Spring Workday shines

 Ethan Bortman reports from 7.000 miles away

Once again, I am pleased to report that last Sunday’s drill and fill workday was a huge success.  I was amazed when I Facetimed Leslie at 1 PM to view the activity from afar and there was nothing to see other than a few munching on pizza.  The work was completed in record time.  Very impressive indeed.  It is this type of volunteerism and cooperation that enables our green to be the envy of PIMD.

A big shout out to the volunteers (listed in random order and including several who called in sick):  Alexandra Terninko, Rolly, Phil Watson, Leslie, the Bentons, Kern, Steve Harris, Annie, Gary S, Chris High, Glenn, Douglas Frey, Martin, Charles, Mike O’, Stephen Ng, Ben Corson, Marty Lorber, Daniel, Mark Baker, Cathy, Tom Birt, and, of course, our four terrific GKs…Patricia, Janie, Judy, and Sarah.  If I missed anyone, please let me know.

For those of you who were unable to participate, stay tuned because most likely there will be another workday in the fall.

Update: Janie and Patricia just sent a photo of the green from this morning (four days after sanding). The green has received a gentle watering compliments of a cold front and the sand is settling very nicely into the grass – by all accounts a quickly paced recovery is underway.

For more information on this annual maintenance ritual read on.

Continue reading Spring Workday shines

PIMD Mixed Pairs Winners

Congratulations to Janie and Luis

Congratulations are due to BLBC bowlers Janie Hillyer (Skip) and Luis Zapata (Lead) who won the first official PIMD tournament of the 2025 season, the PIMD Mixed Pairs.

Played at San Jose LBC on Saturday, March 22, the event involved 14 teams playing four 12-end games. Going into the last round, only two teams had won their first three games–Janie and Luis, and Jesse May and Rachel Marcuson of Santa Cruz LBC. By the chance of the random draw, these two teams faced each other in the final matchup, ensuring that only one would end the day undefeated. (Excluding the possibility of a tie, which would then have thrown victory to the one with the better differential.) Playing with the assurance and consistency they had shown all day, Janie and Luis got out in front in the early stages and never looked back. 

San Jose’s synthetic green requires Berkeley bowlers to make skillful adjustments.

In addition to the prize money, Janie and Luis go home as the front runners in PIMD’s first Bowler of the Year contest. This award will go to the Man and Woman Bowler who accumulate the most points in the course of the seven PIMD Tournaments open equally to all PIMD bowlers in 2025. For tournaments using a round robin format, 10 points are awarded for each win, 7 points for second place, 5 points for third place, with fewer points awarded down to those in eighth place. (A slightly different points allocation will be used in tournaments based on an elimination format.) See the PIMD President’s January 2025 newsletter for further details.

Terry Taplin Visits

Terry Taplin, the Council Member for Berkeley’s Second District, stopped by today’s draw game for a tour of the club and an introduction to bowling.

The club is located in Mr. Taplin’s district as are well over a dozen club members. Our long history with the city dates back to BLBC’s inauguration in 1929. Our green and clubhouse are situated on City property so it is a fine thing to have the opportunity to brief the Council Member on developments at the club and our upkeep of facilities.

It was lovely to meet the Council Member and his staff. We appreciate their taking time to visit.

Then and now

While working on the website, I stumbled upon a photo (above) from an open house the club hosted back in August 2017. I was instantly blown away by how much progress the club has made since then in the area visible in the photo. For comparison, here’s a similar image (below) taken in March 2025, almost eight years later.

Looking at the old and new photos, I couldn’t help but think about how much volunteer work and club projects have changed our facilities. It’s impressive how much the green and supporting elements have progressed. In the 2017 photo, I can spot eight places where improvements have been made – some small and some substantial:

Read on for a quick enumeration of progress recently achieved just in the area shown in the photo.

Continue reading Then and now

Bay Bridge Battle

Berkeley Retains 2025 Bay Bridge Challenge Trophy

The Bay Bridge Challenge is the annual contest between Berkeley and the San Francisco LBC, held at the respective venues on alternating years and thus sometimes referred to as a “home and home” match. This year’s contest, held on Saturday, March 15, took place on two of SF’s three greens in Golden Gate Park, a lovely setting but where the greens are notoriously heavy and slow—it’s an achievement to get the jack, never mind a bowl, past the hog line.

It also tends to be cold! And this year was no exception, although the downpours earlier in the week had dissipated and, by the afternoon, it was actually quite pleasant. By that time, too, Berkeley had asserted its strength, winning five of the eight Triples matches. But San Francisco wasn’t giving up and came back after lunch to win 4 ½ (one tied game) to 3 ½. A valiant effort—but not quite enough, with Berkeley scoring 8 ½ to 7 ½ on the day thereby retaining the shield, which will now be displayed in our clubhouse for another year.

Well done to all the Berkeley bowlers who made the trip across the Bay, most especially to the teams of Hugo, Judy, and Joann, and also HC, Glenn, and Bernadette, who won both their games, as well as Cris, Cindy, and Aika, whose afternoon tie prevented an even split in games won/lost, which would have required a three-end bowl off. Finally, many thanks to our SFLBC hosts, whose hospitality was excellent.

2-Bowl Singles Tournament

The 2025 2-Bowl Singles Tournament was held on Saturday, March 8. On the fourth round of a (primarily) strength v strength format, Daniel Gorelick seized the crown, bettering his semi-final achievement of 2024.

The day was seasonably fresh, with a nippy breeze from time to time, but nothing to dampen the spirits and performance of the 12 players who eventually took to the field after several late dropouts, including one on the morning of the event. Ginger Chen graciously offered to withdraw to maintain an even number of players. Tournament Directors everywhere thank you, Ginger.

A random draw was used to determine the initial matchups for the games of first to reach 15 points, which resulted in a top six of Calvin Darling, Hugo Deaux, Chris Davis, Lennon Hamilton, Daniel Gorelick, and Art Kotoulas. After the second round, based on strength v strength, Chris, Daniel, and Hugo topped the table with two wins each, while Calvin was running close as the highest ranked of those on one win, one loss.

Only two players—Daniel and Hugo—were on an unblemished 3 wins at the end of Round 3, setting up a tasty final.Both players put in amazing shots in the final, but Daniel dominated from the outset and never looked back. It was not that Hugo played badly, drawing much applause from the peanut gallery, and losing five extremely close measures. But on this day, he was up against a finely tuned machine in the form of Daniel, who had set his eyes firmly on the prize and won the match 15-6. 

Congratulations to Daniel as this year’s 2-Bowl Champion! And thanks, as always to our hospitality crew, our great greenskeepers, and the markers who gave generously of their time.

Well Tended

 Thursday morning bowling and gardening group is hard at work whipping the garden surrounding the lawn bowling green into shape.

The Gardening Committee meets on Thursday morning at 10:00 am for bowling and then gardening.  Our fearless leader and chair, Leslie Engler directs our weekly projects.  Last week Leslie and Sarah Allday worked on oxalis removal in one of our flower beds to allow breathing and growing room for the plants.  It is, it seems, a never-ending fight with the oxalis. Meanwhile, Donna Otten and Susan Jamart worked on deadheading the daises.  Charlie McFarran mowed the grass surrounding the green.  Ben Steinberg weed-whacked the edge of the sidewalk while his father-in-law, John enjoyed the sunshine and watching the lawn bowling game.  Patricia Erwin, one of our awesome greenkeepers, and Phil Watson worked on getting ready for our semiannual workday by prefilling buckets with sand.  Claudia Benton worked on cleaning the ditch surround the green getting ready for the Two Bowl Single tournament on March 8.  

It is a lovely time of year to garden. Spring is fast approaching and the oxalis is in full bloom. The roses have been pruned and waiting for new buds.  Flowers and shrubs need deadheading and are beginning to sprout new growth. The English ivy vigorously grows year-round on the fences surrounding the lawn bowling club and is frequently in need of pruning. The grass surrounding the bowling green is green and growing with our warm sunny days and rain.

There is a long list of gardening projects for the gardening group to attack.  The Gardening Committee welcomes anyone and everyone on Thursday mornings at 10am for a fun morning of bowling and gardening.  Hope to see you there.

As a quick reminder of how valuable this landscape gardening group is, take a look at our Acton Street sidewalk back in the days when jungle conditions prevailed. (2018).

Green Maintenance soon

We approach the Ides of March and that means it is time to lavish even more attention on our lovely green.

The Greenskeepers need your help with tining, plug removal and sand application/removal, among other tasks. There are also some light duty tasks in addition to those that are outlined below.  For newer members, this is a great opportunity to learn more about how our green is maintained and to meet other members you may not know.

We will be providing pizza and light snacks for those who volunteer, please let us know if you will join for that.  

Below is an outline of main tasks and timing.  We hope to be done by early afternoon and can use your help even if for a short period of time.

Starting around 8:30 we need 6 volunteers to shovel the plugs from Jose’s tining into wheelbarrows.

Starting around 10:00 we need 4-8 volunteers to shovel sand into wheelbarrows and then use buckets to dump the sand into the mechanical spreader. The larger number of volunteers would allow for breaks. 

Starting around 10:30 we need 2-4 volunteers to sweep sand into the plug holes along edges and corners only. Jose will use the tractor with a broom/mat to sweep the sand from most of the green.

The club has most of the equipment, but we could use snow-type shovels and sturdy dollies. Please bring them along if you have those.

We do have some work/gardening gloves, but please bring your own if you have those. 

Please reply to this email by Sunday March 9 to let us know that you can join and what time slot, or to let us know any questions.

Following the workday the green will be closed for approximately one month for continued maintenance.

To Top It Off

After approximately 65 years of continued service, the equipment shed roof was starting to show its age.  The shed was also being pushed forward by a growing redwood tree, which was probably a cheerful neighbor in its youth. The City of Berkeley maintenance department helped us by grinding off the sapling mound that was growing against the shed, relieving the pressure on the back wall of the shed. 

The roof covering was leaking and causing structural damage to the roof, causing it to partially collapse.  To restore the roof and extend the shed’s service life, we chose to reframe the roof with larger rafters and install a membrane roof with a 40-year service life.  Hopefully, this improvement will let the next generation of bowlers enjoy the shed without maintenance worries.

The mat shed is split into two parts. On the left hand side is an area for our Greenskeepers to keep specialized equipment for maintenance of the green. The right hand side is accessible by club members and houses the accoutrements required to set up the green for play. Here you can find the mats, jacks, green sheets, rink markers,, scoreboards, rakes, and more required for our games. It also provides storage for the tools used by our Thursday gardening group.

And finally, here’s a big shout out to Judy Hillyer who stepped up to complete a very tidy paint job for the new roof. Judy has been a great asset to the club, quietly taking on a series of painting jobs and carrying them out with care and precision. Yet another reason we’re fortunate to have her among us.

The Green is Surrounded

The asphalt surround is an integral part of the bowling green. In addition to providing safe access around the green, it also contains embedded root guards on the south and west sides of the green. This asphalt surround was installed decades ago with help from the City of Berkeley (CoB). Over the years, the paving had deteriorated significantly due to uplifting of the pavement by tree roots, which created tripping hazard, and natural degradation of the surface asphalt.

We considered three options to restore the surround:

1. Add 3 inches of new asphalt on top of the existing surface;

2. Remove 3 to 4 inches of asphalt and repave; and

3. Remove the uplifted part, patch cracks, and seal the surface with latex-based top coat.

Options 1 and 2 were impractical and prohibitively expensive, so we chose Option 3. The pavement is restored to a safe and beautiful walking surface and, hopefully, will continue to serve us well with regular maintenance.

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