The ladies played the Club Fours Championship semi-final today. The game between Vicki Bartrop's team and Pam Caganoff's team was very close. Congratulations to all players. We look forward to an exciting final on Thursday.

What an exciting couple of days with the District Open Pairs and District Senior Pairs being played at Asquith, West Pymble and Lindfield. St Ives had 3 pairs in the Senior event at Asquith, with all 3 getting through the first round. 
Di McBryde and Shizuko Hashimoto won through to the semi-finals being played at Lindfield on Sunday morning. Unfortunately, Shizuko was unwell so Jan Woodcock very kindly played as her substitute. A huge congratulations to Di, Shizuko and Jan for fantastic bowls in all games.
Jan and Di won the semi-finals in the morning. They then played a very exciting final on Sunday afternoon and came away with the win. This means that Di and Shizuko will play in the regional playoffs in June to see who represents Region 15 at the state championships in August. This is the 2nd year running for a St Ives team to hold this trophy. We are very proud of you ladies!

A hectic day at SIBC yesterday with a plethora of teams competing in the Zone 9 Reserve Fours plus six rinks of social bowls.

St Ives had just two representative fours in action yesterday. In the State Fours, played at Harbord BC, Mark Rosenberg's side got through Round  1 beating A. Foy from Asquith 20-14. However, in the afternoon Round 2 match they came up short losing to Mona Vale's A. Glew 17-25.

In the Senior Fours, played at Belrose BC, Rod Silber's four fell in Round 1 to G. Tetstall's Harbord team 13-22.
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Thankfully some easier playing conditions on Sunday at Belrose BC for the Senior Zone Triples. Three SIBC teams were in action.

Rod Silber's team fell 25-18 to J. Courtney from Dee Why whilst George Rosettenstein's side lost to G. Tetstall from Harbord 34-19. Wilson Cheng's triple (who had a bye in Round 1) had a good Round 2 win, 32-14, against A. Marsden from Avalon  Beach. However, Wilson & co fell at the Round 3 hurdle, losing 30-8 to P. Leckey from Harbord.
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Saturday saw a blisteringly hot day for the scheduled opening rounds of the Zone Triples competition. Matches in Round 1 were completed at all four venues in use but play at Belrose, Asquith & St Ives was suspended in the afternoon in the interest of health & safety of the players. A cooling breeze at Harbord allowed all scheduled games to be completed there.

In the State Triples at Harbord, Geoff Rose's rink went down 26-15 to M. Davern (Asquith).

In the Reserve Triples (played at Asquith & St Ives) SIBC had just the one entry, skipped by Wes Taylor. Playing at Asquith they lost to R. Abdallah's triple, playing on their own green, 33-13.

We had better fortunes in the Senior Triples played at Belrose. Rod Silber came through against D. Rust (Harbord) 24-21 whilst George Rosettenstein fought off R. Wise's Belrose triple 26-22.

Play will continue today (Sunday) subject to weather conditions.

The annual George Griffith Trophy match was played on Saturday against Newport. Three rinks at home and three down on the Northern Beaches. All the players were met with unseasonable conditions for mid-summer- temperatures in the low 20s and gusty winds after overnight rain.

The Grade 5 sides met at SIBC and all three teams from St Ives performed well, winning their games with a little to spare. The combined score on the Big Board was 67-39. It was a little tighter in the Grade 6/7 match down in Newport. In all three games the score fluctuated but no-one ever got a big lead. St Ives led on the Big Board most of the way but late in the proceedings it was Newport a few shots ahead. Honours were even as St Ives got one shot on the 63rd end to leave the final score 53-53.

​So St Ives won the match overall 120-92. Well done to all involved.

The ladies enjoyed bowls and a delightful lunch, followed by the annual presentations. The club house looked great and there was a very happy "buzz". Well done to the many winners and runners-up.

It was to time to celebrate the successes in our competitions in 2019 as Kevin Latham presided over this year's Presentation Day. Kevin expressed his thanks to everyone who had participated in the various events. 

The Bowler of the Year award was presented jointly to Chris Carey and Rod Silber. The full list of honorees is shown below.

Sunday saw the conclusion of the 2019 competitive bowling season as the final title was decided at St Ives BC. The Men's Handicap Pairs final saw Andrew Murphy & Mike Heath take on Trevor Whitehead & Peter Shlager.

Andrew and Mike started with a 3-shot advantage but arguably the final was won on just three decisive ends. On end 3 Trevor & Peter notched a SEVEN to take them into the lead. They consolidated that advantage with a run of four ends won to lead by 9 shots. Then came the second big score of the match- on end 10 Trevor & Peter notched up a five to extend their lead to 21-8.

Andrew & Mike certainly weren't going down without a fight. They put a run of their own together winning six ends and narrowing the score to 23-16. However Trevor & Peter had one final big moment taking four shots on end 18. The match finished on end 20 with a final score in favour of Trevor & Peter of 30-16.

Congratulations to the winners and commiserations to the runners-up.