Not the start to the 2016 Clarence River District Bowling Association Pennant season that the club was hoping for with only the Grade 3 side securing a win. The Grade 3 combination travelled to South Grafton and opened their 2016 campaign with a solid 69 – 51 (nine points to one) victory. All teams played well on the leisurely-paced South Grafton greens, but it was Peter Forrester’ quartet consisting of Bill McDonald, Trevor Bardsley and Bob Ballantyne who provided the foundation for the win with a comprehensive 34 – 12 win. Bill McDonald emerged from his sick bed to lead his team to victory in a truly commendable effort. The news was not so bright for the remaining grades with the Grade 4 side suffering a painstaking 78 – 39 (ten points to nil) defeat by Iluka; the Grade 5 combination almost pulled off a surprise win against the grade favourites, Maclean, only faltering towards the completion of a tight contest losing 63 – 54 (nine points to one) with Brad Wynne’s team producing a credible 23 – 10 win on their rink; the Grade 6 (Gold) side suffered a similar fate, also at Maclean, losing 59 – 44 (nine points to one) after having the game within their grasp with only a few ends of play remaining; Grade 6 (Blue) found the South Grafton Ex-Services opposition a menace on their home surface and were defeated 61 – 44 (nine points to one) after a plausible effort where no luck went their way; and the Grade 7 medley suffered an exasperating loss to Iluka 84 – 47 (ten points to nil) after a week of unsettling player turbulence with the final team combinations not known until the morning of the contest. Hopefully we can avoid this across all grades in the future rounds of the competition. Next Saturday, five of our grades all play at home with Grades 3 and 4 up against Grafton, Grade 5 doing battle with Iluka, Grade 6 (Gold) pitted against South Grafton and Grade 6 (Blue) determined to secure a win against Wooli. The Grade 7 team will venture to Red Rock desperate to atone for last week’s disaster. Please check the pennant board for selections. The 2016 Senior Singles Championship commenced during the week with rounds one and two played on Tuesday and Thursday evenings respectively. Results will be in next week’s column. However, this championship will continue next week with the semi-finals on Tuesday evening and the final on Thursday with play commencing at 6pm on both days. The nomination sheets for the 2016 Yamba Major Singles Championship and the CRDBA District Singles Championships (Open, Reserve and Senior) are all on the notice board. Members are encouraged to participate in these feature events of the annual bowl’s calendar. Social bowls continues with pairs played on Wednesday and triples on Friday. All games commence at 1pm and names need to be on the respective nomination sheets by 11.30am on the day of play. All nominations are guaranteed a game and visitors are most welcomed. Results from last week are: Wednesday 9th March: Winners: Mark Scobie and Erik Pedder. Runners-Up: Kip Read and Neil McKenzie. Consolation: Allan Conlan and Mick Stamp Friday 11th March: Winners: Steve Grodzki, Dave Atkinson and Alan Turnbull. Runners-Up: Ivan Bell, John Telfer and Barry De-Bomford. Consolation: Basil Glover, Vern Gheller and Neil McKenzie Don Freeman