Two teams from the club were successful in winning their Region Triples Finals at Wagga RSL on Sunday. Jonathon Watson, Damien Miller and David Quigley won the Men’s State section and Jenny Holt, Ann Gardner (playing as a substitute for Lisa Boyd) and Kate Cooper won the Women’s State section. In a coincidence both teams won their final by the same score 29 – 18. The men’s team played a semi–final on Sunday morning and defeated the Wagga Rules team of Darren Conroy, Harrison Conroy and Nathan Gardiner 22–17. In the final they played another Wagga Rules team of George Jackson, Cody O’Keefe and John Harriott. After the first 8 ends Young lead 12–5 but after 12 ends they trailed Wagga 13–15. Young then won 8 of the next 9 ends to lead 25–16 and they won 29–18 without playing the 25th end. Congratulations to both the men’s and women’s teams who have qualified for the State Finals to be played at Ballina from 31st March to 2nd April 2025. The club’s annual Cherry Festival Bowls Carnival was completed on Thursday morning with the fifth game of the Men’s Triples Tournament. A Calcutta for this event was held on Monday night and was enjoyed by those in attendance. The evening was well supported by the teams playing in the tournament. Special thanks to Joe Bargwanna and Kevin Miller, Whitty and Lennon and Co representative Mark Joliffe for their work as auctioneers. There were twenty–eight teams on the greens on Tuesday morning to play the first of the tournament’s five games. The two games on Tuesday were played without interruption. On Wednesday rain stopped play part-way through the first game but thanks to the caterers for providing an early lunch play got underway again at 1.30 pm. The second game for the day finished quite a bit later than usual with some players on the greens beyond 6 pm. The fifth game was completed on Thursday morning in conditions that varied from hot and sunny to threatening storms. This was followed by a barbecue lunch and the presentation of prizes. The prizes were presented by Bernadette Kerr and Caitlyn Briggs representing Kevin Miller, Whitty and Lennon, Andrew Ziem from the Colonial Motel and Tony Mulligan from Springwood, a player with 15 years involvement in the tournament. The first three place-getters for the tournament won all five of their games. The overall winners were John Heidtmann, Stuart Ellem and Rick Malley with a margin of 55 shots. Second place went to the Figtree combination of Tony Cheetham, Ray Smiles and Peter Bennett with a margin of 51 shots and Geoff Holt, Terry Ricketts and Chris Grimson were third with a margin of 45 shots. Thanks to the many people who helped ensure the success of the carnival – Mitch and Damien for the condition of the greens and to Damien for his work on the scoreboard. Thanks to Kristy, Thomas and all the bar staff, to Belinda, Leah and Rebecca from Young Services Club for their assistance, the caterers for lunches and also the male and female club members for their work for the barbecue lunch. Thanks to Tony Ruhl, Colin Powell and Jono Watson for their work with the raffles and to Stuart Freudenstein and Damien for umpiring Thanks to all the club members who have helped with any aspect of the three tournaments – setting up and putting away the shades, setting up mats and jacks, collecting empty glasses, general tidying up. The club is very appreciative of the great sponsorship support received from many local businesses for the two–week carnival. More than 30 local businesses or organisations responded positively to the club’s invitation to be a sponsor for this annual event. - CLIFF TRAYNOR
