We had a great day at Bateau Bay

We've been waiting to come to Bateau Bay since we met Eileen and Les at Weston Creek a month or so ago. We turned up for Wednesday afternoon Bowls.

It's a very big club.

When we arrived we met Dennis and Bob. Dennis is the Head Coach. Bob told us Dennis is the club welcomer. He told us to check out the book 'Perfect Bowls' by Peter Bellis.

There's a sign on the office window "Beware of Bob."

Dennis told us some stuff about the club. There are over 400 members. The dome is 2 years old. It is owned by the Wyong Leagues Group which has four bowling clubs. They are really supportive. In days gone by they had 1,000 members.

Eileen and Les turned up and we had a lovely reunion.

(Jean, Eileen, Les and Mal)

The club has three greens. One is synthetic under cover.

We played on that.

We'd never noticed these lights before though we've probably seen them elsewhere. They shine upward so there's no shadow on the green.

It's three-bowl triples. We played together. Mal, Jean and Bob

Played against Alan, Barry and David. Barry is an ex-copper. 40 years on the job. He served at the same time as Jean's Dad but didn't think he knew Roy.

First end Jean was over the moon. Not too close but shot (until Skip Alan bowled).

Jean told Dennis about the troubles she's been having so he stuck around to watch her. She bowled brilliantly. He said his Dad was a mechanic and countless times people would bring their cars in with a noise that would be silent to the mechanic. He said "It's my coaching that's done it!"

Dennis introduced us to President Kevin. He used to be an NRL Referee. Dennis regaled us with stories of Kevin's on-field exploits.

Mal also had a good game. He was on the kitty most ends.

We were both having a great game.

Jean would get one or two then Mal would consolidate.

Bob also played a ripper - even though he's been bowling less than a year. We had a good win.

When we came inside, one of the players presented us with some Bateau Bay cloths. We sat and chatted with the guys then with Les and Eileen for a while.

Jean was waiting to meet her old uni friend Carole at 5:30 so we sat and had lots of chats with many members. Such a nice afternoon. We felt we'd made many new friends.

Old and new friends at Bateau Bay.