ON THE JACK O O. Sharron. Santa Barbara Lawn Bowls Club

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1 Santa Barbara Lawn Bowls Club ON THE JACK O O Editor: Eileen Morton April, 2017 Website: santabarbaralbc.org Facebook.com/SBLawnBowls Our Bowls USA club is definitely sprouting new, springtime energy! Members we haven t seen for a while are appearing on the green with new smiles. Suddenly, the lunchroom seems congenially crowded again. Our records, faithfully kept by Treasurer Russ Morgan, reveal that last year at this time we had 94 members. Now, our club membership is 93. That s a good, strong number with three-fourths of the year ahead of us! Our monthly Open Day program has proved very successful bringing in new members. The new Open Day is Saturday, April 15, from 10:00-12:00. Our eye-catching banners read: FREE LAWN BOWLING LESSONS THIS SATURDAY. Our board recommends that we ask visitors where they live and if they are not local, they have only minutes to find out what lawn bowling is like. If they are local, we offer an introductory lesson of around 45 minutes. We ask if they would like to sign up for lessons to become a certified bowler and a club member. Then, Eileen Morton, Instruction Director, matches the student with an instructor for about three lessons followed by a triples practice game. The student is then evaluated for membership and our bargain dues are prorated. Earth Day is around the corner and so is Club Clean-Up Day on Friday morning, April 21. Bring your favorite cleaning supplies. Many hands make light work! We ll get down and dirty removing grit and grime from our clubhouse and grounds. Hospitality chair, Denise Foxwell, will order pizzas for a worker s lunch. May evenings bring popular Twilight Bowling back starting on Tuesday, May 2, at 5:30. Luckily, Bud Viard is again leading these good times. May also signals our annual Open House on Saturday, May 6, from 10:00-2:00. Begin now asking family and friends to come to our club and try out lawn bowling. Springtime sprouts new flowers, new energy, new members and your renewed energy! Sharron

2 COMING EVENTS: April: 8, Club Pairs Championship 9, Henselite Day at MacKenzie Park LBC, , Open Day at the club 25 & 27, Super Senior Pairs Tournament 29, Chuck Graffy Memorial Tournament May: 6, OPEN HOUSE 20 & 21, Mixed Singles Tournament 29, British Cup Tournament TOURNAMENT NEWS: Our first tournament of the year, the Veteran-Novice Tournament, was a success with beautiful Santa Barbara weather and a nice turnout. We played three games and the results were pretty even as no team won all three and no team lost all three. Pretty unusual. The teams were Ted Bailey and Howard Wang, Bernard Talco and ReGina Nicolas, Stef Viard and Ellie Jones, Jim Morton and Max Mickey, Scott Coons and Marlyn Nicolas and Eileen Morton and Brent Boone. Gloria provided some nice pastries and fruit to begin our day, we had some great games, and after it was all done the winners were Eileen and Brent followed by a tie for second place of Ted and Howard and Bernard and ReGina. It came down to counting plus points to decide the winners! Good job everyone and many thanks to our tournament directors Gloria Torres and Jim Stahl. Next on our calendar is the Club Pairs Championship scheduled for April 8. If it is too wet this weekend we will need to postpone to a future date so stay tuned. Watch your for weather updates. So far there are six teams signed up and we will play three 10-end games so it will be another good day of bowling at SBLBC. The final week of April will be a busy one for tournaments as we have the Super Senior Pairs April 25 and 27. This is a blind draw for partners on Tuesday just like our usual daily draw except that the teams will stay together for another game on Thursday. One

3 game each day to 12 ends. The catch is that you have to be 80 or older to qualify to play. Saturday, April 29, we have scheduled our very first Chuck Graffy Memorial Tournament. Chuck s son-in-law, Jim Garcia, will be providing a brand new trophy and some refreshments. There will be a sign-up sheet with the tournament format on the bulletin board and it would be great if we got a really good turnout for this one so put it on your calendar now. FUN DAY: I m sorry to say that I missed the St. Patrick s Day celebration on March 18 due to other commitments, but Sharron sent me the following comments about the activities. The Nicolas clan of Marlyn, Frank and ReGina hosted what will go down as one of the very best St. Patrick's Fun Days at our club. Maybe it was the most memorable Fun Day ever! Too bad if you missed it! It was truly our Lucky Day. Marlyn and ReGina were decked out in style and Frank helped as they clued us in on the nuances of how to fill our individual pots with gold. The Spider Game started all the action. And, guess who won? Gloria Torres, of course! Then, Draw to the Ditch featured spectacular wins by Tim Thornton and Brent Boone.

4 OPEN HOUSE: Our formal Open House will be May 6 this year. This is the day when most of the clubs in Southern California and other parts of the country hold an open house for their communities. Since we have been holding monthly open Saturdays, the board decided to make this year s open house a little less work for everyone but we still hope to get some folks to come down and get acquainted with our wonderful sport. Please put this on your calendar as well since we will be needing helpers for many jobs on that day. It is most important that we keep up the effort to recruit new members as we lose some every year and our club needs a good level of activity to keep it afloat. HENSELITE DAY: Don t forget that on Sunday, April 9, the Henselite dealer, Brian Studwell, will be bringing his wares to MacKenzie Park. If you want to buy some bowls you will have a chance to try out sizes and bias. He also carries bowls bags, measures, etc. so come any time between 10 and 2 to check it out. SPECIAL OLYMPICS SPECIAL DAY: On Sunday, April 2 nd, the Santa Barbara Lawn Bowls Club welcomed over 100 athletes, coaches, volunteers, and family to the Second Annual Special Olympics Dan Hedrick Memorial Bocce Tournament. We had 10 teams in action this year, coming from Santa Barbara, Santa Maria, Ventura, and even as far as Bakersfield. Although the playing surface was new to the visitors, after a few ends they got the hang of the quickness of the carpet and the competition picked up. After a preliminary round, followed by the

5 most amazing lunch ever seen at a regional event, they contested in a playoff for the Gold. As may be expected, 2 Santa Barbara teams took home the Gold Medals, but the visiting teams got their fair share of Silver and Bronze. Every team that came for this tournament loved the venue, loved the welcome feeling, and they all indicated that they want to return for next year s event. We could feel the spirit of Dan Hedrick smiling down on us. Dan loved the Special Olympics Bocce teams, and the opportunity that the SBLBC has been able to present to them. The carpet green has proven to be an ideal spot for our teams to practice as well as being centrally located for most of our athletes. All our athletes loved Dan in return and, thanks to him and a handful of others, they now consider our green their home field. Our thanks to the members who showed up early on a Sunday morning to help set up and officiate the early games, Diana Kruse, Pete Beltran, Dorothy Thielges, and Gloria Torres. Our thanks to Howard and Judy Wang who came down to see if they could help, even though we were full of volunteers by then. A huge thank you to Stephanie Viard who handled all the food buying and preparing for this event. Everyone in attendance agreed that this was indeed the best lunch ever seen at a Bocce Tournament, and it was all due to Stephanie. The athletes (and coaches) have known and loved Stef for many years now, and the feeling is obviously mutual. Thanks to the girls from the Girl Scout Troop who came down from Lompoc to help and to learn about Special Olympics and their programs of inclusion. Their willingness to pitch in and help serve the athletes and guests was a joy to behold. Finally; our deepest thanks go out to Tim and Joy Thornton, the masters of the barbeque. Everyone can imagine how difficult it would be to serve hot dogs to order to 125 people. Somehow, Tim and Joy made it look easy. The Santa Barbara Lawn Bowls Club can truly take pride in their participation with Special Olympics. Over the past few years you have made us feel welcome and included, which is really all we ask for. And thanks to Bud Viard for this lovely article. Pictures to follow!

6 BOARD MEETING HIGHLIGHTS: Our treasurer, Russ Morgan, announced that the change has finally been made and the club is now on a calendar year. So instead of dues being paid in November we will pay in December. Sharron now has a list of all the city officials and others who will be invited to our 80 th anniversary celebration. The committee will meet again to continue work on the invitations which will go out soon. Scott reported that they have been working to improve the grass green and have needed to let the grass grow a bit to fill in where the weed killer caused the uneven stripes which are such a problem. Apparently the company hired for this did a very incompetent job and will not be asked again. However, the grass is filling in now and soon it will be possible to cut it shorter to make it play faster. It was decided that we will hold an Open House on May 6 but perhaps not quite so elaborate as in years past. We will provide snacks in the morning and lunch for volunteers and also snacks and drinks for our visitors. The time will be 10 am to 2 pm. Max reported on his progress toward lighting our green. He set up two strings of lights and played a game to try it out. Apparently it worked quite well and he will be continuing to adjust things to make it even better before we show the light system to the city for approval. Bud and helpers Stephanie, Brent and Jerry, have completely refurbished the beautiful painting at the end of the shed which now has a fine new cloth cover to protect it. We will be able to display the painting on our special days, 80 th Anniversary, Presidents Day, etc. Sharron extended much appreciation to: Marlyn, Frank and ReGina Nicolas for the St. Patricks Fun Day. The Viards, Brent Boone and Jerry Steinfink for the mural renewal. Carol and Robin Smith for the CA Point of Historical Importance research. Regarding the possibility of having our club and Spencer Adams Park designated a Place of Historical Importance, the city has decided not to follow up at this time. Sharron has completed the locker list update and they are posted in the locker rooms. Our Open Day this month will be on April 15, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Help will be appreciated! Nobody cares if you can t dance well, just get up and dance. When everything comes your way, you re in the wrong lane. Some mistakes are too much fun to make only once. Save the earth.it s the only planet with chocolate!

7 SPECIAL OLYMPICS PICTURES Bocce courts and some of the teams L. Torch holder for Athlete s Oath Leader of the Flag Salute Leader of National Anthem R. Excitement for a well played ball.

8 On the Jack Newsletter of the Santa Barbara Lawn Bowls Club Santa Barbara Lawn Bowls Club 1216 De Le Vina Street Santa Barbara, CA 93101