Small Metro Club of the Year

Awards Night 2022

Small Metro Club of the Year Mt Lawley back to back Club of the Year

For the second consecutive season Mt Lawley Bowling Club was announced as the Bowls WA Small Metropolitan Club of the Year at the annual Awards Night.

Announced by MLA Geoff Baker this award is presented to the club adjudged most outstanding during the season with less than 125 members. The criteria to be successful includes on green performance in Pennants and participation by members in State Championships along with off green achievements and community participation by the club.

Mt Lawley President Terry Conley received strong applause from the crowd in attendance along with some extra whistles, hoots and hollers when he arrived on stage in a bright pink jacket which certainly raised the fashion stakes in the room. The reason behind the jacket was soon explained by Terry.

“If you’re wondering why I’m in the pink, this is a Jacket which is called the Jacobsen’s Ladder Jacket. It’s a competition that we started two years ago when covid was right through the state and we had to do something to keep the club active through the winter season, so we ran this event. "Norm Jacobsen is one of our Life Members, who is not in great health, and I thought it would be nice to come up in this jacket tonight if we did win and say thanks to Norm and to the other Life Members of the club. A wonderful tribute which rightfully received more applause.”

As recognised by Master of Ceremonies Clive Adams, Mt Lawley is certainly a club on the rise with the back to back awards coinciding with back to back rises in Men’s Pennant competition which will see the club return to Premier League after a 60 year absence.

Even bigger than that the club achieved seven promotions split amongst both Men and Women’s competitions.

As Clive explained he attended the Mt Lawley Bowling Club presentation night and they asked everyone who had achieved a promotion to go up the front of the room which just left about 10 people in the rest of the room such was the shared success across the club.

Special mention was also made of well known media personality and popular club member Russell Woolf who passed away suddenly during the season.

“Russell always wanted to get his name on the honor board and his team won the first round of the club fours and he never got to play the second round. So we added him to the board for that and we now have a new award called the Woolfy’s.”

• Mt Lawley back to back Club of the Year.

“In pennants if you get an 8 you get an 8 badge and that’s terrific but if you’re the person who caused the team not to get an 8 (i.e. just a 7) you now get a Woolfy. That’s Russell to a tee,” said Terry reflecting on the amazing personality of Russell Woolf.

“We miss him, and we also miss Laurence Goodman our Vice President for a few years who passed away at a similar time. We named the Men’s Singles after Laurence and it was won by one of Russell’s best mates in Anthony Einfeld.”

Outside of on green performance the club which replaced two greens in 2019/20 then completed state of the art lighting on both of those in 2020/21.

The clubs hopes to make good use of these lights having already hosted the Men’s Masters Singles under lights.

“Community is very important to us, so is the competition all the players on and off the green and then the commitment everybody has to the success of the club. All of which make Mt Lawley a great place to be," added Terry, reflecting on the hard work and success of the committee and members of the club.

It has been a fantastic year for Mt Lawley culminating in the win at the Australian Championships by the state fours champions in one of the true underdog stories in bowls.

Awards Night 2022

Men,s Bowler of the Year Nairn back to back Champion Bowler

Cambridge’s Blake Nairn has joined a very select list of past champions in winning the Rosenthal Medal for the Most Outstanding Male Bowler of the Year in back to back season.

Bowls WA Hall of Famer Beryl Godfrey made the announcement and presented Blake with his medal on the night. Just three others have won back to back Rosenthal Medals with Les Holloway from Cockburn 1979 and 1980, Dennis Katunarich from Doubleview in 1986 and 87 and Thomas Mitchell from Victoria Park Carlisle/Manning in 2015 and 16 which shows just how hard it is to put together two successive outstanding seasons of bowls.

Blake had an exceptional season winning both the State Pairs and Fours, was runner up in the State Triples and also won the Masters Triples.

Nairn who shed a few tears when he won the award for the first time twelve months earlier was more composed the second time around. “It’s just been a really good twelve months,” said Nairn before going into some quick thankyous. “I would like to thank my wife, Cambridge Bowling Club for their support over the last three years I have been there, Clive (Adams), you’re a hard critic but awesome to play bowls with, and in the Fours Dale (Marsland) and Ranks (Dave Rankin) we did awesome.”

Although not contributing to the award which is done on a points based system from major competitions he also capped his season with a fantastic victory in the delayed 2021 Australian Championships Singles winning the gold medal on the Gold Coast.

• Blake Nairn – Men's Bowler of the Year.

Blake took the final 25-11 in an extremely high standard affair on a day which finished under lights.

“It was a long day. Four games of 25up at that standard is one hell of a day. I had a lot of confidence going into the final, you go that far you may as well throw the kitchen sink at it and hope you get the win,” said Nairn reflecting on the achievement in winning his first National title.

Nairn now has plans to travel interstate for the next period of his bowls journey.

“The wife got a job over in Melbourne so we are going over there for a bit of a trip away. I will try and play some bowls and see how I go,” said Nairn, in his understated way but no doubt WA’s loss will be Victoria’s gain as he will surely make an impact in some big events on their calendar.

The good news for WA is that Nairn will still pull on the black and gold for WA at the upcoming Nationals in October being named to skip for Western Australia. Remarkably it will be his debut appearance with covid having delayed the Australian Sides Championship for several seasons.

Awards Night 2022

Women,s Bowler of the Year Featherby rewarded for consistency

The Connie Hicks Brooch is awarded to the most outstanding Female Bowler of the Year. It is awarded via points based on results from major competition events through out the season and is the highest individual achievement a player can receive. Beryl Godfrey who won this award in 1985 announced the winner from a select group of finalists. Generally, the winner of this award has won a couple of major events however this year was a little different with Lisa Featherby claiming it based on the sheer number of competitions in which she reached the final with five in total.

Lisa's season is arguably the most consistent of any player we have seen claim the award. Her major triumph was winning the Women’s 100up Singles whilst she was runner-up in the State Singles, State Triples, State Fours and Masters Pairs.

“Its an absolute buzz, I’m super excited. I had quite a few runners-up this year, far too many to mention with many lost on the last bowl so it’s been a bit frustrating but really happy to receive this,” said Lisa reflecting on the season and winning the award.

Lisa made special mention of the players who were part of the teams she was involved in winning the award with Denise Kelly, Laura Merz and Linda Warburton all involved.

She also thanked her club Mosman Park and her team mates especially the many who have supported her in the finals.

She also talked about her plan to win the State Singles which she credited Ian Hastings for helping her with that.

“I sat down with Ian and tried to formulate a preparation plan and a game plan; it didn’t quite work for the State Singles but it did for the 100up Singles. It gave me some good focus, so I thank Ian for help in developing my game and my mental toughness. It definitely helped in the Singles final against Hailey to fight back.”

Lisa had trailed 9-20 and was able to level the score at 23-23 before Hailey got over the line. “I think I was still stunned I had beaten Kerry (Andersen) in the semi final that I forgot what I was doing in the final for a while. And I also thank Therese Hastings who has been a good mentor and helped get me to Mosman Park Bowling Club which has been a great move for me. Bowls is great as a community, and I have made many great friendships over the years.”

• Lisa Featherby – Women's Bowler of the Year winner.

In closing Lisa saved her biggest thanks for last, that of her husband Jamie, “Anyone who knows me knows how passionate I am about playing bowls but also giving back to the sport,” said Lisa who is also part of her club committee and a Bowls WA Board

Director.

“I spend an awful lot of time away from home, Jamie has got a book called Cooking for One and he uses it religiously. But the sport takes me away from the people I really love in family so Jamie you have made more sacrifice than me because I don’t view it as a sacrifice. So, this award is not just for my commitment to playing bowls its for Jamie’s support and love in letting me do it – so thank you.”

•Lisa Featherby ready to play another bowl.

Awards Night 2022

Small Country Club of the Year Brookton – Small Country Club of the Year

• Brookton – Small Country Club of the Year .

Bowls WA Country Club of the Year Awards take into account on green performance of the club and its members, participation in state and country events as well as off green performance in administration, governance and community engagement.

The Small Country Club of the Year is for clubs with 70 members or less, with the winning club Brookton Bowling Club. The award was presented by Bowls WA Country Director Ross Warburton and accepted by Brookton President Trevor Allington.

Absolutely thrilled to have won the award Trevor noted that where country cluba come into their own is through volunteers and every member contributing to the club, something which Brookton epitomises.

Notable projects for the club included a new 12 rink green which was paid for by members who used a donated farmers field for three years of harvest which raised $218,000 to pay for the surfacing.

Members voluntarily worked the fields, providing fertiliser, equipment, and plenty of dedication to get this achieved.

As part of the Brookton Country Club t he construction of a new store shed 60 feet long by 15 feet high which was painted with an amazing mural depicting the character of the town was another recent highlight.

The mural has become a real tourist attraction for the club who regularly welcome travelling visitors.

On the greens the club had a strong season, was successful in winning the Men’s 1st Division Competition in the Upper Great Southern Bowling

League.

Congratulations once again to Brookton Bowling Club on winning the

Bowls WA Small Country Club of the Year.