First and foremost our thanks goes to the 2022 Executive Officers and Committee Chairs
Almost all of the above members have served from two to four terms, carrying the Club through the difficult Covid years into the summer of 2022.
The 2022 VLBC Board undertook two major projects this summer: grounds and greens improvement (backboard replacement, replanting and installing new flood lights) and hosting the Canadian Senior Triples Tournament in September.
Organizing Committee for Canadian Senior Triples Tournament
| Gopal Gowda and Anita McCaw – Co-chairs |
| Michael Pennock – Treasurer |
| Brenda Janke – Secretary |
| Others – David Maher, Sharon Hoffman, Barb Marriott and Dilys McGibbon |
Rentals
From May to September, 2022, VLBC hosted 19 private events. Sandy Hodel has done an outstanding job this year of booking the corporate groups and organizing volunteers to set up/ put away equipment and provide initial instructions to our visitors. Dependent on numbers, set up took 2 to 4 volunteers about 30 minutes to an hour for each event. Participants were provided with enough instruction to get a feel for the sport, learn the general rules of the game and above all to have fun! This required 3 to 5 volunteers an hour or more of instruction time.
THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO VOLUNTEERED TO ENSURE THESE EVENTS RAN SMOOTHLY.
Website
Hospitality
Annie Boldt, Caroline Mitchell, Libby Weiser and others have once again put many hours into providing refreshments at tournaments and annual social events.
Grounds and Greens
Have you ever wondered how the greens stay so manicured and the flowers keep blooming? No, VLBC does not hire a landscape company. With the exception of a greens-keeper that attends on a regular basis in the summer, ALL of the grounds and greens maintenance is performed by volunteers. On any given Tuesday morning you will see a group weeding, trimming and watering. On most other days someone will be wetting down the newly seeded areas, watering or deadheading flowers.
Take a look at photos taken of the grounds in early spring before the remediation work was done to replace all of the old, rotted backboards and you will appreciate just how much work has been done by volunteers, not least of which has been removal of new grass which took root in the sand-filled ditches and planting new grass on the greens and verges. See Tracking Progress Greens Progress.
Add to this the regular chore of mowing and rolling the greens to keep them in top playing condition. On almost any day, you will find Chris Jones doing or overseeing some job or other. This summer he has been assisted by Keith Newhouse, Pierre Pomerleau and Michael Pardaens.
Grounds Improvement
Peter Rassenti, this year’s House Chair, with the help of new member Jim Stanley organized painting crews to paint over thirty benches that surround the greens in readiness for the National Bowls event. Several old benches with concrete bases (which make them difficult to move for mowing) were trucked away by the City.
In addition, this crew Lorne Oakes, Peter and Pierre Pomerleau (left), Ralph Street and Rolf Bertsch ) and other volunteers have spruced up the exterior of the clubhouse, moved the flag standard, repaired awnings and painted outbuildings.
The buildings and grounds have never looked so good!
Leagues
Keith Newhouse organized the Men’s League this year. Alice Albert served another year overseeing the Women’s League.
Tournaments
Under the tutelage of Games Chair Gopal Gowda and Anita McCaw, several volunteers attended workshops in how to run a club tournament utilizing the computer templates created by Gopal. As a result, each of the following volunteered to run one or more tournament this summer: Gary Badgley, MaryLynne Rimer, Mervyn Hulbert, Cathy Korpela, Michael Pardaens and Sandy Hodel, along with more experienced members Chris Jones and Anita.
Bowls Coaching and Player Development
Peter Gilchrist took on the job of coordinating lessons this year for over 30 new bowling members. Bowls coaches were Peter, Chris Jones, David Maher, Cathy Korpela, Bill Huot, MaryLynne Rimer, Anita McCaw and Paula Parkinson. Croquet members also welcomed many new members and provided lessons. Most coaching sessions took place in the weeks immediately following our very successful Open House. Additional lessons were provided to late joiners.
MaryLynne Reimer oversaw a six week Novice League in June with the help of Cathy Korpela and Paula Parkinson. The focus of this league was to encourage our novice players to get out and enjoy a game with the ultimate goal of having them join in the daily draws and men’s and women’s leagues. The final session provided practice at participating in a singles game. Ten of those players competed in the Novice Club Tournament that followed. Two of those players (Judy Arsenault and Jeremy Zhao) went on to complete in the BSI Novice Tournaments. See 2022 Tournament Winners
MaryLynne also oversaw the time consuming job of displaying/taking orders for Club vests, jackets and shirts.
AS YOU CAN SEE FROM THE ABOVE, A MEMBER-RUN LAWN BOWLING CLUB INVOLVES A LOT OF WORK. EVERY HOUR CONTRIBUTED IS APPRECIATED. THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO VOLUNTEERED.