WINTER BOWLING.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 112, 15 May 1933, Page 13

WINTER BOWLING.

ENTERTAINING THE DELEGATES. THE PRESIDENT'S LITTLE JOKE FAMILY BOWLING TEAMS. (By TRUNDLER.)

Conditions might have been more pleasant on Saturday, but all the fixtures arranged were carried out without any inconvenience, except a light shower. Those who left the city in rather heavy rain, to play in the delegates : match at Hilleboro', were agreeably surprised to find the paths and green quite dry, and the whole landscape bathed in sunshine, a feature which doubtless partly inspired some of the observations made by the president of the centre, Mr. Raymond Sheath, in his welcoming address. He warmly complimented the club president, Mr. Scarborough, and the local members on the beautiful condition of their grounds, the green being surrounded by gardens with beautiful chrysanthemums (Edith Cavell) in full flower. Nobody would appreciate the scene more than Mr. Sheath, for it is only seven years since he founded the club, the green being then an open paddock, and he started off by winning the first-year championship, with the open championship in the following year. Probably never before has it been given to any man to come back to the scene of his early labours, after such a short interval, as president of the largest bowling centre in the Dominion, and presidentelect of the New Zealand Bowling Association, to rind his old friends still carrying on the good work. The remilts of the afternoon's play appear in another column, and they call for no comment except to mention that Mr. Sheath in his opening speech remarked that on such special occasions the president was always supposed to win. A second laugh followed when the names were read out, and it was found that he was opposed to one of the strongest skips in Auckland, but the president won according to plan. During the adjournment for afternoon tea, the president welcomed back to Auckland Mr. L. G. P. Spencer, who had represented New Zealand on the International Bowling Board last year. In the course of his reply Mr. Spencer mentioned his discovery of the strong feeling in Britain against the admission of the United States to membership, and his firm conviction that at present it would be very unwise for New Zealand to press the matter. Spending a year at Tavistock, his birthplace and also the birthplace of Sir Francis Drake, Mr. Spencer told the tale of the great rivalry between Tavistock and Plymouth as to whether a monument to that illustrious bowler was to be erected at his birthplace or at the scene of hie famous game of bowls, which he insisted on finishing while the Spanish Armada was coming up the English Channel to conquer England, so they say. The first challenge match of the season was played on Saturday, when the Ponsonby holders successfully defended the Denison Pins. As their own green is undergoing treatment, they reversed the usual process" and played on the green of the challengers, the score fairly well indicating the respective strengths of the two rinks on the day: P. Letham, J. Rolfe, W. Somers, A. Parsons (Ponsonby) 29 v. T. Maxwell, T. Dawson, J. Thomas. R. J. Allelv (Mount Albert) 10. It will bo noted that the holders had to recast their rink, owing to the indisposition of their skip, A. J. Letham. Next Saturday Ponsonby will meet a challenge from Epsom on the Epsom green, the rink comprising L. B. Wright, W. T. Smith, D. Grattan, Jervis Wright, and the next clubs on the list arc West End. Waitemata, Hillsboro' and Rawhiti. If Mr. Letham has recovered sufficiently to resume his place in the Ponsonby rink next Saturday there will be a coincidence such as probably has never happened in all the years that the various challenge matches have been running, in that each skip will be a veteran who has been a prominent figure in the sport for over 20 years, and that each has as his lead a son who has only recently taken to the game. Fred Letham is only in his , fourth year, but he already shows signs of being well able to approach the fine I record of his father, who is now champion i of the club, after being runner-up on three occasions. Fred was runner-up in the club's first-year championship, and in his second year he was runner-up m the handicap singles, besides being the winning lead in the handicap pairs, and this year he was runner-up in the junior championship. . . The lead in the other rink, Lionel ». Wright, is even newer at the game, frithe has only been playing during the past season, but he shot straight out into the limelight by winning the junior championship, as well as the first-year championship, so his further progress will be watched with particular interest. Bucn conspicuous success on the part of those who have decided in recent years to follow in their fathers' footsteps will naturally again attract attention to the Thomson family of Rawhiti, in which the son has already won the club championship on three occasions, besides being runner-up in the other two years of his membership. Notablv also is the Jury family of Ponsonbv, in which the son reached the tinai as skip in the centre's first-year fours last year. However, there are now so many of these family teams that it has been suggested that a club ought to run off a "father and son" pairs tournament one of these days, like they do in tennis. If a suitable date could be arranged, it would probably be found that not the least conspicuous pair would be Maxwell S Walker and his distinguished father Professor Maxwell Walker. The Edwin Stars match must still wait for another week, as the holders have not yet finished with their club matches. However, next Saturday week J. Ogilvie, A. J. Carson, H. Sykes, J. Gardiner (Otahuhu) will be prepared to meet B. Buchanan, G. Scotland, J. Lowe, R. N. Melville (Devonport), and they will be followed by J. Miller (Mount Eden), I. G. Blaekwell (Waitemata) R. Sheath (Remuera), O. E. Bridges (West End) and I. J. Sutherland (Onehunga). The King's Birthday tournaments at Onehunga and Mount Albert are full, as also the combined tournament between Balmoral and Mount Eden at the latter club's green, but there may still be a little room at Grey Lynn when these lines appear in print, and Epsom are taking single entries, the rinks to be : drawn by the match committee. . The Nomads propose to resume their i winter wanderings next Saturday week, the 27th, and this year they will play fortnightly, instead of weekjy. Intending players are requested to send in their names to Mr. J. B. Paterson, or to Mr. J. Whitehouse. . .. _ , The postponed match of the Press and Printers with the Auckland Bowling Club will be played on the same day.