There were good fields and strong competition which made for interesting results, at least that’s what it looked like for yours truly, once again entrenched on the sideline due to directorial duty.

Anyhow enough of the mundane stuff and onto what happened. On Thursday some 20 gentlemen took to the field, including former member Barry “Toaster” Riley, who now resides in “sunny” Orange - must have felt like he was home in our chilly conditions.

Barry teamed up with Ray Cross in a pairs match against Kevin Heatrick and David McNair out on rink four and, as luck would have it, he and Ray got the cash “literally” as their winning margin of eight was the same number as the old bingo machine produced for the jackpot prize pool and so a few shekels jumped on board. Not only that but they scored 16 points, just enough to garner the runners-up prize, nice return to home presents all round.

But the day’s winners were the triples team of Mal Dawes, Don Gibson and Danny Carnevale who defeated George Shearwood, Graham King and Don Sullivan 22-9 in what most pundits would have put down as a bit of an upset: “Dawsey” must have had the “mental disintegration” going full bore.

Other results saw on rink five Justin Martin, Clifton Harris and Peter Cross notch up a tough 21-17 win over Gordon McIntyre, Mal Hitchcock and Geoff Anderson while in the other pairs confrontation it was Robert Bateman and John Heterick who got the chocolates, just 16-15, over Bob Weir and Peter Kelly. So an enjoyable afternoon was had and with the weather getting better by the week hopefully numbers will continue to improve.

Sunday saw some 20 boys and nine girls take to the playing field and once again the results were “interesting”.

The day’s winners on a count back were the formidable triples team of Mavis Leak, Robert Bateman and that inspiring skipper Betty Purvis, who thumped Mick Weir, Bob Ashdown and Arnold Gillespie 22-9.

Good effort that from Betty and the troops. Betty who doesn’t skip very often has a knack of getting her team to relax and simply enjoy the occasion; marvellous what that sort of atmosphere produces from the players.

The runners-up on the day were another triples team, namely “Legs” Hartas, Bruce Livingston and David McNair, who defeated “Legs” alter ego, Jan Buswell and Geoff Anderson by the same score and margin, but just didn’t have enough shots in the count back department to claim the top spot.

In other results Mitch Smith, David Price and Bruce Maher defeated PK, Bill and Shorty 21-9 (once again that’s what the card said, short hand “Bruce”?). On rink 20 we saw a tough encounter between the trio of Helen Woolfe, Clifton Harris and Ruth Bullock up against Mark Smith, Helen McIntyre and Steve Buttsworth, with once again the lady skip and team getting the win. In the final triples confrontation it was even closer with a 15-15 draw being played out between the trio of Min Porter, Judy Bateman and Don Sullivan who were up against Mal Dawes, Rosalie Woods and Geoff Bohm.

So that’s what happened last week. What’s in store for this week and beyond? Well this weekend sees the commencement of our A triples championships, sort of. With numerous byes we only have one match set down for play. So Sunday (Saturday is a lay day due to Trangie President’s Day/well that’s what Bruce said) the match scheduled for play commencing at 10am will feature a new combination of Legs Hartas, Steve Riley and Wayne Beahan who will tackle Steve Buttsworth, Des Lincoln and David McNair in what should be an interesting affair.

Nominations sheets for the B triples, consistency singles and the mixed handicap pairs have all been posted on the club notice board and with each having a different closing date and playing schedule those interested in being part of the action are advised to check and nominate sooner rather than later to avoid disappointment.

Narromine was represented in the district Champion of Champions Singles event last weekend by our own club champion Aaron Hutchison. Unfortunately his first round match against Yeoval’s Rory Ryan wasn’t a memorable one.

Despite fighting back from 1-11 to hit the front 18-16, Aaron couldn’t hold off his challenger and bowed out 31-25. Hopefully he and Robbie Stanford will do better in this weekend’s pairs format of the district championship.

The flyers and invitations for our upcoming triples tournament have been posted and again I encourage anyone thinking about entering this event to nominate early as spaces are limited, and with the excellent prize money on offer the house full sign should be posted in the next week or so.

Not much more to report on this week, hopefully last night’s trivia night will have been a success and if you missed that event tonight’s euchre club is going along nicely, but there’s always plenty of room for more keen players.

The Wednesday night game kicks off at 7pm. Cost is a mere $5 and with good cash prizes on offer and the best supper in town, it’s not surprising that this little group averages more than 24 each week.