Tranmere Times

Club Champions

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Issue No: 31 March 2017

A long end of spectators rolled up

to the club championship finals, not

just on Super Sunday, but on all

four days. They were well rewarded

with outstanding bowling,

enthralling contests and several

dramatic finishes.

Not only that, they were treated to

the now customary excellent

morning and afternoon teas, as well

as pizza lunches, prepared by Sue

Sanders, Ann Ellis and Mary

Feddersen. Thank you so much;

they were delicious.

MMeenn’’ss SSiinngglleess

Max Davidson has been a grand

finalist in our club men’s singles

championships for the past three

seasons. Two years ago he became

club champion in a walk-over when

John Coppe unfortunately could not

play the final. Last year, Greg Ferris

won in a sustained onslaught of

draw bowling of the highest quality.

This year, in an amazing match, Max

prevailed in a dramatic final end

after he and John Feddersen were

tied at 24-all.

WWoommeenn’’ss SSiinngglleess

Three times the bridesmaid in 2016,

Betty Williamson was the bride in

2017. Last season, Betty contested

three club championship finals

events and was runner-up in all of

them. This year she contested two

finals events and won the women’s

singles by 25 shots to 16 against a

strong challenge from Di Ferris.

Betty was relentless and on several

occasions opened a handy lead only

to see Di fight back strongly, as she

had done to win the semi-final

against Judy Brooks. A possible

repeat looked on the cards as Di

fought back to trail 16 -19, but then

Betty dug deep to win the last three

ends and the match.

Betty has now been club singles champion twice,

the previous time back in 2003.

Honour Board

Men’s Singles

Max Davidson

Women’s Singles

Betty Williamson

Men’s B Singles

John Hammond

Men’s Pairs

Nick Cirocco & Mike Sandon

Women’s Pairs

Claire Pope & Judy Brooks

Open Singles

John Feddersen

Open Pairs

Stuart Loch & Peter Homburg

Mixed Pairs

Denise Abraham & Max Davidson

Men’s 100 Up

Graeme Young

Women’s 100 Up

Claire Pope

Men’s Drawn Pairs

Nick Cirocco – Colin Whyte

Women’s Drawn Pairs

Di Ferris – Kathy Day

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Tranmere Times March 2017 Page 2

Overheard at the finals: John Feddersen “The bowls pusher. I haven’t seen that in years. Saves a bit on shoe leather.” Barrie Robran “Yeah,

but it doesn’t improve your soccer skills.”

MMeenn’’ss BB SSiinngglleess

The spirit of camaraderie between competitors was a strong

feature at this year’s finals, as it has been in previous years as

well. Players acknowledged quality bowls from their

opponents, responded to applause from spectators and

shook hands when matches were tied with just one final end

to play as if to say, ‘well done so far, it’s been a great contest

and may the best bowler win.’

Arguably this was nowhere on better display than in the

Men’s B singles final fought out between John Hammond and

Darryl Hemsley. The match was tight throughout with not

more than three shots, but usually only one shot, separating

the pair for the first 23 ends. At that stage, John Hammond

led 18 to 15. When he gained two more shots on the next

end to lead 20 to 15 and needing just one more shot to win,

he looked poised to claim the final. That final shot is often

the hardest to get and Darryl wasn’t about to give up. He

won the next end by one shot to make it 20-16. Then, on

the following end, he held two shots, prompting John to

drive into the head with a bowl that Walter Lindrum would

have been proud of. The bowl seemed likely to miss its

target by some margin but then wicked a short bowl,

cannoned into another and careened to the head, knocking

both shot bowls aside and taking the jack back to claim shot.

The crowd erupted into spontaneous applause at the marvel

of John’s shot selection and execution. Darryl could have

been excused for being ‘highly disappointed’. But no; he

showed great aplomb, smiled and congratulated John. John

was chuffed – “It’s the first event I’ve ever won.”

MMeenn’’ss PPaaiirrss

When John Feddersen and Claus Schonfeldt established a

9-1 lead after nine ends of their scheduled fifteen-end clash

in the men’s pairs final, spectators might have thought the

match was heading towards an inevitable result.

It was unlikely that they thought it would end in an 11-all tie

after the regulation fifteen ends and require a tie-break to

determine the winner. But that’s what happened.

In the pressure cooker of that final end Mike Sandon

delivered a wrong bias, but it didn’t matter. Nick Cirocco

had drawn to within a whisker of the jack to hold shot and.

despite four chances for John and Claus to dislodge it, it

stayed to win the end and the final for Mike and Nick.

WWoommeenn’’ss PPaaiirrss

The women’s pairs match up of Claire Pope and Judy Brooks

were, on the day, simply too good for Brenda Porter and

Betty Williamson, running out comfortable winners by 16

shots to 7 after just fourteen of the regulation fifteen ends.

We wish Mike and Nick as well as Claire and Judy well in

the Bowls SA champion of champion events.

Kirstie Blaskett marking with style and grace.

Spectators enjoying the contest.

Claire Pope using the bowls pusher to round

up the bowls after the end has been completed

Tranmere Times March 2017 Page 3

“If you weren’t that close [holding his hands out to indicate a narrow spread], you weren’t going to get shot.” – John Feddersen, commenting on the high quality of the bowling in the men’s singles final at this year’s club championship Super Sunday.

OOppeenn SSiinngglleess

Over the years,

John Feddersen

and Richard Ellis

have fought out

some epic club

championship

finals. Twice, in

the Men’s 100-Up

final, they’ve

required a tie-

break to resolve

the deadlock at

100-all. A third

time it was 101 to

99. This year’s

Open Singles was

just as good.

A dominant display by John in the opening set saw him win

that 13-6. “That’s as good as I’ve seen him bowl,” Richard

acknowledged. The second set saw Richard dominate early,

with the fourth end producing what must surely have been

the highlight end of the entire tournament.

After seven fabulous bowls, John was four down.

With his final bowl, John drove into the head and Richard

crossed his fingers. It was a perfect drive, hitting the jack

right on target. Somehow, after much noise and ricocheting,

the jack rattled into a triangle of Richard’s bowls and stayed

put.

Richard now led 7-1 after four ends and looked on track to

win the second set and push the match into the tie-break

ends. John had other ideas though. All he had to do was fight

back to draw the second set and he would win the match.

Not that that would be an easy task, but still he dug deep

and won three shots on each of the next two ends to make

it 7-6 down after six ends. Now Richard rallied. He won one

shot on each of the next two ends to be 9-6 up after eight

ends. On the ninth and final end for that set, John needed to

score three shots and, conversely, Richard needed to

prevent that.

With only his final bowl to come John was holding a single

shot. He had a close third and, with a perfectly-weighted

bowl, he could promote that third into second and stay in

the count with his bowl for the required three shots.

A hushed crowd watched as his bowl homed in on its target

and acknowledged the quality of the delivery with generous

applause as it succeeded in its mission. What a match!

OOppeenn PPaaiirrss

Tim Huston began the early rounds of the Open Pairs

championship matches with Darryl Stanton as his partner.

When Darryl had to withdraw late in the tournament, Max

Davidson stepped in as substitute. Max seized the

opportunity and he and Tim won through to the grand final

to take on Stuart Loch and Peter Homburg.

Open pairs is a challenging event with each player only

bowling two bowls, as they would in a pennant fours match.

In the first set, Stuart and Peter drew marvellously and

established a comfortable 7-1 lead after five ends. From

there they hung on to win the set 8-4.

For the first six ends of the second set the contest was

much closer and, after six ends, Max and Tim were 6-5

ahead. Defying the trend of that second set Max and Tim

won all four shots on the seventh end. That set up them up

and they hung on to win 10-8.

Coming in to the three-end tie break it was anyone’s game.

Max and Tim got off to a great start, winning the first end,

and victory seemed not far off. Stuart and Peter however

hadn’t read that script and won both the next two ends to

claim a 5-1 victory in the tie break.

Tranmere Times March 2017 Page 4

Did You Know: Betty Williamson, this year’s women’s club singles champion, previously won the event in 2003, beating Brenda Porter in the final. That year they won the women’s pairs (in the morning on the same day); this year they were runners-up. Betty transferred to Gawler for a while and won the women’s singles championship there in 2006.

MMiixxeedd PPaaiirrss

Max Davidson qualified for three championship finals this

year (as did John Feddersen and Claire Pope) and the mixed

pairs, with his partner Denise Abraham, was the third of

those.

They’d seen off some stern competition in the preliminary

rounds and faced the determined cousins, Claire Pope and

Bob Bussenschutt, in the final.

The match began with hotly contested ends in which the

lead changed several times after some high-quality bowling –

exactly what you like to see in any final’s match. After five

ends the match was all square at 3 shots apiece.

When Max and Denise then quickly opened a 7-3 lead and

were holding another three shots on the next end, it was

time for something special from Claire and Bob lest the

match got away from them. And special it was. Bob killed

the end to allow Claire and him to reset, but Denise and

Max had other ideas. Denise, in particular, was bowling

superbly and with a magnificent delivery captured a further

two shots for her and Max to lead 9-3 after eight ends.

With the match once gain threatening to get away from

them, Bob converted a 1-down to 2-up with his final bowl

on the ninth end. Instead of being 3-10 down, he and Claire

were only 5-9 down and back in the match. They won the

next two ends and with the match now more evenly poised

at 7-9, the tension suddenly became too much for Jill

Bussenschutt. Tom Lycett came to her rescue by opening

the bar and poured Jill a calming glass of bubbly.

It did the trick for her but not for Bob and Claire [perhaps

they too should have had a calming glass]. Max and Denise

produced some marvellous saving bowls and scooted clear

to win the final 13-8.

MMeenn’’ss 110000 UUpp

The Men’s 100-Up final saw Graham Young pitted against

Roger Kairl. For many ends it was a keen contest with just 4

points separating the combatants at 67-63 Graham’s way.

Then, slowly but surely, Graham edged ever further ahead

and in the end won by 20 points over a gallant Roger.

WWoommeenn’’ss 110000 UUpp

The Women’s 100-Up final was a tight affair from the get go.

At the half-way mark Marg Filmer enjoyed the slightest of

advantages over Claire Pope to lead 51-49. As if to mirror

the men’s final, Claire then edged ever so slightly ahead with

each further completed end to lead 97-83 and go on to win

the match 100-90.

Denise taking charge while Claire and Bob look on.

Tranmere Times March 2017 Page 5

Bowling Wisdom: “The greens were so fast the bowl kept rolling even after it had stopped” – Stuart Loch

Betty Williamson delivers superb draw bowls.

Mike Sandon and Nick Cirocco, delighted with their win

over Claus Schonfeldt and John Feddersen in the men’s

pairs final.

Congratulations to all our club champions, to the

runners-up and to all those who competed in the

various events. Thank you to all the members,

family and friends who came out to watch matches

and, finally, thank you so much to Bob Gilby, Mike

Porter and Pam Fullarton for organising the events.

See you all at the Presentation Evening.

Betty Williamson keeps an eye on Judy Brook’s

technique in the women’s pairs final.

Max and John, a study in concentration during

their epic men’s singles final.

Tranmere Times March 2017 Page 6

Believe It or Not: John Feddersen, Geoff Thomas and Bob Taylor all bowled a wrong bias on the same night in the Taylor Super Challenge Series

Claus’ Conundrum

Quiz Night Taylor Bowls Super Challenge Series

Congratulations

Well done to our three Taylor Bowls Super Challenge

Series sides for competing well in their various divisions. The

Silver North side found the competition just that touch too

hard as did the Bronze Central side. Silver North finished

last in its division this year, while Bronze Central finished

sixth of eight.

Congratulations to our Bronze North side which finished

second at the end of the minor round to qualify for finals.

The Tranmere fours rink was the best performed in the

competition.

Each side comprised a twelve-player squad with players

rotating throughout the competition. Absent from the photo

above are Ann Ellis and Nick Cirocco.

In its first finals match the side beat Toorak Burnside 3 rinks

to 1 and followed that up with a win in the quarter final on

all 4 rinks against Christies Beach.

The side now plays its semi-final match against Holdfast Bay

at the Hawthorn Bowling Club on Sunday 26 March and,

hopefully, with a positive result in that match, will play in the

grand final on Sunday 2 April.

Congratulations to John Feddersen, who followed up his

selection in the SA representative side in the national RSL

bowling championships earlier this year with a win as skipper

of the fours in the SA state RSL championships.

Congratulations also to Justin Parkinson for his selection to

the Metropolitan Region 10 side (Metro East) that competed

in the Prestige Medley competition on Saturday 11 and

Sunday 12 March. Justin played lead on the triples rink.

Metro East played an outstanding tournament and finished

runner-up to Metro West in the grand final.

Once again a bumper crowd of close to 100 quiz enthusiasts

turned out at the Tranmere Bowling and Tennis Club annual

quiz night to test their trivia knowledge and wits against

Quiz Master Geoff Thomas. The rivalry amongst teams is

now legendary and, finally, after years of playing second,

third, or even lower than that, fiddle to bowling club teams,

the tennis club produced a winner.

Congratulations to the combined team of members and

friends from the Rostrevor and Tranmere tennis clubs in

taking out honours this year.

Solution to last month’s conundrum: It was none other than

Ron Brooks, of course, who has been very generously

donating an extra dollar to the afternoon tea costs, believing

that the cost was $5 instead of $4. There is no truth to the

scurrilous rumour that Ron is making up for it by only

contributing $3 for the time being.

This month, in lieu of

a conundrum, you

have an opportunity

to submit a clever

caption to this photo

from the club

championships.

Entries must be

submitted to Claus

Schonfeldt before

Friday 7 April, where

the winner will be

decided by popular

acclamation at the

Friday winter bowls.