Port Alberni played host to the final big tournament of the year this past weekend (Sept. 16 & 17), and three of the top four teams came out of our club.  Winning the North Vancouver Island & Powell River District Pairs Championship was the team of Carol and Ken Bucyk.   They defeated the team of Chris and Martin Fereday in a nail biter which was determined on the final bowl of the last end of the game.  In the end, the Bucyk team won 15-13, and  took home gold medals and  the District trophy.  Chris and Martin Fereday took home the silver medal for the second place finish.  In third was the father daughter team of Eric and Luci Ewen of Qualicum Beach.  Merry Danarti and Bob Allaby,  who were last year’s defending champions, finished in fourth.

Many thanks go out to the Port Alberni club for their efforts this year.  The greens were superb, the kitchen staff and all the behind the scenes folks made it a very positive experience.  Thanks to Dean Penny, the District Games Chair for his work this year, as to all the games people in all the clubs who worked so hard to make these games happen.  Thanks also to those who came out to watch, and to those who came to play.  Happy “off-season” to all and enjoy a much needed break.

Carol Bucyk

What a day for a great lawn bowling  challenge!  Tuesday, September 12th saw the Cowichan Lawn Bowling Club up for a visit and a two game mini-tournament.  Even though the rain came down at times,  it didn’t dampen the spirits of the players from both teams.  There were lots of laughs and some superb shot making as well.  In the end,  and after a very long four year drought, Parksville was able to bring home the trophy.    It went right down to the wire points-wise.  There were two 10 end games played and amazingly with wins, losses and tie scores the two clubs were tied at 32.  It came down to shot differential with Cowichan having 145 shots for, while Parksville earned 150.  With that +5 differential, Parksville won the challenge.

A very big thank you goes out to all who participated from both teams and to those at the our club who made it all happen, both inside and on the green.  Thanks to Chuck Benson for the great photo of both teams on our deck.  See you all next year.

Carol Bucyk

The Men’s and Women’s Novice and Intermediates Tournament winners were decided in Parksville on Saturday, September 8th, with Parksville and Nanaimo players earning the honours.  It was a clean sweep  for Parksville with Bob Ashton winning the Novice Men’s and Bob Merrell winning the Men’s Intermediate division.  On the women’s side, again, it was a clean sweep, but this time it was for Nanaimo with Diana Anderson taking novice honours and Lezlie Howe winning the Intermediate section.  Dean Penny, District Games Chair presented the awards to all four winners.   The Parksville Club would like to thank all those who took part in the event and to those behind the scenes who made it all possible.  Thanks to our club photographer, Chuck Benson, for his great photos of the tournament winners.

It started out a bit rainy and soggy for the start of the Berwick (a.k.a. George Gibson) Open Triples Tournament held Sept. 6th and 7th at our club.  However, the sun soon broke through and we were able to run a great tournament on almost ideal conditions.  The green was superb and made bowling a real treat for members visiting  our club.  There were two flights to this event.  It’s  a healthy sign for the sport which took a real hit during the pandemic.

In the early draw, the winning team was made up of the Ewen family:  Erik, Suzanne and Luci of Qualicum Beach.    Second was Rick Quibell, Mary Mulligan and Joe Randazzo of Nanaimo.    Third went to another Nanaimo team of  Vern Hagstrom, Linda Cooper and Keith McMann.  Fourth place was earned by Jake and Elaine Van Kooten and Ben Vermeer of Port Alberni.

The late draw first place winners was the team of Vern Greenhill, Henri Saucier and Sandy Tonnellier.  Second was the Qualicum team of Mike Ward, Helen Roberts and John Eyre.  Third went to Parksville’s Chris and Martin Fereday with Peter Scott.  The team of Randy Noble, Frances Tester and Brian Schule also from Nanaimo  came in at fourth place.

The Ewen team of Luci, Erik and Suzanne were the overall winners and will have their names engraved on the trophy for this year.

Many, many thanks go out to the following people who made this all possible.  Vicky and her kitchen crew who made sure that we didn’t go hungry, our bartenders who made sure that we didn’t go thirsty.  A big thank you  also goes out to our greens-keepers,  plus Mick and Athol for ironing the green,  our games team for all the work involved in getting things up and running numbers-wise, umpires (Rod Tester and Joyce Mitchell), the spectators who came out and watched, Sandi Mitchell for doing all that she does in these events and Berwick and its representative Corrina who donated lovely gift baskets and other assorted goodies for the tournament.  Last, but not least,  we cannot forget Chuck Benson for all his great shots of the games, the players and all the other pictures he’s taken for us this year.  Thank you, Chuck!

Carol Bucyk

 Port Alberni was home to some great lawn bowling on superb greens this past weekend (September 2 & 3).   The weather cooperated as well, although Saturday was challenging because of the heat.  In the end, the five game series came down to two winners.  On the  women’s side, it was Robin Forrest of Port Alberni who took first and earned the title as District champion.  April Gilchrist of Courtenay came second, and our own Chris Fereday took third.  On the men’s side, it was Vern Hagstrom of Nanaimo winning the crown, while our own Rick Dolley came second, beating out the third place finisher, Peter Scott, also of Parksville.  Thanks to all who came out to play, and those who came out to watch.

Just a reminder that the District Pairs finals will be coming up in two weeks time  (September 16 & 17)and  also in Port Alberni.  The highway is now fully open, so we look forward to seeing you out there.  Ken and Carol Bucyk as well as Chris and Martin Fereday will be representing our home club of Parksville.

Carol Bucyk

Hard to believe that leagues have wrapped up for the season and September is just around the corner.  We’ve had all kinds of play on our lovely green and some really great opportunities to meet and play with novices, tenderfoot and experienced players alike.  Here’s a summary of what wrapped up this past week.  In Cut Throat, Bob Ashton came up on top.  In Twisted Triples, it was Chris and Martin Fereday along with Janet Harding who came out as winners, and in Scotch Pairs, it was Trevor and Kathleen Motley reigning supreme on the green.  A big thank you goes out to all who came out and played, and a really big thank you to the novices and tenderfoot players who made a point of coming out and playing.  We hope that everyone  had fun, learned a bit more about the game and enjoyed what it has to offer as a sport for life.

Carol Bucyk

August 26 and 27th were two very busy days for the Nanaimo Lawn Bowling Club with many of our own club members coming out as winners.  First place went to the dynamic duo of Vern Hagstrom and Linda Cooper, while our own Rick Dolley and Merry Danarti came in a close second.  Courtenay’s Dean Penny teamed up with our  Roberta Stets for a third place finish.   Parksville’s Ken and Carol Bucyk earned a fourth place finish and rounding out fifth was another Courtenay team of Peter Harding and Heather Divine.

Because it was Nanaimo’s 100th anniversary, the tournament sponsor, Martin Velsen,  of Martin Velsen Real Estate had many  wonderful surprise and gifts  to hand out such as gift certificates, bottles of wine, a couple of one hundred dollar bills and  even a Nespresso coffee maker.  We’re appreciative of Martin’s generosity and thank him for his continued support of lawn bowling and the Nanaimo club.

Many thanks to Chuck Benson who took these photos of Ken and Carol, as well as that of  Geoff and Anne Holland.

The Port Alberni Fours Tournament was held this past weekend under smokey /sunny skies.  Six teams competed in this event with three clubs participating.  Port Alberni had three teams, Courtenay had one and Nanaimo had two.  First place went to the Nanaimo team of Chris Windess, Adrian Hewitt, Kathleen Hewitt and Wayne Migneault (novice).  Second was earned y Stephen Forrest, Robin Forrest, Roger Koch (novice) and Ojas Cats (novice).  Third place  finishers were Dean Penny, Vern Greenhill, Henri Saucier and Sandy Tonellier.  According to Robin Forrest, “All players were very appreciative of the superb playing surface and the usual welcoming hospitality.”  She went on to say “Yes, the air is a bit thick with smoke the our valley; however it was not unbearable…yet.”

Carol Bucyk

Congratulations to the final four who earned their way to play in the  2023 Club Singles Championship:  Peter Scott, Ken Bucyk, Chris Fereday and Carol Bucyk.  The games were tough nail biters but in the end it was Peter Scott prevailing as  a three-pete winner taking home the hardware on the men’s side.  In the women’s competition, it was just as exciting with Carol Bucyk winning a tough one over Chris Fereday.

A special thanks to the finalists who helped make this tournament so exciting; Bob Allaby, Martin Fereday, Jo Merrell and Sandi Mitchell who were very tough competitors in the semi-finals which were played on Saturday morning.  To the markers, kitchen staff, greens crew,  bar tender,  games committee and those who came out to watch the games, you  are what makes this club special.  I do hope I named everyone, and if I didn’t, my apologies.

The winners of this tournament go on to represent Parksville Lawn Bowling Club at the District Singles Competition to be held in Port Alberni, September 3rd and 4th.

This past weekend was  perhaps one of the most entertaining  Novice & Intermediate Tournaments held at our club.  The morning and afternoon games on August 5 & 6th saw players go to upwards of 20 ends to get their 15 points, with a number of games being tied 14-14, and only one bowl making the difference to moving on in the event.  In the end, four club members were crowned winners and will have their names engraved on the respective trophies.  On the Novice side, It was Bob Ashton and Pam Oldfield taking the honours.  On  the Intermediate side, it was Bob Merrell  and Joey Merrell.   These  four winners will be moving on to play in the District Novice and Singles Tournaments to be held in Parksville on September 9 and 10.   Congratulations are also in order for Bob, Joey and Bob Allaby who were busy last  weekend picking up a second place finish in the Powell River  Mixed Triples Competition.

A big thank you goes out to the set up crews, markers, umpires, kitchen staff, bartenders, games committee,  flag folks and Barry Conn who was busy doing  photography for me for this article.   Thanks to everyone who came out, watched and supported the novices and intermediate players during this event.  Also, we’d like to thank the players who stepped out, gave it a go and had the opportunity of playing in this tournament.  We hope they had fun and had a great experience as well.

If you’re looking for something interesting to do this week, the Senior Provincials Tournaments are  being held.  You’ll find our women’s teams competing in Nanaimo and the men will be in Port Alberni.  Good luck, everyone!  Games are at 10 A.M., 1:15 P.M. 4 P.M. on Tuesday.  On Wednesday, they are at 9 A.M., 12:15 P.M. and 3 P.M.  On Thursday, August 10th, there is a 9 A.M. game and the medal round begins at 12:30.  Gold and Silver medallists will represent B.C. at the Canadian Lawn Bowling Championship in Edmonton.

Carol Bucyk