August-September 2026 Updates
So, the calendar is about to turn over and alas we enter the fall portion of our bowling season. Where has the summer gone?? When was my vacation?? With the extremes in the weather from heat to rain members have shown their flexibility for scheduling and commitment to play. But looking back it was still a good summer. Now we look forward to the fall and a lot of bowling still to play.
In this issue you will find items such as what’s coming in September, results from August events, and some league updates. There are also references to events outside the clubwithin the district.
Before getting to the details of this newsletter the Match Guys want to send out a big thank- you to our Green’s employee, Kate Bodden. Her assistance with all the club and open tournaments is really appreciated. She did this work just like her greens work by just jumping in and showing willingness to do whatever was needed. Kate has now left to go back to university. With her departure the “green’s crew” is dividing up the green maintenance. Alas, it has been a year since the last time some of the crew has mowed the lawn. Bright and early on a Tuesday morning one of the crew eagerly set up to do his first mowing of the season. The ignition, clutch position and direction of the mowing all came back to him. However, he may have forgotten to remove the wheels (used for off the green). He noticed not a lot of grass was filling the bin, however, the mower tracks looked normal. After finishing the entire green and folks arriving for the morning jitney, the crew member realized his oversight. The next morning, he returned to actually cut the grass. Let’s just chalk it up to his left-handedness.
UPCOMING SEPTEMBER EVENTS
Jitneys
The Jitneys continue to be well attended. If you haven’t been joining, you should give serious thought to see what you are missing. We encourage new and experienced members to join in the jitneys. Tuesday evening attendance has been the showcase of club participation. Many Tuesday evenings have 6 rinks of triples in use. If you haven’t experienced the Tuesday jitney you should make a point to join in. If you haven’t experienced any jitney’s, it is never too late to give it a try. You will become committed to continue. Jitneys continue into October.
Fall Fling Tournament – Saturday, September 5th – 9:00 am start
This tournament is the last of the club tournaments for this season. Format will be based on the number of participants. There will be 2 games of 8-ends each. There is a sign-up poster on the Match bulletin board. Deadline for sign-ups will be Thursday September 3rd. For this tournament we have a new convenor. George Ireland has agreed to help out the match guys. Turns out on of the match guys is taking his daughters out east for university and the other match guy has an umpiring commitment.
Club Championship Week
The Match Guys are hoping to expand the end-of-year multi-event championship week to celebrate the summer season and highlight the wonderful bowlers at our club.
The events are scheduled through-out the week and culminating in a “Championship Day” on the final weekend. We have blocked off the week beginning Saturday September 19th and running through until Saturday September 26th to play all the events (it is possible that the finals will move to the Sunday depending on the number of entries).
There are 5 events planned for the Championships. We are planning Open Pairs, Ladie’s, Men’s, Novice Ladie’s (5-year or less) and Novice Men’s (5-year or less) sections. These align with the historical championship categories but are also our popular bowling sections.
Depending on the number of entries in each section we will create individual playdown schedules. We are planning the Open Pairs will be 12-end games. The various singles categories will use the 2-set 7-end formats.
Individuals can sign-up for any of the events they qualify for. In fact, players are encouraged to play more than one event. The schedule will avoid conflicts between the categories. We are setting an entry deadline for Monday September 14th to give us time to set the draws and provide players the schedule in advance.
While the events are titled “Championships” the focus is on fun and building our membership. If you have any questions, you may contact the Match guys at hplbcmatch@gmail.com. We hope to see lots of names on the sign-up sheets posted on the left-side of the Match bulletin board.
Winners Circle – Congratulations to All!!
Here we acknowledge the winners of our club events, district tournaments and success our members have in outside tournaments. The month of August we certainly a successful one for Highland Park bowlers. Scotch Pairs / Nellie Bailey Club Tournament – Saturday, August 8th – 9:00 am start This unique Pairs event has the teammates switching positions following each end. Accordingly, every player plays lead and skip, altering end to end. There were 10 teams who played the event. Congratulations to all the winners:
Winners – undefeated
Deb Chiasson & Chris Atkinson
Runners-up – also undefeated
Agathe Gaudet & Giuliano Tolusso
3rd Place – high 1 game winner
Bonnie Seshadri & Grant Lawson
We need to highlight that Agathe and Giuliano are first year bowlers at Highland Park. Congratulations on your successful tournament. I also want to send a shout out to Bonnie on her return to the green.
Expedia Cruises, Open Triples Tournament – Saturday August 22nd – 9:00 am
This Open Triples tournament is open to all district clubs. Each team must include a novice bowler (5 years or less). The tournament had 8 entries and Highland Park had four of those teams. Highland Park did itself proud by winning three of the four top positions.
Winners
1st Place
Neil Montgomery, Eric Bradbury, Carey Goodfrey – Elmdale
2nd Place
Bob Allen, Marg Sutton, Fred Barbieri – HPLBC
3rd Place
Tom Sawyer, Paul Cheney, Hélène Roberge – HPLBC
4th Place
Paul Fenwick, Vanessa Paldy, Joe Ulicki – HPLBC
District Events
Sunday August 16th, Highland Park hosted the Men’s and Women’s Novice (5-years or less) Singles Championship. Both men’s and women’s sections had 8 players, who played in two pools of four, with the winners of each pool playing in the finals. This was the largest District Championship held over the past few years. Only a good sign for the future of the game.
An aspect of Singles play is the need for markers to assist with each game. Thank you to the 12 markers who volunteered their day to help make this tournament a huge success.
In the end two of Highland Parks best novices came out on top a won the respective championships. Congratulations to Jennifer Rychlik and Fred Barbieri for winning the District Championships.
Jennifer won her pool and then faced Susan Kehoe (Goulbourn) in the finals. Jennifer won
the finals with a convincing performance in control the entire match. Jennifer won all her games, with only one tie in her 2nd game.
Fred Barbieri won his pool with a 3-0 record to make the finals. He played Brad Shinn who also won his pool with a 3-0 record. In the finals Fred fell behind 6-1 halfway through the finals, but his youth and strategy prevailed to win a convincing15-7.
Provincial Championships – Novice Australian Pairs
The Provincial Championships were held on the weekend of August 15th – 16th.
Congratulations to Chris Sheardown who partnered with Dean Chamberlin at the Provincials. Chris and Dean played very well. They lost in the semi-finals but bounced back to win the bronze medal.
Open Tournaments
Highland Park bowlers also showed well in a couple district open events during the month of August.
In Goulbourn on July 30th, there was a triples tournament where one of the players had to have two years or less experience. Winning the two-game high score was; Bob Allen, Margaret Sutton and Chris Rychlik.
On August 8th, the Elmdale club hosted the Precision Pairs tournament. In this event Pairs teams play 3 games, with each game played under a different format. 1st game is Aussie Pairs, 2nd game is 3-bowl pairs, and the 3rd game is 2-bowl pairs. Unfortunately, the weather moved in, and the third game was washed out. However, in the end, Highland Park Pairs showed well with three teams winning prizes in the event.
Fifth – Judy Vincent & Nick Alderman
Sixth – Hélène Roberge & Brad Shinn
Seventh – Margaret Sutton & Bob Allen
CLUB LEAGUES
Open Pairs League
The Wednesday evening Open Pairs League finished the second draw the first week of August. At the end of the draw Judy Vincent & Chris Sheardown finished on top of Group A. They were tied with Paul Cheney & Tom Sawyer with 4-1 records. However, a head-to-head victory gave Judy and Chris the edge. In Group B, Bob Allen & Clarice Steers won the group. Jennifer & Peter Rychlik finished 2nd in the pool, and both teams will be moving to Group A.
The league is set up as two groups of 6 (or more) teams each. At the end of each draw the top two (2) teams in Group B will move to Group A and the bottom two (2) teams of Group A will move to Group B.
Saturday Open Singles League
The second draw of the Saturday Open Singles league wrapped up on August 1st. The third draw is under way and will play into September.
Sitting on top of Group A at the end of the 2nd draw is Tom Sawyer. He was undefeated in his run through July.
In Group B, Fred Barbieri won the pool. George Ireland finished 2nd following a three-way tie. Both Fred and George are moving up to Group A.
Group C was won by Hélène Roberge with a perfect 5-0 round. As with Group B, there was a three-way tie for 2nd place. Ben Wood won the tie breaker, and he will join Hélène in Group B.
Having tiebreakers in two of the three groups shows the parity of the bowlers in the league. There is little difference in the bowling abilities across the groups. The groupings are simply structured to allow more movement within the league.
League Formats & Updates
For the updated standings, you may find these on the website in the Members Only section under Leagues or check the bulletin board at the club. Any questions on the league or any expression of interest to join the league can be addressed by sending an email to the HPLBCMatch@gmail.com account.