Bowls skills at Berwick

By Ben Hope
MORE than 350 lady bowlers from across the state descended on the Berwick Bowling Club for the Champion of Champions competition last Wednesday and Thursday.
The club’s ladies president Wendy West described the Victorian Ladies Bowling Association event as a resounding success that promoted both the club and the Berwick region to the visitors.
“It was an absolutely amazing two days,” she said.
“We had about 350 to 400 people on the first day and that dropped off to about half that on the second day as players were eliminated.”
Despite winning their zone championships last year the Berwick club didn’t have any players in this year’s state competition.
Mrs West said Berwick was just the host club this year.
“To make it into the champion’s event all the clubs in each zone compete and one finalist goes through to the championships. In our zone the players came from Burden Park Bowls Club,” she said.
Essendon’s Anna Hoogwerf took out the state singles title for the second time while Lara friends Joan Tennent and Dawn Staggard won their first state pairs championship.
Mrs West said she was proud of the Berwick club that got behind the event and did an excellent job catering for the visitors.
“Gonva Harlow did an amazing job with the help of our volunteers and they all deserve a pat on the back. They fed 180 the first day and 100 the next,” she said.
“Everyone thanked us for a wonderful two days and said we had really gone the extra distance. We all feel on top of the world.”
Mrs West said her duties as a host meant she missed out on watching much of the bowling, but she did manage to peek out the window now and then.
“We were also lucky to have such perfect weather both days, we reserved the Friday in case of rain, but fortunately we didn’t need it.”