All posts by Claudia Benton

Club Members, PIMD, Tournaments

Off to the Nationals

The BLBC is very proud to be sending five of our members representing the PIMD to the Bowls USA National Championship, which will be played at the Laguna Beach Lawn Bowling Club from October 19 – 25.  Seven regional divisions from across the US will be represented by their players each of whom has won their respective playdown tournaments for Singles or Pairs formats.

Our Women’s Singles Champion is BLBC member, Janine Maddock, the Women’s Pairs champions are Palo Alto’s Rose Shelby and BLBC’S Annie Brillhart, the Men’s Singles champion is BLBC’S Rob Hoey, and the Men’s Pairs Champion are BLBC dual member Calvin Darling and BLBC’S Daniel Gorelick.

We are wishing all our champions the best of luck and happy bowling!

From the BowlsUSA WWW site

If you are interested in following the tournament, look for your email from Bowls USA and follow the prompts for links to the tournament.  

Screenshot from BowlsUSA – you will have to type these URLs into a browser yourself.

Club Members, Tournaments

2025 Vet-Novice Tournament

It was another lovely day in Berkeley, with the green trimmed and true for a friendly Vet–Novice Pairs tournament designed to welcome newer bowlers into the club’s lively mix of annual competitions. Ten novices teamed with one of ten veterans in a random draw, no handicaps and no strength-vs-strength match — just three 12-end pairs games starting at 9:00 a.m. with plenty of good-natured mentoring along the way. The format kept things simple and spirited: win what can be won, learn what can be learned, and enjoy the rhythm of bowls on a well-prepared surface. I will pause here to thank the Greenskeepers, Tournament Committee, and Hospitality Committee for their considerable efforts in support of the tournament. The club as we know it would not exist without our volunteers.

By lunch, two games were in the books and three teams held a perfect 2–0 record. Cindy Moss and Steve Arvin set the pace with an imposing +20 differential, closely followed by Art Kotoulas and Stephanie Upp at +11 differential, while Cris Benton and Mark Hanusin rode two come-from-behind wins to +5 differential. Fortune added drama: the draw had Cindy/Steve and Art/Stephanie playing against each other in the third round, making a 3–0 finish likely for one of them. Cris and Mark could still reach 3–0 against Russ Leonard and Ben Steinberg, but the differential gap loomed like a small mountain.

Game results from the Vet-Novice Tournament

As the last round unfolded, the Cindy/Steve vs. Art/Stephanie game tightened end by end until it finished as a 10-10 draw, denying both Cindy/Steve and Art/Stephanie the 3-0 record that seemed inevitable for one of them at noon. On the adjacent rink, Cris and Mark were six down with four ends to play. Buoyed by the tie emerging next door they chiseled away to trail by two entering the final end against Russ and Ben. It was a long jack; after the leads had bowled Russ and Ben held two, while Cris and Mark had a nice collection of back bowls, shaping a chance. Two of Cris’s deliveries added more back bowls, a third went hunting for the jack and missed leaving one bowl left to change the day.

That last shot was a yard-on shot down the wide side to nudge the jack gently four feet back into the waiting pocket of six back bowls. Russ and Ben had one chance to answer involving a tight line to a displaced jack, but the bid didn’t land. With their last bowl, Cris and Mark turned a deficit into the count they needed, sealing the win on the day. A fitting finish for a Vet–Novice tournament: mentorship, nerve, and one decisive bowl at the end.

Final rankings for the day

Club Members, Rental Events, Volunteer Work

In any event

… the volunteers make it work

Income from rental events helps balance our annual BLBC budget.  I know it is inconvenient to have the green closed from time to time but rental events are great outreach to the community, and we rely on the income they generate.  So far in 2025, the Berkeley Lawn Bowling Club has hosted 7 rental events.

Rental events introduce lawn bowling to an bunch of folks.

Our events have included two large corporate outings of 40-60 guests and a handful of smaller functions ranging from birthday parties to smaller corporate team building gatherings.  Several have involved returning customers including Caribou Bioscience and Ava Community Energy, who you may notice on your PG&E bill.  

Instruction
Catering
Enthusiasm

A great time has been had by all, bowlers and BLBC coaches alike.  We have produced some amazing first or second time bowlers! This is a fine endorsement of our awesome volunteer BLBC coaches who have given their time and expertise to make the events so successful.  These include alphabetically:

Sarah Allday, Cris and Claudia Benton, Gordon Beveridge, Ethan Bortman, Annie Brillhart, Russell (Rolly) Coe, Cathy Dinnean, Leslie Engler, Patricia Erwin, Phil Grattan, Janie Hillyer, Judy Hillyer, Martin Kershaw, Art Kotoulas, JoAnn and Marty Lorber, Charlie McFerran, Cindy Moss, Glenn Nunez, Ben Steinberg, Ashok Verma. 

And then there is special thanks to Sarah Allday who is our head coach and Ethan, Patricia and Janie who occasionally fill in for Sarah.

If you are interested in coaching one of these rental events or know of someone who would like to host an event at the BLBC, please contact Claudia Benton at 510-384-4255 or chbenton@sonic.net.  

Club Members, Club Projects, Volunteer Work

Clearing a path

Rallying cry: Free the Agapanthus!

Update: Eleven hearty and willing bowlers gathered to clear the path to our old bowling green which runs behind several of our neighbor’s homes and Charlie Dohr Mini Park.  The path has not been cleared in recent memory and was buried in leaves from our magnificent oak tree and ivy.  We were cheered on by our neighbors with offers to help and much appreciation. All told, we removed two dozen large bags of debris from the alleyway.

Debris be gone
Crew at work
The cleared path
Neat and tidy

Many thanks to Janine and Phillip Andrews, Cris and Claudia Benton, Annie Brillhart, Russell (Rolly) Coe, Leslie Engler, Patricia Erwin, Janie and Judy Hillyer, and Martin Kershaw.

Meanwhile Ethan Bortman, Glen Nunez and Gary Samonsky were hard at work making repairs on our sand shed to keep it dry in the upcoming rainy months.

All and all it was a very productive morning of work at the BLBC with even a little bowling afterwards.

Continue reading Clearing a path →
Club Members, Club Projects, Volunteer Work

Extracurricular tining

Ongoing efforts to improve the green

On 9 June, Jose Ramirez, our awesome gardener, brought his hollow tining machine and tined the green.  The machine put thousands of small holes in the green about an inch deep.  During the summer the green gets drier and drier. As we bowl and walk on the green, it compacts the soil making it difficult for water, oxygen and nutrients to reach the roots of the grass.  The tining allows for better penetration of the soil.  Tining also removes some of the soil from the green to help level it.  Jose made several passes with the tining machine over higher areas of the green. 

All hands on deck.

After the tining was done,  the green was cleaned by shoveling up the dirt/grass plugs removed by the tining machine and then lightly sweeping and blowing the green clear the debris.  

Thanks to a small group of volunteers this cleaning was finished in a focused 2 hour work session.  Thank you Janie and Judy Hillyer, Patricia Erwin,  Cathy Dinnean, Janine and Phillip Andrews, Steve Harris, and Claudia Benton.  

From the upper left clockwise: Steve Harris, Jose Ramirez, Janine and Philip Andrews, and Patricia Erwin with Janie Hillier.

The next morning our fabulous greenskeepers Janie, Judy Hillyer and Sarah Allday  worked on rolling and blowing the green again to get it ready for bowling, while Claudia and Rolly Coe cleaned the ditch which was thick with debris.

Community, Special Events

Hold that pose

This past Saturday, our BLBC neighbor, Jessica Phrogus, arranged for the First Saturday Urban Sketchers to visit the lawn bowling club to sketch.  About a dozen sketchers arrived on a chilly morning and quickly found a spot and settled down began sketching the bowlers, green and surroundings. Many of our usual Saturday bowlers were in San Francisco for the PIMD Pairs Tournament.   

Thanks to Annie Brillhart, Ginger Cheng, Cathy Dinnean, Bob Schwartz  and Claudia Benton, who had a game with a roving lead and provided models for the sketchers.  The sketchers drew entertaining pictures while commenting that the bowlers were so nice to each other and there were no swear words used.  Good work bowlers!  Below is a sample of the delightful artwork by the First Saturday Urban Sketchers.

Club Members, Volunteer Work

Well Tended

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

Leslie and Sarah vs. the weeds

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.

Deep in the weeds, our Acton Street sidewalk c. 2018

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).

Club Members

First 4th at Four

On Sunday February 23, 2025 the Berkeley Lawn Bowling Club held the first ever Fourth at Four.  The Fourth at Four is designed to provide indoor games, and enjoy our great clubhouse at 4 PM on the fourth Sunday of the month

About 15 fun seekers showed up to play games, enjoy tasty snacks, a glass of wine and enjoy each other’s company.  The games were varied including pool, darts, Dominos, poker and the most fun game of all Crokinole.  If you have never played or even heard of Crokinole, join us for the April Fourth at Four on April 27, at 4 PM.  A great time was had by all.

The Fourth at Four for March is cancelled due the biannual BLBC workday, drilling, sanding and seeding the green.