MELVILLE BOWLING AND RECREATION CLUB

NEWSLETTER - MAY 2021

Men’s Country Week - February/March 2021

PRESIDENT’S CORNER

We have continued to have a few ups and downs within the Club, with a couple of closures due to Covid-19 lockdowns. I would like to thank all members who continue to come along and sup-port the Club through these challenging times. The Club continues to grow despite this. Particu-lar thanks to those who came to the Club and had a meal, enabling them to also have a drink in limited numbers. Our diligence paid off, as we did have a visit from the Police, and were able to demonstrate the correct signage, limits of 20 patrons per area, meals being served, masks being worn and good hygiene practices. Thanks to the Bar Staff for enforcing the rules (which we did not make), which unfortunately was unpopu-lar with some members. We held our Annual General Meeting in April, and I’m pleased to report our Management Committee was elected unopposed. Thanks to all my team for their hard work over the past year. We have established a working group who are managing the re-development of the Club. It will be a long and slow process, and we are talking to the City of Melville, both elected Councillors and Officers, as well as local Members of Parlia-ment, State and Federal. I would also like to thank our team of volunteers who have worked tirelessly over the last few months with the functions that have been held. Keep Safe! Tim Smith, President

Remember - Friday nights -

includes Happy Hour bar prices, Quiz

questions, Raffles, and Bar Snacks

There is always a great atmosphere at the Club

Happy Hour bar prices from 5.30 to

6.30pm. All Members and guests are welcome!

Chase the Ace stands at $1,300 as at Friday 14 May 2021.

FRIDAY PAIRS NOW ON FOR THE WINTER SEASON (Weather Permitting)

• Names in by 12.00noon • Play Starts at 1.00pm • Pairs of any combination • 2 games of 11 ends - 2x4x2 • Good prize money

LADIES’ SECTION

What a year! 2020/2021 Season will be one that we will remember for a long time. The individu-ally wrapped tea/coffee, wrapped biscuits, wooden swizzle sticks to stir our tea/coffee, tongs if food was to be handled, rubber gloves …. Playing bowls with masks on, keeping our distance, having to hold “Hygiene Certificates” to work in the kitchen. That little Rat who came out of hiding! BUT … being positive, keeping safe and healthy, we have all managed to come through pretty well. We eventually managed to successfully run our Championship events, not only working around the Covid-19, but we had extremely hot weather towards the end of the season. Our Pennant teams did not make the finals this year, but did retain all Divisions for the following Season. With the interest in new Ladies joining as Pennant Players, our teams hopefully, will not be interrupted as much due to sickness etc.

The Ladies and Men’s Wind-up Presentation of trophies Dinner which was held on Saturday 27th March was a successful even-ing, enjoyed by all who attended. This will be a definite event for future years. We thank Tim Cat-tle for giving us a night off – greatly appreciated. The Ladies also, were presented with a “Perpetual Trophy” for the winners of Championship events. The Men had been receiving these for years, so all is in uniform now. Thank you to our Club President Tim Smith who presented the prizes.

Ladies Singles Champion Audrey Stokes

Ladies Singles Runner Up Lea Mias

Ladies Pairs Champions Lisa Brannan and

Donna Blackwell

Ladies Fours Champions Lisa Brannan, Donna

Blackwell, Lorna Ward and Coralie Biddiscombe

Ladies Fours Runners Up Audrey Stokes, Pat Moonen and Lia Mi-

as (Viv Wood absent)

Ladies Pairs Runners Up Wendy Brinklow

and Helen D’Alton

For those members who are, or have been unwell, or undergoing treatment, we hope you are improving, and we look forward to seeing you back at the Club very soon.

The Ladies General Meeting followed by a Luncheon, was held on Wednesday 14th April. We welcomed our new Committee and look forward to working together. Director of Women’s Bowls: Bev Schupelius Vice President: Margaret Carrigg Secretary: TBA Treasurer: Pat Moonen Selection: Moira Crowther, Lorna Ward, Lisa Brannan Match: Donna Blackwell, Conny Marsella, Margaret Booth Friday night Pennants: Helen D’Alton Saturday Pennants: Lisa Brannan

Ladies Triples Champions Lisa Brannan, Lorna

Ward and Donna Blackwell

Mixed Pairs Champions Lea Mias and Wayne Moseley

The Ladies have been busy

throughout the year supporting the Club with various events, Gala Day, Community Bowls, Men’s Country Week and we now look forward to beginning our Winter

bowls with Scroungers, commenc-ing on 4th May. The men have

been invited to join us this year, so let’s hope Tuesdays will be fine

weather.

In conclusion, I sincerely thank my Committee for the support you have given me throughout the year and all who have helped me through my first year as your Director. We look forward to a successful, happy, healthy, positive and free of Covid-19 2021/2022 Season. Thankyou … Bev Schupelius

MEMBERSHIP FEES AND CARDS

Membership Fees became due on 1 May 2021. By now, most of you should have received your Tax Invoices for membership renewal, either at the Club or by post. Fees are due by 1 June 2021 to retain financial membership. If you have any queries regarding payment, please contact Terry in the Club Office. New Membership Cards will be processed on payment of fees, and will be available at the Club, from approximately 20 May. This card will last for the duration of your membership, and during the next few months we will be offering some member benefits to accompany the cards. Pauline Curran, Secretary

CLUB COACHING

I am very pleased to advise that there have been many new bowlers that have taken advantage of the free coaching offered by the Melville Bowling Club. In the last four months we have coached and introduced 40 new bowlers to the game, many of whom have joined the club as Social Bowling Members. A number of these new bowlers are already playing pennants for MBC. Of the others, most are regular attendees at the bi-weekly social bowling days. It is our intention to continue these free coaching courses throughout the year to encourage new players to enjoy and become proficient in the game of bowls. One-on-one coaching can be arranged by contacting the coaches direct. (Names and telephone numbers are on the notice board). All new bowlers are encouraged to purchase the booklets: Guidance for New Bowlers and Ad-vanced Bowling and Tactics, produced by Bowls Victoria and available from the Club, as points of reference. As well as the new bowlers, many of the existing bowling members have joined the training sessions to hone their skills on the courses set up for them. These set training courses are free and open to all bowling members of the club. Coaching of new bowlers at MBC involves taking them through a short course covering the fol-lowing:

Safety and General introduction to the club. Object of the game. Definitions and terms used such as: Green, Rink, Weight and Grass/Bias etc. Etiquette. Feet placement. Placing the Mat and delivering the Jack. Grip on the bowl. Delivery of the Bowl. Bias/line. Length control. Bowling on a pre-set course. Follow up lessons as required.

Paul Youngman, Coach

WEBSITE NEWS Early this year we held a Website Orientation Workshop which introduced members to the Club’s new website, designed to help members navigate their way around the site. Handouts were issued at this workshop, copies still being available from Giada at the Bar. A popular feature is the ability for social bowlers to register for Thursday & Saturday events, via the Website. In recent times, around 50% of registrations are now online. We expect future events will have this facility, which is already in place for Gerry’s Friday Pairs event commencing on April 30th. More recently, the club hosted two events of Country Week as well as the Ladies State Trials, all of which were well patronised by club members. These events now feature on our Website along with the Club’s first joint Men’s and Ladies’ Prize/Trophy presentation night, voted a great suc-cess by attendees. Expect to see new items appearing on our website in future. May I suggest all Club Members regularly log into the website, it is fast becoming the Clubs digital notice board. Ian Schupelius, Public Relations Chairperson.

MEN’S SECTION

The Men’s Section held its annual meeting in April which was well attended. The following Officer Bearers were elected:

Gerry Crolla Director of Men’s Bowls

Selectors Panel: • Mario Matassa • Wayne Moseley • Mark Malpass • Hans Moonen

Sub-Committee: • Colin Biddiscombe • Bryan Yeldon • Steve Aldus

Match Panel: • Aaron Gale • Wayne Moseley • George Rule

Congratulations to the Season’s winners, who had their prizes presented at the Joint Presenta-tion Night held with the Ladies’ Section at the end of March.

Men’s Singles Champion Mel Randall with President Tim Smith

Men’s Pairs Champions Colin Biddiscombe and Gerry Crolla

CLUB PRESENTATION NIGHT

The combined Dinner and Presentation went off very well, everyone seemed to enjoy them-selves. Congratulation to all the trophy winners. This is an another event that we will definitely

repeat next year.

Helen, Moira, Mary and Lorna singing the Club Song Chairman of Club Functions Tim , with Directors of Bowls, Bev and Gerry.

SOCIAL BOWLS

At this point in the ‘winter cycle’ , we are already seeing a 20 to 30% increase in participa-tion rates for social bowling. The quality of bowling is also noticeably better thanks to Paul's coaching for all ‘newbies’. Their enthusiasm for bowls is great to see. The recent social dinner was a “best ever” success. Thanks to all the bowlers who made it possible with their volunteering before and during the event. The novice award to Ted McDavitt was a surprise which was warmly received by Ted to the applause of the mem-bers. Our special thanks go to Brad Curran and his students from Willetton Senior High School. They gave us an appreciation of what can be done with great food and excellent table ser-vice. We will work towards having Autumn and Spring functions again in the future. Some minor changes of format will be required - particularly the funding model. These functions are too good to have to wait a year between events! A reminder for any members wishing to come along - we play Thursday and Saturday after-noons - names in by 12.30pm for a 1.00pm start (you can even book through the Website!) Cost $7.00 which includes green fees and bar snacks. Doctor Pat, Social Bowls Convenor

Dr Pat with Novice Award Winner Ted McDavitt

Kristen and Brad with their team of students from Willetton SHS

Bowlers enjoyed table service and a quiz!

Men’s Country Week 2021

Another successful Men’s Country Week. The Club hosted the Men’s Pairs and the Men’s Fours. All the visitors were very complimen-tary about our wonderful greens! Thanks to the ladies for the catering and all the officials and other volun-teers..

Community Bowls A record number of teams entered our Summer/Autumn series. There were lots of prizes and a good time was had by all, especially on St Patrick’s Day!

HOSTING THE WOMEN’S STATE TRIALS

CLUB FUNCTIONS AND COMING EVENTS The Friday Fish & Chip night went off well in January, as well as Australia Day Sundowner. February was busy with Pennants, Social Bowls and Community Bowls. During March and April we held very successful Pennant Presentation and Dinner, and Social Bowls Dinner. We had to postpone the Cabaret Night earlier this month because of the uncertainty of numbers due to temporary Covid limitations. It has been re-scheduled for Friday 11 June. Bookings can be made at the Bar. Only $20 a ticket which includes live music for dancing, and shared table/grazing platters. Events planned for the Winter months include Quiz Night, and Curry Night - keep your eyes open for more details.

SUNDAY ARVO COMMUNITY BOWLS We will be holding Bowls on Sunday afternoons during the Winter. Register before 3.15pm either by email (melvillecommunitybowls@gmail.com) or in person. Play starts at 3.30pm Entry Fee $10 per person, come as a team of Four, or we can slot you into a team Happy Hour 4.00-500pm Music, Snacks, Prizes, Play Areas for Kids. For further information, contact Ross Mackenzie on 0402 412 159

HOUSE AND GREENS Greens Maintenance Both ‘A’ and ‘D’ Greens have been used extensively over many months, apart from the Covid lockdown, and are now in need of some serious love and attention, to have them in tip-top con-dition for the next pennant season. Greenkeeper Gary will have them back in service as quickly as possible, but in the meantime, please bear with us and refrain from using them. Social, Barefoot and Community Bowls will therefore be confined to ‘B’ and ‘C’ greens over the next few weeks. Bench Sponsorship Now is your opportunity to make a lasting contribution to the Club, by sponsoring an aluminium bench. Your name will be put on a plaque on the bench, for a dona-tion of $400. More details at the Club. Jack Bolton Chairman H & G

BAR SPECIALS

DOS EQUIS - Mexican Lager - Pint $7.50, Middy $3.80 OR Pint & Gourmet Pie $12.00 SELECTION OF BAR SNACKS Our range of beers on tap include • Coopers Light, Coopers Lager and Coopers Dry - all $7.00 a pint. • Billabong German Pilsner - $9.00 a pint • Billabong Ginger Beer - $9.00 a pint COMING SOON - WINE OF THE MONTH - GREAT VALUE Oakover Wines - $5.00 per glass, $20 per bottle

• Chenin Blanc • Shiraz

SPONSORS

We would like to acknowledge all our sponsors, who provide sponsorship for the Club’s various events, large and small. For further information regarding our sponsors, please refer to our Web-

site, www.melvillebowls.com.au