"It's a game of two halves" is a well-worn sporting cliché but it was an appropriate description for yesterday's Men's Triples Final where Rod Silber's side overcame an 8-shot deficit to run down Fred Alexander's side to take the 2019 title. Conditions were almost perfect with a sunny day and a fairly quick green but the players did have to combat a gusty southerly down the rink for most of the afternoon.

Fred Alexander's side (comprising Richard Lander and Peter Shlager) got off to a fast start taking 4 shots on the first end. They continued to have the edge building up to a 13-5 advantage after 10 ends. In the middle phase of the game Rod's side (with Richard Carey leading and Chris Carey playing second) just started to cut into that advantage without ever getting their noses in front. After 20 ends Fred's side still had a 3-shot lead, 18-15.

In the home stretch it was Rod's side who found another gear with the skip producing some marvellous last bowl heroics. They won 4 ends in a row to lead 23-18 with 5 ends to play and this proved decisive. Starting the last end Fred's side needed 6 to tie but it was Rod & co who had the last say taking two shots for an impressive 28-20 victory.

Congratulations to all the players in an exciting final match.

The second Semi-Final in the Men's Triples championship was played on Saturday. A strong performance from Richard Carey, Chris Carey and Rod Silber saw them go through to the final with a 30-16 win against Ross Yates, Sam Johnston & John Swann. Their opponents in the final will be Richard Lander, Peter Shlager & Fred Alexander.

The Men's Club AGM will be held at 10 am on Saturday, 19th October 2019.

The Notice of Meeting can de downloaded/viewed here.

The Men's Triples championship inched closer to its finale with the first of two semi-finals being played yesterday. The lineups saw Andrew Murphy, Ian Finlay & Jim Barclay take on Steven Goddard, Peter Shlager and Fred Alexander. (Steven Goddard was a substitute for Richard Lander.)

The match could scarcely have been closer most of the way. The two sides traded ends and when one side got a big score it was immediately matched by their opponents. After 11 ends it was 9-9 and after 18 ends it was 16-16. Eventually the stalemate was broken with Fred Alexander's team gaining 4 shots on end 19 and 4 more on end 24. That stretched Fred's lead to 26-19 and another 4 shot haul on end 26 effectively decided the contest. The match finished on end 27 with a final score of 30-21.

So Fred Alexander's threesome go forward to the final where their opponent will be the winner of the other semi-final between John Swann and Rod Silber's teams.

Championships are played in all weathers. Saturday's Men's Triples Quarter Finals were staged with a backdrop of a 40 km/h westerly keeping temperatures down at 18 degrees.

Fred Alexander's team were gratefully through to the semi-finals already but three other matches were fought out. Two games were extremely close: Jimmy Barclay's team pipped Graham Hancock's side 32-29 while John Swann's threesome just got home against Peter Larcombe's by a score of 28-26. The last semi-finalists are Rod Silber's side who came through 31-15 against Joe Shofer's team.

Well done everyone who braved the difficult conditions and good luck to the semi-finalists. The semi's are due to be played this coming Saturday.

Just one match in Round 1 of the Triples championship with all the other teams having a bye through to the Quarter Finals. Graham Hancock's team got the win against Bruce Mason's team and will move forward to the next round to be played on Saturday.

One of the Quarter Finals was also played on Saturday, Fred Alexander's team had a big win and now sit waiting for their semi-final opponent.

Congratulations to Tim Walton & Peter Larcombe who took out the 2019 Pairs Championship on Saturday. The Final was played in cold & blustery conditions and the match was very close early on before Tim & Peter took control & held on for the win & repeat their triumph of last year. The final score was 22-13.

Well done, Greig.

Congratulations, Rod.

This account kindly provided by Geoff Rose.