A very warm weekend with little wind greeted our champ fours team.  Eight men’s teams took up the challenge to be the 2024/25 club champion.

Who would it be this year?  Last year’s winner Peter Orgias with a new team, Leon Wech with a new team, Phill Chisolm, his team including the winning triples team from last week and of course the vastly experienced Ian Coombe team.  The other four teams all capable of taking out the title on the day.

Two and three winners would qualify. Five teams qualified:

Ian Coombe, Brian Rogers, Bill Lowe and John Valentine had two wins from two and did not need to play their third game.
Phill Chisholm, David Payne, Wayne Glogoski and Bruce McClintock also had two from two and did not need to play their third game.

Murray Radojkovich, Stuart Jamieson, Barry McCrystal and Steve McGregor won two games including their last game with Murrays last bowl of the game.
Leon Wech, Alan Telford, Tony Popplewell and Michael Thomas had two wins and a loss to Murray.
Peter Orgias, Gerry Strydom, Gordon Jenkins and Allan Langley had two wins and a loss to Ian Coombe.

The non-qualifiers were:
Larry Cain, Tony Trent, Tony James and Ron Horne.
Kevin Robertson, David Lloyd, John Gledhill and John Lindsay.
Russell Parkinson, Garth Partridge, Barry Baillie and Graeme Storey.

Finals day. We had a bye round to start.
Ian Coombe beat Murray Radojkovich 18-5 .  Murrays team were not up to their Saturday form, John Valentine lead extremely well and Ian was there to finish off.

Semi-finals.
Peter Orgias beat Phill Chisholm 19-9.  The Orgias team played extremely well with Allan, Gordon, Gerry and Peter consistently putting the pressure on Phill’s team and not letting them in the game.

Leon Wech beat Ian Coombe 13-12 in a close affair.  It was even most of the way but Leon crept out to a 13-8 lead with two ends to play.  13-9 with the last to be played, Ian’s team held three and Ian needed to draw with both his bowls to take the win, unfortunately for him he did not.  Michael lead very well, Tony was feeling more comfortable at two and Alan and Leon were making crucial shots.

Final.
Orgias v Wech, both skips were in the winning team from last year and both have had outstanding success in this prestigious event.

Peter raced to a 3-0 lead after two ends but Leon picked up a three in the third, 3 all.  Peter won the next end with a one to lead 4-3.  Leon’s team then won eight of the last ten ends to win the game 15-6.  Michael playing great lead bowls, Tony with some nice weighted shots, Alan placing bowls where Leon wanted them,  Leon playing his famous block bowls, they played like a well drilled team.

Peter’s team may have played their best bowls in the semi where they were awesome but Leon’s team just kept the pressure on especially through the middle to later ends and they deserved the victory.

Congratulations Leon Wech, Alan Telford, Tony Popplewell and Michael Thomas.

 A big thank you to all the helpers, Gerd in the kitchen, Leon and his team setting up and marking the greens, flags etc, Alan Daniels Convenor, Bar and Photographer.

 Unfortunately Gordon Jenkins had to rush away and missed the photo.

Report by Alan Daniels