In Memorium – Rita M. DeMoss

Rita M. DeMoss, a long time member of BLBC, passed away on August 24, 2012. Rita, formerly of Sciatuate, MA enjoyed film classics, jazz, literature, and travel. Friends and family celebrated her life at a service in Scituate on October 18. She is survived by her children, David, Anitra, and Aine and by many nieces and nephews.

Berkeley novices perform at Closing Day

PIMD Closing Day—October 20 at the San Francisco Lawn Bowling Club in Golden Gate Park—turned out to be a fine day for Berkeley bowlers. The season’s closing day is an occasion to get together with old friends and new ones in a “mix and match” tournament that seeks to put bowlers from different clubs together in two separate triples draws. This year, five Berkeley members entered: veterans Jim Corr and Cathy Dinnean, and novices John Hooper, Ann Gardiner, and Shawn Roney. In the morning event, Jim, Shawn, Ann, and John were on winning teams, while in the afternoon, Cathy, Ann, Shawn, and John were once again “in the money,” playing with completely different partners.
Addressing the assembly at lunchtime, PIMD President Greg Fyvie was especially pleased at the large number of novice bowlers—who constituted a quarter of the day’s turnout of 68 bowlers from all over the Bay Area. Their participation was made easier this year by the generous contribution of an anonymous donor who covered the entry fees for novices. And, as an extra token of appreciation, all the novices were presented with one of the newly-designed PIMD membership pins. Greg also noted that he is planning to find ways to recognize those who successfully recruit new members to the sport, since that is the only way we can ensure that this ancient game continues to grow and offer enjoyment and competition to future generations of bowlers.
Congratulations to all and special kudos to our novices!

Jim Corr
VP BLBC

Ann Gardiner – Two Bowl Singles Champ 2012

A cool morning led to a beautiful afternoon and a great day of bowling. We had 8 entries for the 2-Bowl Singles this year. After the first three games Ann Gardiner (3-0), Jim Corr (3-0), Lennon Hamilton (2-1), and Jason Chien (2-1) were leading and entered the semi-finals.

Jason and Ann won. Ann then went on to win the final. Congratulations to Ann Gardiner our 2012 2-Bowl Singles champion.

Thank you to all that bowled in tournaments this year.

Gary Knox
Tournament Director

2012 Novice Singles Champ – Shawn Roney

Today was the day that our novice bowlers – those who have been bowling for less than two years – met to decide just who would go home with the bragging rights this year. The weather could not have been more beautiful as the morning cloudiness gave way to bright, beautiful, blue skies.

Tournament Director Gary Knox had the rink all ready for bowling by 9 a.m. His plan was for a full round-robin tournament with each player facing every other player. That meant that there would be five games today.

Five of the new bowlers participated today, Ann Gardiner, Wilford Wong, Harlan Ware, Shawn Roney, and John Hooper.

So, who would it be this year? Several of the games were hard fought and came down to one of the final bowls moving the jack to take the point. In the end, though, it was Shawn Roney who edged out Ann Gardiner with more plus points. Both had won three of their four games. Congratulations Shawn and to all the other bowlers who participated.

Thanks too, to those who came to observe and suport the novices. Gary Knox, Irving Gershenberg and Dave Rockhold served as markers.

Berkeley retains the Meat Axe – year two!

When yours truly looked up and saw the lineup Palo Alto brought to the party on Sunday, I knew it would be a real contest. I mean, these guys are good! But, we had the green in shape thanks to extra effort from the greenskeeper; it was mowed, rolled and just dry enough to play well. The morning refreshments provided by Nikki, Susan, and the Mackey’s were tasty. When Howard Mackey called us to assemble, it was still a little chilly but assemble we did.

Mow it and they will come…
And, lawn bowling really is for all ages. In the photo below, 11 year old Matt Burnowski is with 86 year old Howard Mackey. Matt played vice for his dad, Tom.

It didn’t take long for it to heat up. In the first game, I saw at least four ends with Palo Alto right on the jack and, when we returned the favor, the opposing skip sent the jack two rinks to the left to burn the end. When that game ended, my team fell short by four points. Several other Berkeley teams hadn’t fared much better. We broke for lunch well behind in the game.

Birky’s form

After lunch, the weather and our bowling perked up. By the end of the second round, we had pulled into the lead. Only five games remained to be played. As that last game was about two thirds done, someone came up to say that it wasn’t going well and I really needed to pull out a win. Good Grief- I’m bowling against Bud Birkenseer! No pressure. Well, we managed to pull it off. When Bud moved the jack to take five points, we countered by drawing to the jack to take it back.

When Bud and I started the game, he said, “Let’s have some fun!” I don’t think we could have had a better game; good bowling, good weather and we got to finish it all off with Drumstiks ice cream.

So, at the end of the day, BLBC’s Geoff Chandler held onto the Meat Axe Trophy while Palo Alto’s Ginger Harris prepared the “We Lost” version for a trip back to Palo Alto. Palo Alto will be ready for us when we travel to Palo Alto next summer. But, for now, the Meat Axe will hang in the Berkeley clubhouse for another year.

Curling…on the Green!?!

Sunday was an exciting day for BLBC. Novice lawn bowler and curler, Roland Gong, brought together THIRTY-FIVE members of SFBACC member curling clubs for an afternoon of fun with lawn bowling. Senior coach Ted Crum was there along with Cathy Dinnean and Ann Gardiner. Yours truly noted that one of the curlers was already tossing out a challenge on Facebook to the San Francisco curling crowd. BLBC welcomes the curling group to the green. Here’s to a long, enjoyable relationship between the curling and lawn bowling clubs.

Leisure Town 5 – Berkeley 4

Last Friday, the bowlers from Leisure Town came to play a “friendly” match. Well, it may have been friendly, but they meant business. Even though the Berkeley team of Corr, Knox, and Gardiner won all three of their games, it was LT 5, Berkeley 4 at the end of the day. Sharing ice cream at the end of the day proves that it was friendly. Berkeley will travel to Leisure town in September looking for a rematch.

Triples Results-Saturday, June 30, 2012

This year’s in house Triples tournament drew 18 bowlers plus two who were ready to bowl if needed. Gary Knox did another fine job setting things up and everyone bowled two 12 end games. After the second game, the top two teams played a third game to decide the winner. In that last match, skip Jim Corr with Dave Rockhold and Susan Jamark faced skip Gary Knox with Millard Long and Jason Chien. Gary and Jason were on last season’s winning team so they were going for a repeat. The final match was no runaway to be sure but, in the end, Jim, Dave and Susan held on for the win. Thanks to all who participated – it was loads of fun.

Susan Jamark, Jim Corr, and Dave Rockhold, 2012 Triples Champs

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2012 Pairs Tournament Results

Our club pairs tournament for 2012 brought out 16 bowlers, many of whom were recent devotees to the sport. Tournament director Gary Knox made arrangements for the draw and teams bowled two ten-end games beginning at 9:30. The sun broke through the fog as play began. At the end of the second game, there were two teams with two wins.

After a mellow lunch break, the final match took up, with Shawn Roney and Susan Jamart facing Cathy Dinnean and Wilfred Wong. Compliments must certainly go to Shawn, who is still in his first year of bowling, and Will, who is the club’s newest member. All four players made some excellent shots, and it wasn’t until the final ends that Cathy and Will got some breaks and pulled out to win the tournament.

Congratulations to Cathy and Wilfred!

Susan, Shawn, Cathy and Wilfred (L to R)

We promote the game of lawn bowling for the enjoyment of new and experienced players alike.