Bowls NSW and Women’s Bowls NSW had issued a directive suspending all bowls activities including social bowls.  Subsequently Bowls NSW has issued another directive stressing that the suspension applies to all bowling activities and expanded it to include roll ups/practice. 
 
At St Ives we believe that our members must follow this directive and if you come to the club for roll up/practice YOU DO SO AT YOUR OWN RISK.
 
We face unprecedented circumstances and these measures are aimed at preventing the spread of the COVID-19 virus and avoiding the lock downs we are now seeing in other countries.  So we ask all members to follow the directives issued by Bowls NSW and Women’s Bowls NSW.

Kevin Latham

Bowls NSW and Women’s Bowls NSW have jointly advised today that “all association events, competition events, club events and tournaments and this includes social bowls” are suspended effective immediately.  See the announcement attached.
 
This means that both men’s and women’s Pennants are suspended and organized social men’s bowls tomorrow and women’s social bowls on Thursday are cancelled.  However, on both days green 2 will be prepared and jacks and mats put out so that if you want to come and roll up you can.  It is a personal decision.  Please remember the advice we have been given regarding keeping a social distance (1.5 metre) from other people.

Kevin Latham / Sue Byrne

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!

The St Ives Senior Pairs team of Sue Byrne and Vicki Bartrop came away winners today from the regional playoff. Having won the District Senior Pairs title in February, Sue and Vicki had to playoff against the Manly Warringah Seaforth team of Peta and June. 
Sue and Vicki played great consistent bowls to lead 11/6 after 11 ends. On the 12th end, St Ives picked up a 4 after Seaforth skip just missed the jack with her last shot. Sue put down some great lead bowls on the 15th end. Seaforth skip drew shot then picked up jack and took it back to St Ives. 
On the 17th end, June drew the shot to win the end – a big cheer from crowd! 18th end 21/7 . All over 22/7 after 19 ends.
Sue and Vicki now head off the state championships in September.

St Ives played host to the NSW Women's Regional Pennants Playoffs on Tuesday. This proved to be a fantastic event, blessed by a lovely autumn day & a good crowd of spectators.

At the business end of affairs:-

• In Grade 1 Neutral Bay defeated Harbord
• In Grade 2 Newport Beach defeated Asquith
• In Grade 3 Harbord defeated Killara
• In Grade 4 Manly defeated Belrose

This event couldn't have been staged without the help of many volunteer helpers including: Edith Abbott, Noel McBryde, Geoff Rose, Trevor Whitehead and Mike Gallagher. A special thank-you to President Di McBryde for staging a wonderful & prestigious competition at St Ives.

What an exciting day today - Di McBryde won the North Shore District Singles title against Sue Meares from Killara. It was a fantastic game. Di got away to a strong start and was leading 13:1. When Sue got the mat she started gaining ground. The score was 13:8 when Di killed the end. At 18:8, Di was going well. After a few more ends, Sue trailed the jack back, making 4 - the score was 20:17. Di steadied her nerves and pulled away again, winning 25:17. It was an excellent match!

The team of Vicki Bartrop and Sue Byrne were winners today in the final of the North Shore District Senior Pairs championship held at Chatswood Bowling Club. It was a tough match against a team from Mosman. Well done to Vicki and Sue who will next playoff in July to represent Region 15 at State later in the year.
St Ives ladies were very successful this year with Vicki & Sue meeting Rhonwen Martin and Margaret Ledbury in the semi-finals yesterday.

The St Ives Club hosted the annual district Versatility Day on Friday 9th November. The North Shore Womens District colour is purple so the greens were sparkling with splashes of purple everywhere. 
Versatility Day is a fun event where teams of 5 players represent each of the clubs in the district. Each team plays triples and pairs.
This year, the successful club was Mosman. Lindfield Rollers were the runners up. Congratulations to all organisers and players for a most successful day.

St Ives Grade 4 Pennants side played in the State Finals at Terrigal BC on August 9/10. Unfortunately our ladies weren't able to qualify from their section having come up just short in some close matches.

​In their first match they went down 37-35 (4 pts to 1) to Towradgi Park. The second match was also a narrow defeat 43-35 (4 pts to 1) against Temora Ex-Services. The final match saw a 58-33 (5 pts to 0) loss to St Johns Park.

Great credit to all involved for qualifying for the finals and a competitive performance against some of the best teams in the state.

Gerard Coggans 16 August 2018