PENNANTS

Our mighty Forbes Bushrangers are off to a great start for the first round of 2026 Mid West Region Pennants competition.

Forbes Grade Four hosted Parkes Railway on Saturday and made their position known.

Final score over 63 ends, Forbes 72 and Parkes Railway 47. Two out of three rinks won their game with our third rink were unlucky and were just pipped at the post.

Jeff Nicholson, Bert Bayley, Robert (Pooch) Dukes and Mitch Andrews had the largest margin on their rink 28-10 against G Leaoner, C Cusack, A Trotman and B Strudwick.

Viv Russell, Geoff Williams, Brian (Spro) Asimus and Scott (Scooter) Andrews won 23-14 over J Chew, P Townsend, P Lewin and T Bright.

Pat O’Neill, Scott McKellar, Greg Gunn and Christian West went into their last end 21 all however A Thorne, P Barnard, B McNaught and A Daley (our hardworking greenkeeper) score a 2 and won the card 23-21.

Our Grade Seven players travel to Condo and also brought home the winners bragging rights.

Final score on the big board over 63ends Forbes 64, Condobolin 52. Like the Four’s, the Sevens won 2 rinks out of 3 and only by 1 point. A great effort nonetheless.

Shayne Staines, Jason Howell, Dale Scott and Brett Davenport just scraped in by 1 winning 21-20 over M Leal, W Logan, S Taylor and M Coe.

Kerry Roach, Sue White, Mick Merritt and our recent transfer back Daniel Tisdell scored a 5 on the last end against L Rosberg, C Thompson, A Barnes and D Thompson but Condo held onto the win 21-20.

Our biggest margin for the Sevens went to Cherie Vincent, Billy Cowell, John Cutler and Lyall Strudwick who won 23-11 against R Burns, A Stuckey, B Tickle and I Kelk.

Round 2 was played on Sunday and our Seven’s had the BYE and our Fours travelled to Grenfell. Coming of the back of their win on the Saturday, our Bushrangers were hoping to make it two from two and that’s what they delivered. Not only bringing home the overall win 80-43, the mighty Bushrangers won all 3 rinks.

Proving a force to be reckoned with, Jeff Nicholson, Bert Bayley, Pooch Dukes and Mitch Andrews had the biggest margin 32-16 against J Mulligan, R Walter, K Betcher, K Cooper.

A 16 point win, Pat O’Neill, Scott McKellar, Greg Gunn and Christian West defeated S Gault, M Collins, M Lascala and R Walter 26-10.

The closest game of the day was played by Viv Russell, Geoff Williams, Spro Asimus and Scooter Andrews winning 22-17 against R O’Neill, T Mulligan, J Cooper and M Betcher.

Round 3 will be played this Sunday, Grade 4’s have the BYE so they will be on the sidelines at our great club supporting our Seven’s who are hosting Parkes Bowling and Sports club on our turf. Game starts at 10am.

SOCIAL BOWLS

BENTICK TROPHY – Playing later in the afternoon was the option for some of our Bentick Trophy games this week.

Dale Maynard (handicapped at 4), played Mick Merritt (handicapped at 10).

This game was a marathon and played over 29 ends. Maynard leading the first half of the card until Mick started his comeback tour.

Mick down 9-17 on 18, scored 7 points on the next two to close the gap. 23 all on 27, Maynard needing to get to 25, Mick 35. Maynard scored a 2 on the last and won the game.

Lyndy Bokeyar (handicap of 8) drew Clint Hurford (handicap of 10) also played on Wednesday afternoon.

Lyndy had first points on the board until Clint had a good run of 3 in a row. 11-2 in favour of Clint, Lyndy scored a 4 and a 3 two only trail by 2. Lyndy was stuck on 9 for 8 ends whilst Clint floored it to the finish line. Overall score 28-9.

WEDNESDAY BOWLS – On a very pleasant morning last Wednesday Bruce Jones and Noel Jolliffe, who might be looking for another NRL side after his beloved Dragons played like C graders against a second grade Rabbitohs on Saturday night, winning the card draw with a 22-8 win in 20 ends over Ron Thurlow and Lyall Strudwick.

Yes, the Dragons were in it until the end but … it only early as were Ron and Lyall leading 6-0 after three but were only able to get on the card another two tines, with singles.

Not much happened on the ‘closed’ rink seven as runners-up were Bill Scott and coach Kerry Dunstan with a close 19-17 win over Lesley Dunstan and Barry Shine.

Pretty close all game after 4-all at the end of five and 11-10 at 13. A three on the last to Lesley and Barry added some credibility to the score.

There was one bowl worth a mention, that by Bill who took the kitty to within a centimetre of the ditch followed by the delivered bowl. “A bit slack Bill, I thought you would have taken the ketty into the ditch and then sit on it,” skip Kerry had to say.

Laurie Spackman made a return leading for Alf Davies but had to settle for second going down 14-27 playing a returning Cheryl Hodges from hip surgery and her skip Jeff Nicholson. A six on end seven had it 9-7 but the winners crept away to lead 18-8 after 12 then 18-14 after 16 to win the run home 9-0.

Also slightly one-sided had Tim Everest and Peter Barnes winning 20-10 over Bill O’Connell and John Gorton, another making a welcomed come-back.

In 22 ends it was 7-15 after 10 but a five on end 13 told the story in the end for 15-5.

One-sided scores continued with the in-form Peter Mackay leading for Paul Doust winning 25-12 in 20 over Wayne Wright and Kerry Roach. It was 16-12 after 15 but 9-0 in the last five resulted in the blow out score.

In the last it as close as you can get, 13-12 in 20 with Steve Turner and Laurie Crouch winning over Cherie Vincent and Geoff Williams.

Steve and Laurie led early in the game, 6-2 after seven before 9-all at 14 and 11-all after 17. Singles for 2-1 over the last two ends separated the two. In-house winners Don Craft and Tim Everest.

THURSDAY BOWLS – 20 players took to the greens for a ‘not so hot as it has been’ afternoon on the new green.

Comments flying around was the green ran well, very true and looks great. Despite the adjustment for players, that did not reflect too much on the games.

Doubling their opponents + 1 point, Mick Merritt and Noel Nielsen (visitor) drew Wayne Wright and Glen Kearney. The card was one sided but Wayne and Glen stopped quite a few valuable points, which Mick and Noel only scored singles. Mick and Noel took the win 19-8.

Dale Maynard and Sue White started a little slower to get their eye in against Tara Shaw and John Kennedy. Maynard and Sue picked up a few multiples and a 5 which they needed but couldn’t seal the deal, Tara and John claiming bragging rights 19-18.

Alan Warren another welcomed visitor to town, teamed with Viv Russell to take on Steve Turner and Ross Williams. 6 all on 8, 10-8 on 12. Alan and Viv played together like a well-oiled machine and put both feet flat to the end winning 23-15.

Bobby Grant and Cherie were unlucky going down 12-24 when they played Ange Dwyer and Spro Asimus. We know Spro’s lucky shots and have been on the other end of them and luck was a big factor.

Our last game of the day was played by a returning visitor, Bluey Denning from Caloundra who led for Dale Scott verse Paul Doust and Wayne Burton. Paul and Wayne were out of the box early and were matched on 12, 7 all. Bluey and Dale found their groove in the second half of the card and won 18-11.

Winning Rink: Ange Dwyer and Spro, Losing Rink: Wayne Wright and Glen Kearney.

Raspberry for wrong bias: Glen Kearney. Resting touchers: Cherie Vincent, Maynard, Dale Scott, Mick Merritt.

Jackpot Winner: Bluey Denning from Caloundra.

SUNDAY BOWLS – With a few players representing in Pennants, we still had a great crowd of 22 players across four pairs, and one triples game.

The winning card of the morning and lucky as they scraped in by 1 point, 13-12 were Trish Todd and Laurie Crouch who defeated Noel Hocking and Mick Merritt. Trish and Laurie led 8-5 on 8 and held the lead to the end.

Bron Hegger (visitor) was paired with Dale Scott when they drew Nathan Suttie and Al Hidler. Nathan has been on fire, but the fire burnt out against Bron and Dale in their 5-31 loss.

Another close game was between Dick Sharkey and John Cutler taking on Maynard and Bobby Grant. A great comeback from Maynard and Bobby in the second half however Maynard and Bobby won the game 15-14.

Tara Shaw and Billy Cowell gelled well against Juss Scifleet and Lyndy Bokeyar. Tara and Billy, handy lead at the break 11-4 and did not slow down. Final score 23-8.

Our last game and the triples were Joyce Gray, Ron Thurlow and Al Phillips coming up against Ange Dwyer, Paul Doust and Steve Turner. Al’s team scored the first points but could not add to they score following the 4th end. Steve’s team skipped all the way over the finish line 24-4.

Winning Rink: Trish Todd and Laurie Crouch. Losing Rink: Joyce Gray, Ron Thurlow and Al Phillips.

Resting Touchers: Noel Hocking, Tara Shaw, Billy Cowell. No recorded raspberries.

Jackpot Winner: Mick Merritt.

Chicken Raffle Winners: Laurie Crouch, Billy Cowell, Jason Howell, Al Phillips, Lyndy Bokeyar, Ron Thurlow, Grub Reilly, Tara Shaw and Dick Sharkey.

There will be no Sunday morning bowls this week (23 February) due to hosting Pennants at 10am.