yearly Archives: 2015
Saturday Pennant Round 11 Cancelled
Tomorrow’s (Dec 19) pennant matches are now officially cancelled. A bit of relief for those wary of the heat and more time to relax before our Breakup Party that evening.
Winning End to 2015 in Midweek Pennant
Midweek pennant teams enjoyed a winning end to 2015 with all three sides victorious on December 15. The firsts achieved a creditable 16pt win at home against fifth placed Armadale 3. This leaves us 26pts clear of relegation but with good results required to stay safe during the remaining 7 rounds. The seconds achieved a solid 14pt win away against struggling Elsternwick Park 2. Rivals Middle Park 2 slipped up at home so this result leaves us nicely in second place still just 2pts behind Armadale 4. Finally the thirds pulled off a close 14pt win away against Caulfield Park Alma 5 despite being a player short in one rink. This leaves us in fifth place with a finals place still within reach. In all it was a final 2015 midweek pennant round with much to celebrate.
Albert Park Travel Day
This Sunday sees the second of this season’s big prize money bowling events. The Albert Park Travel Day is a triples competition open to all members with approximately $500 in total prize money on offer. As near as possible equal ability triples will be formed from the participants by the Match Committee. The competition will be split into three sessions of 8 ends with a break for tea. If you are interested please sign up before the day using the sheet on the club noticeboard.
Twilight Tally for Novice Bowlers
This activity is no longer being run as there has been insufficient interest. Of course if you come down on a Monday evening for a roll-up you are likely find others who may wish to join you.
Clocks go back this weekend, which gives us some usable twilight for bowling. This is the perfect opportunity to restart our series for ‘beginner and improving’ bowlers, which will kick off this coming Monday, October 5th at 5:30pm. This year eligibility to participate will be quite precise and reasonably inclusive. The series is for ‘novice bowlers’ using the Bowls Victoria definition, which means bowlers with 4 years or less bowling experience. That, rather notably, includes nearly half our current membership.
Nevertheless, bowlers with more experience are certainly welcome to attend on the understanding that they contribute advice and guidance during an event that is primarily aimed at newer bowlers. More experienced bowlers may bowl with the novices but will not be eligible to participate in the ‘tally’.
Port Phillip Shield Retained!
Congratulations to the twelve of APBC’s finest who traveled the short distance to Port Melbourne on Sunday and successfully defended the Port Phillip Shield. This Shield is annually contested between the neighbouring clubs of Port Melbourne, Albert Park, Middle Park and Saint Kilda. This year due to green restrictions each side was limited to just three rinks. AP started off well, defeating St Kilda by 2 rinks to 1 and +4 shots overall. After breaking for a hearty lunch the second match saw AP defeat Middle Pk, again by 2 rinks to 1 and a few shots up overall. Our final match was against Port Melbourne who also seemed to have won both their matches although rink and shot details were hard to come by. This led to much speculation about what was needed to get past the winning post. However AP again did well and won by shots up overall, although they did narrowly lose 2 of the 3 rinks. Presumably the organizers would know what this meant in determining the overall winner. After some deliberation it was announced that both APBC and Port Melbourne had finished on the same number of points and so the result would be determined by total shots up of which APBC had +15 while Port Melbourne had just +2! So the Shield was retained by Albert Park. Well done!
Sign Up
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.
2015 Open Day
Our Open Day, Sunday 13th September from 10am to 5pm, is just days away now. Flyers have been distributed around the neighbourhood and we’re hoping for as good a response as last year. If you know someone who has expressed an interest in lawn bowls this would be a very good time to bring them along to the club. There will be coaching, a sausage sizzle, a raffle and bar facilities. All members are encouraged to come along and share their experience and enthusiasm with those new to the game. Plus there’ll be sausages – did I mention the sausages?
Revamping the APBC website
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 ‘Clubzone’. 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 Clubzone 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.
A Clean Sweep
APBC achieves a clean sweep! Regrettably that’s not a recent success at pennant we’re reporting but it is something worth noting. It’s what the grounds crew achieves on a regular basis in their contest against the autumn leaves. To explore the many ways that members contribute to the smooth running of our club take a look at the Volunteer Opportunities page where some of the areas of voluntary effort are outlined.