Melbourne Cup morning dawned clear with a fantastic turnout of 33 keen bowlers in bright spring-time outfits (covered by warm jackets) who hoofed it out onto the turf to try their luck. 

Twelve ends of blue-ribbon play saw Sue, Rosemary and Joe accept the laurel and cash for the first gallop.

Dazzling bowls in the Diamond League of Game 2 by Rhona, Fran and Darryl, out-classing the field to take the win and cheque.

Catering in the Birdcage was in full swing –many thanks to Sandy and Lea and allthe helpers who took a turn.

As Cup time drew closer, Gary conducted an entertaining auction of saddle cloth numbers, much to the amusement of punters and onlookers! Well done Merilyn, scoring the best result for a small outlay. Thanks to Rhona for the fabulous raffle prize. Lucky Bob Freeman tucked that in his saddle bags!

The best of luck to our triples team, Jan, Marja and Liz, contesting the playoffs of the District Triples in Forbes tomorrow.

The final of the club Minor Pairs will be played next Tuesday: K Craft/L Ryan vs C Curteis/L Baker 

By Lea Orr

Tuesday morning dawned bright and sunny and attracted 17 ladies to the Parkes Bowling & Sports Club for a social roll up.

We welcomed a couple of new belles to our very social group. Thanks to Joe D, Judy Chambers and Judy Nobes now know the basics of lawn bowls! Lynn Ryan and Lea Orr followed up the training, combining with the newbies in a friendly game of pairs. Hope you enjoyed yourselves, girls, despite the caffeine withdrawal at 11am!

The Grade 3 Pennants ladies teamed up for some extra practice in preparation for the State playoffs next month. Brenda Davies/Di Howell/Maureen Miller/Liz Byrne came away with the win against Marja Iffland/Heather Harvey/Rhona Went after playing some impressive close ends.

A well-matched game of triples resulted in Gwenda Carty/Maureen Baillie/Rosemary Mitchell just going down to Frances Charlton/Kay Craft/Joan Simpson on rink 2.

Maureen M, Marja and Judy C each pocketed cash in the 100’s club (that should entice Judy back to cover her next green fees)!

Next Tuesday, 1st November is our Melbourne Cup Spring Carnival for a 10am start. Mixed 2-bowl triples, 2 games of 13 ends. Teams will be drawn after this Saturday, so please put your names down at the bar! $20 covers lunch, green fees and bubbles. Non-players lunch $10. Wear Spring mufti and join in all the excitement of cup day. Sweeps are already available at the club.

Looking ahead, the final of the Minor Pairs Championship will be contested on 8th November, between K Craft/L Ryan vs C Curteis/L Baker. Good luck to each of you. Social Roster: Rose Mitchell

By Lea Orr

The final of the 2022 Minor Singles was played on a heavy green at the Parkes Bowling & Sports Club on Sunday.

Mick Simpson, who has taken the bowls scene by storm this year, played last year’s runner-up Gary McPhee. Gary has been in scintillating form of late and was the favourite for the title, which was played in front of 20 spectators under humid conditions.

The first 7 ends belonged to the underdog, as Mick didn’t hold back, leading by 10 shots to 5, helped by a classy 4 on the second end. Gary held his nerve, picking up a 4 on the ninth end to bring the match to level scores, as both bowlers delivered, and then defended draw shots and their shots near the jack.

Gary eventually regained the lead and was leading by 18 to 15, after which he was never headed, demonstrating his experience in the big moments, and won the title by 25 shots to 16.

Both Bowlers played great bowlers and it was unfortunate that there had to be a loser in the final. Congratulations Mick Simpson on a great singles campaign in majors and minors grade this year.

Last Thursday’s social bowls were washed out again, and on Saturday only 10 social bowlers took the punt on bowling a few ends and they managed to reach the jack occasionally, before the next rain event swept across the greens. 

By Marthy Tighe

The Spring Fling Mufti Day was a hive of activity on Tuesday at the Parkes Bowling Club. 

A new queen bee Minor Club Singles Champion has been crowned. Lorraine Baker is no longer the bridesmaid after defeating Heather Harvey in a tough match in gusty conditions. Congrats Lorraine, and well done to Heather!

In more great news, our Grade 3 Pennants team has returned victorious from the regional play-offs in Mudgee. The girls played their wings off and will now buzz off to State play-offs next month in Bomaderry. 

Good luck to Liz, Cherie, Jan and Brenda as you represent Parkes in the regional play-offs of pairs and triples in Forbes over the coming days. 

In social bowls, number 2 hive entertained four ladies in a game of scroungers. Helen

Heraghty, emerging from an enforced bowls break, flew away with the spoils to win, leaving Kate Keogh a close runner-up and Di Howell and Merilyn Rodgers taking a wrong turn!

Lynn Ryan/Chris Cox/Rose Mitchell sprang into action in hive 3, amassing the most pollen, leaving little for Flo Riseborough/Valmai Westcott/Jan McPhee.

Birthday girl Flo certainly hasn’t lost her touch with the black bowls! In fact, the old black bowls were tracking Jack everywhere –like ants round the cake at a picnic! Valmai, Flo, Chris, Frances – you just keeprolling them down so well!

In the cabbage patch, number 5, Elaine Miller/Frances Charlton/Brenda Davies took the biggest bite of the offerings, leaving just the stems for Kay Craft/Chris Curteis/Maureen Baillie.

As play wound up, it was time to swarm inside to the picnic rug for delish pizzas. 

Happy October birthdays to Flo, Rhona, Betsy, Chris and Brenda!

The Minor Pairs nominations are open for one more week. 

Melbourne Cup Spring Carnival is on 1st November! Mufti, mixed triples, names drawn from a hat. Put your names down by Tuesday the 25th. Just $20 for bowls, lunch and bubbles. 

To play social bowls call the club 6862 1446 between 9 – 9:30am on Tuesday. Play begins at 10am. Social Roster: Elaine M

By Lea Orr

ZONE SENIOR PAIRS

Darryl McKellar and Gary McPhee have won their way through to the Zone Senior Pairs finals after winning both of their matches on the weekend, defeating the highly fancied Orange City team on Sunday. Tony Riordan and Mal Porter had a draw and a win on Saturday to play in the sectional play-offs on Sunday, however despite playing well, they were just beaten. Congratulations to all four bowlers on a great weekend of playing high quality bowls.

SOCIAL BOWLS

Last Thursday, 20 bowlers took advantage of the rare non-rain day to play two games of social triples and two pairs games. 

The in-form Rob Irving and Brett Frame played Ray Jones and Warwick Parker in a tight game of pairs, which eventually saw the ‘Organiser’ and the Greenkeeper prevail, winning 19 shots to 17.

The new life member, John Carr, led brilliantly for the latest member and skip, Chris Harrison surging to a lead of 21 shots to 12 after 17 ends, and won 22 shots to 20.

The first of the triples games resulted in a win by 27 shots to 17 for Mike Valentine, Alan Affleck and Gary McPhee over Ron Hornery, John Niddrie and John Wright.

Graham Barby was back on the bowling rink, leading for Bob Freeman and John Ward against Tony Riordan, Jim Blake and Colin Hayward. Team ‘Bomber’ Ward led by 19 shots to 4. A pep talk from skip Hayward had the desired result as Col fired up Tony and big Jim, winning the remaining 7 ends, picking up 12 shots, to just lose by 2 shots.

The two bowling greens were full on Saturday as 16 social bowlers played on the top rink.

By Marty Tighe

Wilbur Harris and Baldy Frame proudly represented themselves and the Parkes Bowling & Sports Club participating at state level in the over 40s pairs State Championships under cover on artificial greens at Raymond Terrace last Saturday.

The popular pair played terrific bowls to easily win their first match. Unfortunately, they were beaten in the next two matches. All bowlers in Parkes warmly congratulate them on this achievement.

A quiet day of social bowls on Tuesday, as the cream of the crop, our Grade 3 District Pennants winners motored across to Mudgee for the Regional Playoffs. 

On Rink 4, a game of triples saw Kay Craft/Lynn Ryan/Maureen Baillie survive a united attack by Frances Charlton/Elaine Miller/Rosemary Mitchell, winning by 3 points.

Valmai Westcott/Gwenda Carty won their game of pairs by just one point on the final end against Julie Green/Lea Orr. 

Our Melbourne Cup Spring Carnival is on 1st November! 

By Lea Orr

The rains stayed away long enough to allow 14 social bowlers to enjoy two games of pairs and a triples game last Thursday.

On paper, the triples gun combination of Eddie McPhee, John Niddrie and Geoff Freeman were unbackable favourites over John Carr, Bob Freeman and Rob Irving. However, the under-dogs proved that the odds, and age are irrelevant and after 21 ends, team Irving won 23 shots to 21. 

Ray Jones and President Col Miller started slowly against Mike Valentine and Chris Harrison, to trail by 6 shots after 4 ends. 

Scoring a 5 and three 4s opened up the game for Jones and Miller and they didn’t back off winning by a big margin.

The combination of Mal Porter and John Ward proved too consistent against Ron Hornery and Marty Tighe in a tight game winning 24 shots to 19.

Saturday Bowls were washed out.

By Marty Tighe

The second semi-final of the Minor Singles was played last Tuesday between Gary McPhee and Greg Townsend. The scores were tight over the first 7 ends, only 2 shots the difference in favour of Gary. Playing good draw bowls enabled Gary to maintain, and steadily increase the margin over Greg, to eventually win the match 25 shots to 13. Gary will now play Mick Simpson in the minor singles final.

A high standard semi-final of Major Singles between Mick Simpson and Mick Went was played on Saturday in front of a large group of supporters. The defending champion Mick Went dominated early, leading 8 shots to 2. 

However, the very determined Mick Simpson gradually reduced the margin and briefly took the lead, 14 shots to 13. As the thunder and light rain added to the tension on the green, the defending title holder Mick Went outclassed Mick Simpson in the end, winning 25 shots to 16. 

Mick Went plays Peter McPhee in the Final, while Mick Simpson has a great opportunity to advance to the Major ranks as he plays Gary McPhee in final of the Minor Singles.

By Karma Chameleon

October has arrived, named ‘octo’ as it was the 8th month of the roman calendar. On Tuesday, 20 ladies were dressed to the nines at the Parkes Bowling Club ready to give their two cents worth!

Two matches of Club Minor Singles were scheduled. On Rink 3, Lorraine Baker put paid to the hopes of Kay Craft, scoring on the majority of ends.

Rink 4 hosted a much closer match between Heather Harvey and Maria Willcockson. As the score see-sawed, the girls gave it their all. Heather was on cloud nine after 25 ends, winning 25 – 22.

The final of the Minor Singles between Heather and Lorraine will be played on 18th October.

Social matches saw Vi West/Chris Curteis/Elaine Miller enjoy 15 minutes of fame with their narrow win over Julie Green/Merilyn Rodgers/Rose Mitchell on Rink 2. High fives all round for Lea Orr/Frances Charlton/Gwenda Carty/Brenda Davies with a sound victory over Carol Reed/Maureen Baillie/Maureen Miller.

Pocket money was claimed by Heather and Marja (card draw), and Merilyn, Rhona and Brenda (100’s club) while lucky Carol won the lucky door.

Next week, all our good luck wishes go to our Grade 3 Pennants team as they contest the Regional Play-offs in Mudgee! Anyone may enter the District Singles to be played on 8/9 November. Check the board for details.

Congrats and thank you to all who purchased Liptember products. We raised $104 for Lifeline and Women’s Mental Health.

To play social bowls next Tuesday, 11th October, call the club on 6862 1446 between 9 and 9:30am. Play at 10am, all welcome.

By Lea Orr