East Shepparton Bowls Club again provided the venue for the May-June affair, which first operated last year, with four extra teams making the trip compared to the initial running.
They came from far and wide, crossing playing areas and bowls regions, for the social spectacle throughout the eight-week event, with teams as far apart as Murchison and Numurkah Golf among the competitors.
Thursday mornings and afternoons were made that much more enjoyable by an exclusively positive and laid-back environment, so are the sentiments of East Shepparton’s Val Le Lievre.
“It’s a wonderful vibe. You go into the club rooms and everyone’s there between 9am and 9.30 even though we start at 10, just because they want to have a talk and a cuppa before we start,” Le Lievre said.
“It’s been really successful. It was a great success the first time and it’s been even more this year.
“The chatter and the talk that goes on is so endearing. You never hear a bad word or a complaint when they’re bowling.
“It’s just everyone having a good laugh and a damn good time on a competitive day.”
Le Lievre hailed the enormous success of the second running of this tournament, in particular the growth in participation — including some who simply wished the event wouldn’t end.
“Last year, we wanted to run it for a month,” Le Lievre said.
“We decided, based on how it was going, that we’d go for another month and people kept saying they didn’t want to stop, so we went for 10 weeks.
“This year, I decided to pull up stumps at eight weeks just because it’s a lot of work to organise.”
Indeed, it’s a labour of love, but ‘labour’ is the operative word.
After all, beyond the jokes and light-hearted environment, there were still bowls rolled and scores kept over the eight weeks.
For the most part, the latter was a one-person job.
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