Garfield Bowling Club held its annual Christmas Carnival of tournaments between Christmas and New Year.
The weather was unusually variable for sunny Garfield, but not enough to stop the events from running.
The first event was a new one for the club – a tournament for arm bowlers only.
With 12 entries, the day went ahead and was very successful.
The format was two-bowl triples and the players enjoyed themselves very much.
The weather cooperated with warmth and sunshine, the rain holding off until just after play had ceased.
The winners of the day were “The Wright Man” team, Tony and Yvonne Wright from Parkdale, ably assisted by Garfield’s own Gordon Moxey.
Runners-up were “The Basketballer” team, headed by Debbie Dunkley from far-off Mooroopna, with locals John Moore from Cardinia Waters and Tommy O’Loughlin from Narre Warren.
The second day was the three-bowl pairs event, for which we had the full 16 entries; unfortunately, one team failed to arrive so a pair of Garfielders, Jan Moxey and Damian Brick, stepped in to fill the gap.
It started with a sprinkle of rain, which shortly broke up into a typical Garfield day.
The winners were the “On the Matt” team, consisting of Matt Schreyer from Trafalgar and Noel Rubenstein from Warragul, who defended their title in this event from last year.
The runners-up were the “Peter the Great” team of Peter Dixon and Des Chatfield from Mordialloc.
On the third day, Garfield lived up to its sunny reputation completely for the three-bowl Triples event.
The winners of the day were the “Brett’s Boys” team, made up of Brett Condron, Tim Katz and Daniel Price from Kooweerup.
Runners-up were local Garfield team “Skywalker”, skipped by Luke Monkton with Jan Moxey and Cheryl Breteler.
The last day was for the Canadian Pairs format, where the players take turns at leading and being skip, so a fully team event.
Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t playing ball, with a couple of serious showers.
The first shower necessitated an unscheduled tea break; the second one wasn’t as long so just required a few minutes under the ample shelters at Garfield (usually used to protect players from the sunshine).
Nonetheless, the day was successfully completed, if a little later than expected.
The winners on this day were “The Basketballer” team, Debbie Dunkley from Mooroopna, this time accompanied by Garfield’s Barry Morrison.
The runners-up were Drouin stalwarts “Lyn’s Lot”, consisting of Lyn and Bob Jeffrey.
In all, a very successful carnival, with lots of people smiling and laughing, the best possible indicator of the event’s success.
A huge thank you to all the Garfield members who made the events run smoothly and without whom they couldn’t run at all.
-Damian Brick
