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BALERNO BOWLING CLUB

 

CANCEL THE BUCKETS AND SPADES…..FOR NOW!

 

Previously, I posed 7 big questions for our players at the start of the season. One asked whether any of our teams might do a Ross County and get to a cup final? With the season halfway gone we haven’t quite managed to reach the Scottish Bowling Association finals in Ayr - hence the title of this article - but we have had some magnificent performances in trying to get there.

Pride of place goes to our Pairs team of Michael Haldane and Jim Wight (skip) who battled their way through to the District Finals at Colinton BC only to lose to last year’s Scottish Pairs runners up. Michael and Jim fought bravely in the final but were simply outbowled on the night.

Commiserations also go to young Dean McNeill who got through to the Semi Finals of the Under 25s competition. Dean is still making steady progress in our Club Championship so he may yet answer another of my big questions about the winning potential of our younger members. That will of course depend on whether he or anyone else can stop the progress of 88 year old Simon Mackay!

Helen and Kenny Girdler also did well to get through to the Quarter Finals of the Ashbourne (Mixed Pairs) as did the Seniors Rink of Bill Stark, George O’Reilly, Ron Duguid and Brian Ronald (skip) in reaching the Semi Finals of the Edinburgh and Leith BA competition.

Our First and Second XVIs continue to record enough credible results to suggest they may yet get higher up their respective leagues than for some time. Certainly, there was a good atmosphere in the Club tonight after the First XVI beat league leaders Juniper Green BC 3 – 2. And our Seniors Team was cock-a-hoop yesterday after beating Currie BC 4 – 1. (Sorry, friends from Currie BC, I had to mention that!)

All our teams are doing us proud and who knows with some external competitions still to come we may yet need those buckets?

By the time you read this the Club will have enjoyed one of its most ambitious Cabaret nights when the young quartet known as ‘Faith’ bring their high octane show to town.

All this excitement in the Club has been tempered by the sad loss of three of our older members. Evelyn Reid, Angus Bald and Ena Orr were all lost to us rather suddenly. Each had contributed significantly over many years to the Club’s bowling and social activities and they will all be sorely missed. Our thoughts and prayers go out to their respective families at this sad time.

 

CHARLIE HUSBAND OBE
Club President