In what was an exasperating year, weatherwise, the club has achieved strong results, thanks to a couple of new and developing areas.

The first has been the growth of the Twilighters section from a group of Wednesday night fun players to a fully fledged section of the club, with their own officers and capacity to operate their own activities.

The second has been the utilisation of the club for barefoot bowler, as well as weddings and other community celebrations.

While it is now history that income from pennant bowls suffered horribly, and weekday bowls also was hampered, these two alternative areas of operation allowed us to make a handsome profit instead of a substantial loss.

Retiring club chairman Keith Forbes congratulated all of the people who have worked to make the year a success, particularly the Twilighters who have already become a key factor in the club and have added fresh faces to the board and committees.

He also made special note of the support of the club’s many sponsors, and particularly of Leigh Hall-Sullivan of Hocking Stuart, which is the club’s major sponsor.

While the club did not win a pennant this year, we were competitive in all areas, and markedly so in the Saturday pennant, where all four teams reached the finals.

The Division 1 and Division 10 teams both reached grand finals and were extremely unlucky to be beaten by only small margins.

The exciting news for Saturday pennant is that the club has entered extra teams for next year, giving more players a chance to compete against other clubs. This reverses the recent trend among many regional clubs which have seen numbers fall.

The other key success this year has been the Friday night dinners, which have been extremely well patronised. The caterer has decided to continue the meals over winter, and the bar will continue to open and offer very competitive prices,

Over the winter indoor carpet bowls will be played, and the outdoor season is due to launch on September 3.