A grade winner (secured well down into A grade) Viv Halbisch 65nett. C grade winner was Bev Woods 67nett.

Optional ball winners;- first Dale Harding 66 nett, second Maida O’Mally 67 nett, Tracy McIntyre 68 nett, winning on a count back from Terese Haley and Betty Green both 68 nett.

Betty also won nearest pin 9th and Viv Halbisch claimed 17^th.

Drawn card went to Carole Patterson. Marj Kelly won nine hole comp 30 nett.

Raffle kindly donated by Carole King was won by a lucky Bev Woods. No that was not a denture box!

Saturday saw a very small field of five players attend a Par event with Michelle Ashdown’s kindly donated Trophies.

As there was not enough players for main event Trophy, Michelle’s

Kindly donated raffle and nearest pin Trophies were competed!

Winner of raffle trophy Marj Kelly with + nine. Opp ball won by Marie Houghton + seven.

Nearest pin ninth Marj Kelly, 17^th Dale Harding.  

Today Wednesday, August 1 will see 2nd round Burgess Cup with Marie Bishop’s kindly donated Trophy. Saturday, August 4 a Stableford event with mixed draw and Narromine Butchery’s kindly donated Trophy. 

Hopefully everyone has found a partner for the first Round of Foursome Championships Wednesday, August 8. Wendy and Gail are Draw Starters eighth /11^th.

Weekly Ponder;- Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak. Courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen!

-by Granny Golfing Guru

Good field and scores in Gerries competition: Last Wednesday, in very pleasant conditions some 17 Geriatric golfers turned up for the weekly competition and once again the scores competitive and very good.

Winner on the day was Bob Richardson with an excellent round of 28 points.Well done Bob.Two players tied on 25 points Greg Kearines and John Butcher with Butcher winning the count-back The handicapper has assured us all he will be dealing strongly with all the good scorers.

Gus Smith won the NTP but only one ball in the kitty.Pom Harding  looked a certainty for the NAGA prize but  unfortunately Boof Fraser beat him on a count back.In all a very enjoyable  afternoon of golf.

Now we move to the pool table for the weekly event.Up first was Mal McIntyre fresh from his travels partnered by Gus Smith against Bob Fletcher and Greg Kearines. Greg and Bob proved far superior and advanced to the final.

The second preliminary match went to Mal Richardson and Terry Willis who really crunched their opponents Chris Harding and Norm Lewis with some brilliant pool. In the final they continued their fine form to defeat Kearines and Fletcher and become "Champs for the week". It was rumoured they had some luck on their side with some fluke shots.

This afternoon the comp will be an on the front nine with the hit off at the usual time of 2.30pm. Veteran Golfers are reminded of Tottenham Open.If you intend going to this event please let Ashley or Norm know so they can advise Tottenham for catering purposes. See you all on the tee.

A very quiet weekend of bowls activity for most of the lads in Red Trousers, but for a few who were on duty for the Zone representative team at Wagga Wagga  it was full on stuff.

A couple of competitive matches against the Zone 8 squad saw a win by Zone 4 on Saturday afternoon 84/70, but a loss by a similar score on Sunday Morning. Hopefully a few of our lads did enough to make the Zone team to contest the State Finals in September. That team will be announced this Sunday at the Zone AGM.

Meanwhile back at home numbers for social bowls were swelled due to a few visitors and the better weather. Thursday saw some 24 Players go around, whilst Sunday Mornings chook run attracted 16 starters including yours truly, yee har!! Finally got a game.

The full wrap of Thursday play went something like this – four rinks of Triples were contested which saw on rink 08 Peter Wilson, Bob Davis  and Don Sullivan score some 13 points in their 18/14 win over Allan, Bob and Eddie. On rink 9 it was the trio of Greg Wright, Waldo Hughes & Peter Cross who got the win 24/19 and some 15 points defeating Noel, Bob and Paul.

On rink 10 Peter Kelly, Bob Christoff and Barney Simpson just nudged out Dean, Kevin and Danny 19/17 and scoring 15 points for their effort. Out on rink 11 Des Lincoln, Geoff Bohm and Terry McDonald were having a day out at the expense of Clifton, Mark and Dale, but in the end they managed to win the day by just one point, after a spirited fightback by the not so vanquished. Once again the jackpot remained an elusive number and so nest week is worth quite a few bob. 

Sundays results saw that man again, one William Wilkie esquire lead his troops into battle for a resounding win, which saw them get the lion’s share of the loot on offer.

Bill had the formidable help of “GAZ” and “BRONCO” to ensure their victory over Colleen, Robert and Cranky 21/08 with the 15 points they scored just enough to nudge Kerry Martin and Bob Davis back to the runners up circle. Once again the jackpot prize pool remained intact and it too has grown into a healthy amount for when next we go round.  

Just like the weather hopefully over the next month or so Things are going to be warming up at Narromine Bowling Club. Firstly the Annual Gub Thorne Memorial Day will be in full swing come Saturday 11th August, and with some 20 odd teams already booked in and the Music locked in as well, this day is almost certainly going to be a highlight of our yearly calendar. Hope you’ve got your name down on the nomination sheet!!

Nominations for our “B” Grade Pairs close on Saturday 11th August and will commence the following Saturday. To date Nom’s are not that special, but no doubt with the local Footy season over we should get a few more starters.

Not much more to report, but looking forward to the Bowls on Thursday. Hope the weather co-operates.

-by Norman Bohm

Cloud cover spoilt the chance to view the blood moon eclipse on Saturday morning by residents in the central and western areas however that afternoon there was another “eclipse” providing a good sight at the Coonabarabran race meeting. A three year old gelding named Rare Eclipse was a winner for both omen punters and Tamworth trainer Luke Morgan.

Coming off an lmpressive debut when fourth at Dubbo, Rare Eclipse with Jake Hull in the saddle at Coonabarabran defied a drift in the betting from $2.10 to $4.20 to lead throughout when a half neck winner over Fleur De Force ( Belinda Hodder, $5 ) with Miss Gai ( Jake Pracey-Holmes,17 ) a half length away third in the 1200 metres Catholic Women’s Auxiliary Maiden Plate.

Foxy Queen, a cast off from Sydney stables, won the opening event, the Connababarabran Matrons Maiden Handicap,900 metres, as a pronounced favourite.

Now trained at Quirindi by Geoff O’Brien, Foxy Queen ( Greg Ryan, $1.75 ) shared the lead to the home turn then moved away to score by a length and a half from Fourth Protocol ( Jodi Worley, $17 )with over four lengths to third placed Night Talker ( Courtney Van Der Werf, $71 ).

The meeting at Coonabarabran was cancelled after two races due to the state of the track at the 600 metres. Coonabarabran has been particularly hard hit by the drought with severe water restrictions in place for the past year.

Winner of major awards over recent seasons the Coonabarabran Club will hopefully enjoy improving weather conditions as preparations are made for the Cup meeting in October,traditionally one of the best events in country racing.

-by Colin Hodges