Rossmoor LBC was the host for this year’s Opening Day. All three greens were busy as 120 bowlers from PIMD participated in two 12-end triples matches. The greens were in tip top shape and Rossmoor provided lots of tasty snacks all day long.

It was a special day as Woody Ogden was inducted into the Lawn Bowling Hall of Fame. Woody has been an important part of Berkeley’s history and has served at total of 99 years of service to lawn bowling (given one year’s credit for each position he filled).

Must have been the beautiful morning, and everyone relaxing after the holidays. We had 20 bowlers on the green this morning!! That was 14 regular full-time members, Harry the annual guest, and five who came for a free lesson. There were four rinks in use, and lots of laughing and pleasant bowling going on all morning. Never one bad moment.

Among the learners was Ben, who will turn 13 in a few days. He stopped by the club Friday afternoon, talked to some of us about how to get to play, then came this morning with his mom – who was also an enthusiastic and competent learner. Ray gave them the basic lesson, then Howard came and joined them for their first game. By the time they were done, both boy and mom were putting bowls in there, and Ben was already starting to skip – telling his partner which way to come, etc. Annie and I were watching closely, and agree that we’ve got a prodigy in hand! I hope you get to see them when they come back.

Then a young couple arrived – after 12, actually – but we did NOT turn them away! – we invited them in, they watched till our games were done, then Howard and I gave them their first, short lesson, with Susan and Annie and Millard watching. They enjoyed it very much, and we made a date for them to come again next Wednesday morning for a full lesson.

The last learner was Chris, a tall 40-ish guy who was there for his third time, so you may have met him. He and Harry played all morning. Very nice person!

Cathy

BLBC members were saddened to hear of the passing of Barbara Mackey, one of the club’s longest-serving members, on November 30, 2012.
Barbara was an accomplished bowler, who won many tournaments over the years. She joined the Club together with her husband of 62 years, Howard Mackey, our Inter-club Tournament Director, whom she often assisted in setting up tournaments and making the clubhouse a welcoming venue for visiting bowlers. Since joining in 1993, she served the Club in a number of capacities, including secretary of the Board for several years and most recently a second term as a Director at the time of her passing. Her extensive knowledge of the history of the Club made her a walking archive and an invaluable source to new members and new Board Directors. Barbara had also qualified as an official umpire for the USLBA, a task that requires a rigorous test and an in-depth knowledge of the Rules of the Sport. She was ready to provide advice to all on the more intricate aspects of the game and kept us on our toes if we strayed from the rules, especially those governing good etiquette on the green. We all appreciated the efforts she put into keeping the clubhouse well stocked and in good shape. In her spare time she pursued painting and was an active member of a community art group. She will be missed.

Berkeley LBC members Jim Corr, Ann Gardiner, and Shawn Roney took first place in the 2012 Ed Arnold Tournament held at Palo Alto LBC on November 3.
The “Ed Arnold” is a special event held annually in Palo Alto in honor of a former long-time member of that club who was active not only in lawn bowls but also in promoting youth sports in his home town of nearby Burlingame. It has some unique features in that it is not only a “mixed triples”—every team of three has to have a member of both genders—but also, over the 12 ends of each match the team members rotate their positions so that each plays as lead, vice, and skip for four ends. This places a premium on “all round” bowlers who know the requirements of the different positions.
A very popular tournament, this year saw, as usual, a strong field of 16 teams from across the Bay Area. Only two teams won all three of their matches over the course of the day: the Berkeley trio and the team of Rod and Rita Arriaga and Norm Tiernan from San Francisco. As announced at the outset by tournament director, Bud Birkenseer, the winner would be decided by a one-end “sudden death” playoff, with each player having only two bowls instead of the usual three. In a short but tense culmination, Jim, Ann, and Shawn took that final point and first place.
“I think we all bowled well as a team,” said Jim after the match, “but I would single out a couple of key moments that made a big difference. First, in our second match, Ann, playing as skip at the time, came in with her last bowl on two successive ends to take the point, in each case turning what would have been a five-point deficit into a one point gain. Then, in the critical final playoff, both Ann and Shawn laid a bowl less than a foot from the jack, with good back bowls, putting the opposing skip under tremendous pressure. The result was that I didn’t even have to use my last bowl.”
Congratulations to all and special plaudits to Ann and Shawn who have shown that they are more than ready to leave their “novice “ status behind and enter the ranks of “veteran” lawn bowlers!

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.

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

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

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.