Bowling Arm Tasmania Inaugural Carnival
Story By Jane Picket, St Helen’s Bowls Club.
St Helens Bowls Club has had the absolute pleasure of hosting the Inaugural Bowling Arms Triples Carnival this weekend. This event grew out of a serendipitous chance conversation between friends …. “Our national Championships have been cancelled” led to “Well, why don’t you have a carnival down here?” and so they did, after lots of work and consultation between members of the Bowls Tas Bowling Arm Committee and the Club, largely driven by Ian Williams. We met a great bunch of people and saw some wonderful bowls played.
All regions were well represented, with members from the following clubs sporting their colours: Trevallyn, St Helens, Cressy, Geeveston, Huonville, Cosgrove Park, East Launceston, Latrobe, Penguin, George Town, Smithton, Scottsdale, Ridgley, Wynyard, South Burnie, Ulverstone, Kings Meadows, North Hobart, Devonport and Lilydale. It was, literally, pretty to watch!
Fundraising coordinator, Jillian Weston, ran a multitude of raffles to raise money towards the Nationals next year with all prizes having been donated. Day 1 Winners were: Ian Morley, Will Briggs (raffle board); Lyn Zadow, Jilly Weston, Mike Gaffney, Joe Reissig, Kevan Gaffney (major raffle); Adrian Coomber, Kerry Booth (Lucky Number cards). Day 2 Winners were: Gordon Hurst, Kerry Booth (raffle board); Geoff Munro, Peter Whiteley (twice), Helen Wyker, Colin Shipton, Viv Coad and Barry Sonter (major raffle; Shaz Hyland and Noel Carlon (Lucky Number cards). Many thanks to all those who donated prizes for the raffles.
As is usually the case with carnival events, the lead changed a number of times across the two days of play. The top two places were decided in the final round of the event. RUNNERS-UP were Joe Reissig, Ruby Walsh and Geoff Buchanan (8 points/19 shots up/ 29 ends). WINNERS were Barry Le Fevre, Tony Pickett and Ian Williams (8 points/22 shots up/30 ends). The random draw for LUCKY LOSERS was won by Ray Firth, Kerry Booth and Adrian Comber.
It was a wonderful team effort from those St Helens Club members who contributed to the organisation and running of the carnival. Thanks to: Ian Blades, Leonie and Peter Mitchell, Graeme Percy, Henry Green, Jane and Tony Pickett, Su Van den Heuvel, Diane Harris, Liz Jansen, Jillian Weston and Ian Williams for helping to make things run smoothly.
From the host club point of view, we thank all the competitors for supporting the event and bringing great sportsmanship, camaraderie and fun to our club and community. We hope you will visit again soon.
