Author: Carol Bucyk

The George Gibson/Berwick Retirement Concepts tournament was held under sunny, but somewhat smoky skies September 3rd and 4th.  We had two full flights with teams coming from around the zone, taking part in this popular event.

The winners for the tournament were our own Sandi Mitchell, Merry Danarti and Bob Allaby.  Keith Terlsen, Don Terlsen and Brenda Terlsen came in second and first in their flight.    Carol Bucyk, Ken Bucyk and Rick Dolley of Parksville earned 3rd overall and second in their flight. The Nanaimo team headed by Dennis Dezell came in fourth.  Rounding out fifth position was the Parksville team of Chris and Martin Fereday with Peter Scott and in sixth place, it was Roberta Stets, Jeanette Ferguson and Colin Frame.

We would like to thank Berwick for their very generous support of this tournament, plus the goodies that they had available to us.  Their tent came in very hand both days as well.  A big shout out goes to Lynn and her kitchen crew who were so busy getting out the tasty desserts and coffee for us.  Also, thanks to the bar staff who kept us happily hydrated.    Thanks to Chuck for the pictures, the grounds keepers who once again made our green very playable.  Thanks to the set up crew and the games committee who were so efficient in  getting the scores calculated so quickly.  We can’t forget the spectators who came out to watch on both days and to the players who made this such a memorable event.

Carol Bucyk

More sunny skies greeted our novices and intermediate players as they headed out on the green this past weekend on Nanaimo.

The Novice Men’s winner was Ray Chenier of Qualicum with David Hughes of Nanaimo coming in second.  The Intermediate Men’s  came down to Tony Morris of Qualicum defeating Grady Wood of Nanaimo.

On the  Novice side for the women,  it was Colleen Leslie  of Nanimo over Parksville’s Darlene Pentland.  The Women’s Intermediate title was earned by Qualicum’s Shelley Howieson defeating Cindy Greenhill of Courtnay.

Once again, a very big round of thanks go out to everyone involved in making this event happen:  kitchen crew, greenskeepers, participants, gallery, games committee and all the others who made this such a great afternoon for lawn bowling in our district.  To our novice and intermediate players, well done in your efforts at this event.

Carol Bucyk

This year’s Jack and Jill Tournament was a mid-week affair which saw two complete flights taking part.  Our club also had a number of novices and intermediate players which was great to see as well.

The overall winners of the event this year were Aase McMullin and Bob Merrell.  They will get their names inscribed on the trophy for 2025.  Robbie Thomas and Bill Burgess came in second.  Chris Fereday and David Perry earned third.  Rounding out fourth place was Betty Nordick and Peter Scott.

As always, there are so many people to thank for making this event so successful.  The kitchen and bar crew kept us fed and watered.  Thanks to those who sold tickets for the draws.  The grounds keepers and set up crews were awesome in getting the greens ready for this event.  Once again, our games committee kept on top of things with their knowledge of computer skills, especially data entry.  Thanks to Don U. for his expertise in that area.  Once again, our cub reporter, Chuck Benson, came through with some great photos of the event.  Last but not least, a very big  thank you to all who came out to watch and  to those who participated.  It was wonderful seeing you all at our club.  Final mention should be made to some of the shirts that were worn out there over the two days.  So much variety and colour just added to the event.  Well done, Parksville.

Carol Bucyk

Scorching temperatures and incredibly fast greens were the order of the day in Nanaimo  for this past weekend’s tournament.   This very popular mixed pairs event drew players from up and down the zone.  As stated, the speed of the green for this tournament as incredible and made for some challenging shot making.

In the end, it was our own Merry Danarti and Rick Dolley who took the honours for the event.  They went a perfect 4-0 , with 38 ends and a 38 shot differential.   Their names will be on the trophy for 2025.   Nanaimo’s Vern Hagstrom  and Linda Cooper came second, also with a 4-0 record but with 36 ends and a 33 shot differential.  Our  own Chris and Martin Fereday took third place with 10 points, 33 ends and a 25 shot differential.

A very big thank you goes out to the  sponsor for this event, Martin Velsen, of Martin Velsen Realty Nanaimo,  who  presented both  the trophy and cash prize to Rick and Merry.  Martin has been a strong and generous supporter of this event for a number of years now, and each year, he has  also brought a number of gift prizes as give-aways to many lucky people playing in this event.   Bottles of wine, prosseco, gift cards etc., were just some of the prizes donated by him.

A big thank you  also goes out to the kitchen crew,  grounds keepers, bar staff, umpires, games committee, the gallery and the players who gave it their all during this event.

The annual Men’s and Women’s Singles Tournament concluded on Sunday afternoon, August 17th.     The tournament began on Tuesday, August 12th but the  intense  smoke from the Mount Underwood and Wesley Ridge fires put a halt to the matches.  On Friday, our air quality was such that games were postponed  until conditions became  safer for all.   Play resumed on Sunday with the semifinals and finals happening  and much improved weather conditions.

As for the tournament,   it was Brian Bennett prevailing over Rick Dolley to win the title of Club Men’s Singles Champion for 2025.  It was a very hard fought game with some great play making involved.   On the women’s side, it was Carol Bucyk taking on Anne Holland for the title.  It was another hard fought game, with Bucyk reaching the 18 points first  and becoming the Club Women’s Singles Champion for 2025.

A very big thank you goes out to everyone involved in this event:  the kitchen and bar crew,  games committee, markers, grounds crew, umpires, our resident photographer, Chuck,   Sandi , who was busy filling in wherever and whenever needed, the gallery who came out to watch on Sunday afternoon, the players  and everyone else who made this event so successful.

Carol Bucyk

Parksville and Qualicum Lawn Bowling Clubs met on August 9th for their annual challenge and this time, Parksville came up the winner.  The challenge is set up  so that each club gets to visit each other’s green that day and play on each other’s greens.  This year, Martin Fereday received the trophy on behalf of the club, by Alan Brunskill,  president of the Qualicum club.

Carol Bucyk

It was a busy weekend for lawn bowling August 2nd and 3rd.  In Parksville, it was the novices and intermediates taking to the green, while in Courtenay it was the Berwick 2-4-2 Tournament drawing players from around the zone.  It was a smokey two days with the Wesley Ridge  fire raging and smoke from around Cameron Lake drifting upwards to Courtenay.

On the green, the winners of the event  and taking first place was the team of Vern Hagstom and Linda Cooper of Nanaimo who scored a red hot  12 points, 39 ends and a shot differential of 32.    Second went to our own Christian Massey and Rick Dolley with 12 points, 35 ends a 31 differential.    Leone King and Vern Greenhill of Courtenay placed third, again with 12 points, 33 ends and a 13 point differential.    John Kendall and Beth from Courtenay took fourth.  Rounding out the top five was our own team of Chris and Martin Fereday.

Many thanks go out to Berwick, the sponsors of this event, the games committee, kitchen crew, grounds keepers, players, umpire (thanks, Dean) and spectators who came out to watch.

Pictures will be coming shortly.

Carol Bucyk

August 2nd and 3rd saw our club novice and intermediate players  take to the green for two days of tournament play.  It was a weekend filled with very good, very close games and all the participants who took part enjoyed this experience.  The Novice Ladies Winner was Donna Roberts who scored 9 points and had a shot differential of 13.  She  edged out Darlene Pentland who took second with her score of 6 points and a differential of 10.  On the men’s side, it was Alan Watson scoring 12 points and  a differential of 20, beating out David Pentland who took second with 9 points and a shot differential of 20.

On the Intermediate side, the ladies winner was Debbie Taylor who earned 9 points with a short differential of 13.    Second place was earned by April Sloan with a score of 6 points and a shot differential of 5.    George Wallis took the men’s division with 12 points and a shot differential of 28  edging out Isaac Wood who had 9 points and 0 differential.

The winners will move onto the District Novice and Intermediate Singles on August 30 and 31 in Nanaimo.

Thanks go out to all the people who made this event so successful:  Chuck for pictures, the kitchen and bar crew, games committee, grounds crew, markers, those who came out to support the players, the coaches,  and of course, the players themselves who put out their very best efforts into  this tournament.

Carol Bucyk   /Joey Merrell

It was another great weekend for lawn bowling July 26 & 27 in Parksville.  Once again, Ferguson Exteriors was our very generous sponsor for this event which drew players from around the zone.  Sixteen men’s teams and ten women’s teams played under sunny skies and light winds to a very appreciative gallery on both days.

On the men’s side, play was decided in a winner play winner format and  it was John Ayers, Erik Ewen and Brian Michell  from Qualicum Beach who took top honours and will get their names engraved on the plaque.  Runners up in each of their division were Brian Bennett, Ian McCaulay and Wayne Larocque From Parksville.  Other runner up teams included Ian Yewer’s team from Nanaimo and Geoff Holland, Tex Gooding and David Perry from Parksville.

On the women’s side it was the winning  Parksville team of Diane Cruickshank, Fay St. Marie and Kathleen Motley taking first and their names will be  engraved on the plaque for this year.    Second went another Parksville team that of Karen Perrin, Joey Merrell and Avril Adamson.  Rounding our third and making it a Parksville sweep was the team of Kate Wilson, Luise Norman and Carol Bucyk .

A very big thank you goes out to Chris from Ferguson Exteriors (our continued sponsors for this event), our kitchen crew  of Lynn and Marg who put out a wonderful spread both days,  Joey M.  and the games committee (Anne H. and Gerda), Chuck Benson,   grounds keepers, umpires (Mick and Colleen), Don U. who helped us with our computer program for this event, our bartenders who kept us hydrated, the spectators who came out and watched both days and the players who truly demonstrated what this sport is all about.

A very big thank you to Chuck Benson for the great photos.

Carol Bucyk