Social Calendar: Wednesday: Triples/pairs - start 12.45pm - entry by 11.30am. Saturday: Pairs/Triples - start 12.30pm - entry by 11.30am. Place entries for all social events on sheets in club or phone answering service on 44742108. Details of club activities can be found on the "Moruya Mens Bowling Club" facebook page.

UPCOMING TOURNAMENTS:

MAY CARNIVAL: The may carnival to be played over Friday 24 May to Sunday 26 May has unfortunately been cancelled due to circumstances outside the control of the club committee.

MIXED PAIRS SPRING TOURNAMENT: Thursday 12 and Friday 13 September 2019. Total prize money $3,600. 1st $1200, 2nd $750, 3rd $500, 4th $400 and 5th $250. Best day winners $250 per team. The tournament will be conducted over 4 games of 18 ends (2 games per day). Placings will be decided on points - 3 per win and 1 per draw - followed by aggregate margin. Dress - club uniform of tournament attire. Cards drawn Thursday 12 at 8.30am - play commences 9.00am each day. Entry $120 per team. Entries close Wednesday 4 September

MORUYA MENS PAIRS TOURNAMENT: Tier 4 National Ranking Event. Saturday 14 September and Sunday 15 September: Total prize money $3,600. !st $1200, 2nd $750, 3rd $500, 4th $400 and 5th $250. Best day winners $250 per team. The tournament will be conducted over 6 games of 14 ends (3 games per day). Placings will be decided on points - 3 per win and 1 per draw - followed by aggregate margin. Dress - club uniform of tournament attire. Cards drawn Saturday 8.30am - play commences 9.00am each day. Entry $120 per team. Entries close Wednesday 4 September

DEUA RIVER TRIPLES: Two Bowl Men's Triples Event. Tier Four National Rankings Event. Saturday 16th November thru to Sunday 17th November. Total Prize Money $4,500. 1st $1,800, 2nd $1,050, 3rd $750, 4th $300. Best day game winners $300 per team each day. Entry $150 per team. Format: 8 games of 12 live ends - 2 games before lunch and 2 games after each day. Cards to be drawn Saturday morning at 8.30am. Play commences at 9.00am each day.Results decided on points. (3 per win and 1 per tie) followed by aggregate margin. Dress code club uniform or tournament clothing. Entries close Wednesday 6th November. Entry fee payable on entry or payment on day of event. 28 entries only available.

Details for all to tournaments events: Robbie Strahan 0409 463 076 or email moruyabowls@hotmail.com. Entry for all may events close Wednesday 15 May. Forward entry with payment or pay on day of event. Entries to Moruya Mens Bowling Club, PO Box 98, MORUYA 2537.

Peter Davies and Joel Hilliard have won the Club's Major Pairs following a good win over Noel Downie and John Monks in a very competitive final. The two best sides in the competition played a very fitting final. The closeness of the contest was evident as both teams were quickly into top form. Some fine bowls from all four players saw the score locked at 9 all after 9 ends. Davies and Hilliard edged ahead over the next few ends with the really critical play coming in the 12th end. Down 13 - 9 and behind on this end Monks played a calculated on shot but, to his dismay, after making contact with the jack he saw it rebound off a bowl and bounce forward a couple of metres. As a result he went down 4 shots and the deficit was doubled!

Davies and Hilliard consolidated this advantage to 19 - 9 after 13 ends. Downie and Monks continued to play well but the defensive play from Davies and Hilliard was such that they were able to restrict the number of shots they lost to a minimum. In this stage of the game Davies, in particular, showed his experience. The final score was 23 - 15 to Davies and Hilliard and they proved to worthy winners of the title. Far from disgraced, Downie and Monks were a little unlucky but they showed that they are very competitive at all levels.

The Pennant season for both Tuross sides came to a disappointing end at the District playoffs. The grade 5 side played Milton Ulladulla at Moruya needing to win to progress to the Zone Final. From the start this was a very interesting contest. Each Club had one of their three teams dominating their matches and the third game was very close. Ulladulla held the upper hand on the 'main board' for much of the game and the final score of 60 - 52 was due to a big finish from Tuross. Joel Hilliard's team continued their tremendous form and had a 31 - 12 win. John Fahey's team was competitive early but found their opponents too good in the second half of the game. They lost 30 - 8. John Monks' team had a tighter tussle but always found themselves on the wrong side of the score line. They ended up losing 18 - 13.

The Grade 7 side travelled to St Georges Basin to play Callala RSL. This was a very evenly matched contest with the result up in the air to the last few ends. Tuross held the advantage on the 'master board' for most of the match. It wasn't until the last two ends of the 63 end contest that Callala RSL grabbed the lead. They managed to finish the stronger to win 59 shots to 54.

Allan Etheredge's team had a very good 17 - 12 win on their rink. Etheredge, in particular, played some outstanding bowls to lead by example. Ray Downey's side had a very close battle before going down 21 - 17 and Ronnie Richardson's side had two bad ends in their 26 - 20 loss. The closeness of the game is shown in that Callala won 32 of the 63 ends compared to Tuross's 31!!

The 2019 Pennant Zone play-offs were held last Saturday and Sunday. The grade 3 pennant side travelled to Ulladulla to play against St Georges Basin. In a tight game and despite winning two out of three rinks Malua Bay lost the match 60 shots to 57 and were eliminated from this year's competition. The grade 6 pennant side travelled to Tura Beach and in their first game on Saturday defeated Shoalhaven Ex-Servos by 64 shots to 47. In their second match on Sunday Malua Bay lost by one shot against Mallacoota and were also eliminated from this year's competition. The social triples winners last Wednesday were Kevin Ellison, A Anderson and Graeme Dade. Thursday's pairs winners were Allan Foote and Vic Patrikka and the runners up were Alex Scorrano and John Muldrew. The first two rounds of the club singles championships will be held on Saturday and Sunday.

There was no social bowls at Malua Bay last Tuesday as most of the ladies were at Moruya cheering on the ladies in Grade 4 Pennants and the Four-a-side teams. Have heard it was the best Regional event ever . Well done to the District committee, also the ladies from Moruya Bowling Club who did a fantastic job helping out where needed as well as serving lunches to all participants, they even somehow managed to turn on two days of beautiful sunshine.

The cheering for all teams taking part was amazing and am sure it spurred them all on. I was told the bowls was fantastic to watch. Congratulations to all winning teams and everyone who took part in the event. Malua Bay had success in Grades 1 and 4 also the Four-a-side team were presented with Gold medals for their win. Friendly Friday: There were 34 bowlers on the green last week enjoying their morning of bowls. Winners, Ian Stewart and Karen Signor +25 . Runners-up, Helen Rees and Gwen Ware + 24 , so very close. Money club winner, Jeanette Whalley . No Jackpot won .

Another beautiful day of sunshine for the 49 bowlers last Sunday, the weather was superb. President Steven Hogan welcomed everyone, reminding all that membership is now due . We all sang Happy Birthday to Di Zeibell who celebrated on the day. Ingrid Blasius aka Shorty found another name beside her name, "Trouble" who would do such a thing!

Winners on highest losing margin. Steven Hogan and Peter Crowe . Runners-up Beth Epplestun and Sonia Frey. Sonia selected Rink 12 to try for Jackpot , the honours done by Henry Butler who could only come up with Queen of Spades, no Joker. Breakfast trays won by Dick Zeibell and Barry Stone. Congratulations to Tomakin ladies who won Grade 3 Pennants and now go on to play at State level, well done to all. Everyone welcome to Sunday Twist Tops come along and bowl to some great music.

Social Triples: Thursday, May 16. Thursday's winners were Phil Versteeg, Henry Garad, and Chris O'Brien with a plus 21. The runners up were Dick Ziebell, Neil Power, and Gerry Vandermey with a plus 18. The jackpot draw went to Gerry Vandermey on rink 9. With so few cards left in the deck Gerry only just missed picking the joker. Once again the $510 jackpot carries over to next week, but it must be won sometime very soon.

2019 Pennants: Saturday, May 18. Our Grade 4 pennant side travelled to Bega last Saturday to compete in the 2019 Zone 7 pennant play offs. They met Sussex Inlet in the first round and gave it their best shot, but were defeated. Sussex Inlet continued through to the second round on Sunday but they themselves were then defeated by Cooma. We wish the Cooma side all the best in the play off for the state flag in Port Macquarie.

Social Pairs: Monday, May 20. Monday's winners were Ian Standish and Jamie Cormie with a big margin of plus 26.The runners up were Milka Starkovski and Peter Hutchinson with a plus 24. The jackpot draw went to rink 2. Ron Beeley missed picking the joker by two cards and the $500 jackpot carries over.

Tomakin 4 Day Carnival, July 4-7. Entries are being taken for our four day carnival to be held in July. Events include Open Triples on Thursday, Mixed Pairs on Friday, Mens Pairs of Saturday, and Mixed Fours on Sunday. Bowlers are invited submit their entries early.

On Tuesday 14 May the winners of the social game with the highest winning margin were, Lead Beth Epplestun, Second Marion Edmonds and Skip Jo Harding. Runners-up Lead Daphne Stone, Second Madge Elliott and Skip Trish Chapman.

The raffle winners were Kathy Roe and Jan Brown. We would like to wish our Secretary Di Ziebell a Happy Birthday.