We were delighted to have enough interest and enthusiasm this season to field two sides in State Pennant for the first time in nine years, a fantastic achievement for the club and a clear sign of the strength of women’s bowls at Clovelly.

Grade 2

Our newly promoted Grade 2 side faced a stand-alone section against strong opposition from Double Bay, Wests and Cronulla. Outstanding bowls under pressure saw the team win the section and claim the MSEB flag, qualifying for the State Finals next August for the second year in a row.

Congratulations to:

Gina O’Reilly, Ros Madgwick, Teresa Tuckerman, Jill Cash, Carmel Sowden, Berry Skinner, Louise Baldwin, Sue Snape and Diana Lovegrove.

Grade 4

It was a great year for our second side, with many players contesting their first competition games. Despite a season disrupted by injuries and late call-ups, the team finished first in their section. Unfortunately, the super-fast Grandviews green proved a challenge in the semi-final, but the effort and spirit shown throughout the season were outstanding.

Congratulations to:

Sue Snape, Sandra Starrett, Juli Wright, Jen Gray, Kaye Smith, Susie Clark, Barb Buhagiar, Kathleen Mastrogiacomo, Gina Maroske, Annabel Sutherland, Linda Ruben and Josephine Fernandez.

A fantastic season of single-gender bowls leaves us well placed as we come together for the Open Gender Pennant in February.

Go Clovelly!

Men’s Club Champion Peter Osborne added another string to his bow last week, defeating the canny Scotsman Scott Irving in the final of the Handicap Singles. Irving was required to concede six shots to the Englishman, but fought hard to reel the margin back and keep the contest tight through the middle stages of the game.

Peter, who had recently overcome a debilitating eye injury that forced the postponement of their original match, showed his class under pressure. Despite Scott threatening a late comeback, Peter kept his focus, used his early advantage well, and went on to seal a well-earned 25–18 victory. Well done to both players on a hard-fought final.

A fantastic day was had by all at Bondi BC last Saturday, brilliant weather and a sensational lunch to boot. It was a terrific debut, in his new Cloey strip, by Lou Falzon who skipped for Tony and Susie to win the event.

It was a keenly contested event with 28 teams from all over Sydney, with Cloey well represented again by , Di, JB and Teresa to name a few.

It was an exciting day and a new format in that any teams that won all 4 games would participate in a ‘Jack off’ in which each team would try and hit the Jack from the 21 metre mark. 2 teams were undefeated, Cloey and Wests .

After 2 bowls from each player ,both teams had scored only 1 hit each. So the playoff continued, and no one hit the Jack in the second round.

So to the third round and Susie calmly steps on the mat and lets fly with a beauty that nails the Jack and secures the win for Cloey.

It was a great finish to the day with 50 or so spectators cheering (or jeering)every bowl. Well done Bondi for a great day.

The Mick Byrne-led team of Dave Whitford and Graham O’Reilly stepped on the gas early and by the 8^th end had jumped to a solid lead of 15-1, before Mick “Spoons” Spooner (skip), John “JB” Barret and Alan “Stretch” Goodwin began to claw back to be down only 16-9 at the halfway mark.

After their shaky start Team Spooner started to knuckle down and had narrowed the deficit to be only one behind at 19-20 after the 20^th end.

With only five ends to go Stretch as lead put down a couple of crackers and JB backed him up as second, to make the job easier for their skip.

That’s when the amazing comeback began with team Spoons jumping to lead at 23-22 after the 23^rd end. But Byrnes’ team were not done and won the next two ends to grab the lead back at 24-23 after the 24^th end.

The pressure was on in the last end but Stretch and JB managed to make the job harder for their opponents as Spoons stepped up to the plate with his first bowl, which was in the mix and left the team deliberating whether they held one or two shots.

Then Spoons walked up to the green to check out the state of play and after much consideration it was agreed that his team had sealed the deal with a 25-24 lead.

A great finish to a great game with the crowd showing their appreciation. Well done boys.

Our Grade 3 team represented us in Woonona at the 24/25 State Playoffs in what turned out to be a “4 seasons” competition. Congratulations must go to our Women bowlers. Building upon their stellar season last year, the CBC Women’s bowlers were successful in winning the Metro South East Bowls 2025/26 Women’s Pennant

Day One: Singing in the rain.

Rain, rain and more rain, but our girls took to it like ducks to water and registered a strong win in appalling conditions before play was called off for the day.

Day Two: Don’t let the sun come down on me.

From very cold, wet and windy we moved to really hot and humid. The Cloey girls proved how good they are in ANY conditions to go through to the final 8 unbeaten. In the quarter final against a strong and super confident Cabramatta team, our girls quietly went about their business of good bowls and teamwork to record a well-deserved win.

Day Three: Don’t stop us now.

On semi-final morning it was a different green, different weather and unfortunately a different result. The team from Hamilton North have now won two Flags in two years—tough competition. The Cloey team were competitive and made the opposition work for every shot and fought to the end in a close game.

Top 4 in the State! Our Club is very proud of everyone who worked to achieve this result.

It was a well-deserved victory for a team that has worked so hard, following six trial matches, 10 pennant rounds, and three finals matches. It was a very long season, but we took on all comers and won!

After a one-point win over Taren Point, the team then beat Bronte on the Sunday morning under dark and gloomy skies. The Bronte team was fired up after both their Grade 4 and Grade 7 sides were eliminated, but Clovelly also had a point to prove after their Grade 7 side missed the playoffs.

On his rink, skipper Bruce Hughes had a new lead in Sharon Scarcella, who proved a classy sub for Dianne Lovegrove who was away. Bruce as usual was sensational and was called on often to take shots from the feisty Bronte skip, and prevailed 17-14.

Mick Byrne battled hard in his match, and it wasn’t until the last end when he bowled down two beauties to give his side an 18-16 victory and give Cloey a five-shot buffer.

Tony Mitchell’s rink was in trouble, six down on the scoreboard and down in the head. Peter Osborne bowled two close bowls, crucially he had one wing bowl about a foot from the jack.

Another worthy sub was Susie Mitchell who took over from an injured Jill Cash but unfortunately couldn’t improve on the side’s position. It was then up to Roz Madgwick who came in with a bomb to split the two Bronte bowls and take the shot. Tony was then able to get a gentle slide off Pete’s wing bowl and draw for two.

That was potentially game over, however Bronte had the final bowl. Their skip drives, he misses, it’s over—Cloey wins 55-54. A truly classic finish between these two Eastern Suburbs rivals.

So to the final against Gymea. The rain stayed away until the 17th end, but it was bitterly cold and windy. It was an unusual start to the game, with Cloey jumping out to a huge lead. Tony was up 9-1, Mick up 15-0 and Bruce was neck and neck. Although Gymea fought back, Cloey held on to that strong buffer and ran away with the game 74-51.

It was a raucous clubhouse at TP, with all the teams getting a rousing welcome, but especially Cloey when all 14 of us went up to receive our flag and medals. A great moment for our little club and thanks again to all the players in both grades, the reserves, the supporters and support staff.

– Tony Mitchell (for the selectors)

It was touch and go with Steve drawing first blood in the opening two ends to hold a 7-0 lead. But that lead was short-lived with Peter levelling the score in the next three ends and holding on to another two ends to move to 9-4.

After that it was a see-sawing battle with both combatants trading one-for-one blows until Peter slipped in a three pointer on the 15th end. Steve fought back gallantly, scoring six shots on ends 16, 17 and 18, and only trailing 14-15 until Peter threw in another three-pointer to grab a four-point lead on the 19th end.

Steve fought back with another two shots before Peter sealed the deal with a four-pointer and a three-pointer in what was the final three ends to win the match 25-17.

It was a freezing cold, extremely windy day and rather than the fast greens we’ve become used to, the Gymea greens were slow, slow, slow.

SSD won the day, but only by 15 shots overall, the closest we’ve been in a while. We are gradually catching them year by year.

It was a great day, we have many friends in the Shire through our bowls.

Thank you to the District for organising the bus to and from Gymea- lots of fun there and back.

Oh and we cleaned up on the raffles!