Lakeside club gets set for major milestone

LEARMONTH Bowling Club kick off their one-hundred-and-fifty-year celebrations this Saturday with a twilight match against Ballarat.

“We are wishing to replicate the match we played with Ballarat back on 4 February 1873,” Learmonth club president Craig Findlay said.

“On that day the Ballarat club invited both Learmonth and Buninyong players to come along and play a friendly match and from there we went to establish our club which was formed on 21 February, the same year.

“We are thankful to Ballarat’s Greg Stewart and the club for allowing us to organise the evening match to celebrate this important occasion.

“The match will start at 5.30pm and the public are welcome to come along and enjoy the atmosphere of this important milestone.

“There will be a barbecue held on the evening for everyone to enjoy”.

Learmonth played two night matches last season and last Saturday evening took on Sebastopol under the lights in the Dome in Sebas with the home side securing a strong win, placing them just in the four ahead of Webbcona and Mount Xavier.

“The club’s [Learmonth] Division 4 side is in the mix along with our Midweek Pennant Division 2 and 4 to play finals if we finish off strongly in the final rounds of the competition,” Findlay said.

Learmonth’s Weekend Division 4 side had a win away at BMS last Saturday thanks to a strong performance by the rink skippered by Glenn Stowe

Excellent draw bowling throughout the game by Andrew Edwards was a decisive factor in setting up the win.

The rink’s third Ken Stowe said, “A win here has helped us out and if we can have success against ladder leaders Midlands and Ballan who we play at home in the next two weeks this gives us a chance to challenge for a finals berth.”

Smeaton’s Division 2 also joined in the action of Pennant play at night with the side securing a narrow seven-shot win with Jim Taylor’s rink performing well to secure the result.

The victory sees the club move into fourth position on the ladder at the expense of Clunes who are now placed fifth.

“It was a great night and we couldn’t ask for better weather to have played our Friday night match,” said Smeaton’s Russell Leishman.

“It was a good game across the board and we appreciate Clunes for accepting the offer to play this as a twilight game”.

As a sign of the times the third night match played last weekend took place at Ballarat East where the club hosted a thrilling contest against Ballarat North in a drawn match on 72 shots each with both clubs securing nine points for the Friday evening.

Across the board there were only a few shots difference between each rink keeping the spectators entertained the whole evening.

– BY ANTHONY McCABE