The highlight of the past month was undoubtedly the annual “Chittick Day”, social bowls event. The origins of this event date back to 1982 when the Kangaroo Valley Ladies Bowling Club held the inaugural event in honour of Mrs Susie Chittick who passed away in 1981. To keep the tradition going it was expanded to a mixed bowling competition in 2001 when the Chittick Family took over the running of the event. Phillip “Jingles” Chittick is the prime mover in organising and running the event with assistance of the rest of the Chittick Family.
In what is essentially a fun day, 45 participants were organised into teams of three players, selected from experienced bowlers, those who only play on Chittick Day and those who have never played before. As you can imagine, this results in some fairly unorthodox games and a lot of fun. Each team plays three games of six ends and consistent winners progress to the semi-finals and eventually the final.
Before commencement of the games, two plastic spiders were placed centrally on the green and all bowlers bowled one bowl at the same time from around the green. When the chaos subsided, the two bowls that ended up closest to the respective spiders won a bottle of spirits. The winners of the “spider” where Greg Turner and Rick Attard.
The bowls competition was fierce and at the end of the day Darryl Goodger, Derek Raymond and Stacey Stafford faced off against “Tige” Lidbetter, Sue Sheil and Blake Whatman in the final. In front of the assembled crowd, the ‘in form’ Darryl Goodger wasn’t about to let this opportunity pass without demonstrating his talents. Despite Tige’s best and persistent efforts, Darryl gave him no encouragement. He had an answer for everything and Darryl, Derek and Stacey won the event and shared the purse of $60. Runners Up Tige, Sue and Blake shared $30. The real winners though were everyone that participated in the day.
With the competition over, we then settled in for a few quiet drinks and the exquisite sandwiches, cakes and slices prepared by members of the Chittick Family. It was a fantastic day! Congratulations to Jingles and thanks to the entire Chittick family, for their friendship and hospitality.
On 27 October and 3 November, two teams from Berry competed in the annual “Robertson Potato Challenge”, a triples bowling tournament run over two consecutive weekends. The day starts with and egg and bacon roll or a sausage sandwich and lunch is provided between the morning and afternoon games – off to a very good start.
Jingles Chittick, Darryl Goodger and “Skippy” Chittick competed as a team throughout the two weekends. Nathan Bezant, Tige Lidbetter and myself played together and were undefeated on the first weekend but unfortunately neither Tige nor I could play on the following weekend. Mark Power and Terry Bezant substituted for us and this team eventually made the final. The final was a very tough game and I understand that we lost by a narrow margin. Nonetheless, we shared the lucrative Runners Up prize and Jingles, Darryl and Skippy came fourth in the overall competition. Both excellent results considering the depth and standard of the competition.
Congratulations to the Robertson Bowling Club on a very well-run and enjoyable bowling tournament.
A report on the “Challenge Singles”, “Club Singles”, “Mixed Fours” and Zone competitions will be included in the next edition.
Social Bowls
9 October – Bob Dunn and Bill Chittick defeated Frank Picciolini and Tom Froggatt – Russell Tulloch and Jingles Chittick 29 – Mark Power and Terry Hayes 13.
12 October – Frank Picciolini and Bob Dunn 22 – Rosa Burns and Lindsay McNamara 8. Cut-throat Terry Hayes 19, Tige Lidbetter 12, Mark Power 7.
16 October – Laurie Watson and Tom Froggatt 25 – Derek Raymond and Jingles Chittick 21. Cut-throat Terry Hayes 20, Mark Power 12, Tige Lidbetter 3. Ron Nelson and Bill Chittick played B. Sheridan and Bob Dunn – score unknown.
19 October – Steve Kellett and Adam Rigney 17 – Derek Raymond and Tige Lidbetter 9. Skippy Chittick, Tom Froggatt and Jingles Chittick 19 – Frank Picciolini, Lindsay McNamara and Terry Hayes 16.
23 October – Terry Bezant and Tige Lidbetter 26 – Russell Tulloch and Steve Kellett 12. Derek Raymond and Jingles Chittick 19 – Ron Nelson and Lindsay McNamara 13. B. Sheridan and Terry Hayes 21 – Bob Burney and Bob Dunn 11. Keith Pepper and Bill Chittick played Laurie Watson and Darryl Goodger – score unknown.
30 October – Bob Burney and Bill Chittick 23 – B. Sheridan and Jingles Chittick 20.
2 November – Derek Raymond, Keith Pepper and Adam Rigney 19 – George Waddell, Tom Froggatt and Mark Power 18.
13 November – George Waddell and Bill Chittick 19 – Keith Pepper and Bob Dunn 13. Bob Burney and Terry Hayes 12 – Ron Nelson and Tom Froggatt 8.
16 November – Tom Froggatt and Adam Rigney 26 – Col Agar and David Badger 10. Derek Raymond and Lindsay McNamara 22 – Bob Burney and Bob Dunn 11.
Rob Folkard
