News from your Editors

News from your Editors

Welcome

Denise and I would like to wish all our readers a very happy Christmas and a great 2021. We both hope that this next year will see Australia returning to normal after the corona pandemic.

Thanks

We would like to thank the following members for their help with our news magazine: • John Goddard for his clever poetry. Who knew he writes poetry? • Jim Woodward for the excellent pieces on Egon Mikolajczyk and Greg Boyd. We now know a bit more about these interesting characters • Brian Lucas for his on-going help with our news magazine • All our other contributors who write reports and those members who send me funny stories from the internet. Special thanks to

Trevor Orton, Di McGivern, Wendy Flack, Alan Rolls, Barry

Stewart, Mike Berecry, Ian Wittber, Ken Giles, Brian Staples,

Shona Carter and Alex Third • Jan Paniperis who spends three to four hours proof reading our draft before it goes to the printer. She is very good at finding misspellings, grammatical and punctuation errors.

How we communicate with members

Over the last few years, we have worked hard to make sure members know what is happening in and around their Club. Some messages are intentionally duplicated across different platforms, as our members access information using a wide range of mediums, depending on their preference and the type of information they want to know. The following communication channels are used:

Our Club Website

This contains a lot of information for both members and prospective members. There are links covering darts, croquet, bowls, entertainment and previous newsletters, as well as facility hire, membership options and details about the Club in general. A new section under What’s On (called “Around our Club”) has been added by Wendy Flack, our Web Master. This includes news stories about our members and current results of Club bowling events. The website also includes information on our Sponsors, Constitution and By-laws, as well as other interesting links to Pennant results and Bowls WA etc. If you have missed a monthly e-Newsletter or Quarterly News magazine you will also find a copy on our website. And if you can’t find what you need, there’s a handy search option at the top of the website – just enter a keyword to find what you’re looking for!

Our Quarterly News Magazine

This is for more leisurely reading as it contains a lot of information and photos focussed on historical happenings, topical and funny subjects. In this magazine you’ll find more detailed reports of accounts and events. Please note that at times there may be some repetition of information and photos that have been on our Facebook page or in the e-newsletters. The Quarterly News Magazine can be accessed online but is also provided in a hard print version, perfect for reading over a cuppa.

Emails

These contain targeted and abridged information for specific audiences (e.g. Pennant players, Recreational bowlers etc.) and are managed by Pauline Marsden, working with Chairs of Selection, Match Committees and the Governing Council. Wendy Flack has arranged for these to be personalised so you will see your name appearing at the top of the email.

Our e-Newsletters

These come in two versions, weekly and monthly. The weekly e-Newsletter features latest news, reminders and what is coming up in the immediate future. The monthly e-Newsletter is sent at the beginning of each month and includes future events and activities that require registration and longer-term planning, along with more general news and announcements. We also try and let members know about other members and to acknowledge their achievements. Both formats of the e-Newsletter include links back to our website where more details are available on a topic.

Our Facebook pages

Facebook appeals to users of all generations but 62% of Facebook users are between 18 and 34. So hopefully this will attract some “younger” members! Ian Lucas does a great job making sure photographs of our social and other activities get posted regularly, along with photos and links back to news stories on our website.

We have many Facebook followers from other clubs, as well as people who have used our facilities in the past, all wanting to keep up with what’s happening at Sorrento. Being “top of mind” to these followers gives us an opportunity to promote ourselves as the friendly and active club.

Posters

Members should also watch the notice boards for up to date information.

As you can imagine, managing all these different forms of communication requires a “hub” and that is overseen by Pauline Marsden. With collaboration and communication amongst the team, we’re working together to deliver to our members.

I really enjoy reading our Quarterly Magazine, published by a superb team led by Neville and Denise Odell. The planning and execution is spot on. What I most enjoyed about the July “Blue Skies” edition was the inclusion of humorous and different topics at the expense of articles related to bowls, croquet and darts. While I appreciate we are a sporting (?) club, there will always be a need for all members to read a wide range of articles and their accompanying photos. Maybe the fortnightly e-newsletter could deal more with the sporting aspects and leave the Quarterly magazine to a wider range of topics? Just a thought. – Graeme May I think times are starting to change in our winter 2-4-2 competition. I will tell you why. I was talking to one of our top lady bowlers and mentioned that some of the higher division bowlers are paired up with lower division bowlers and they are either winning or having a really good game. She then told me that she had seen something very encouraging on the green next to her. Two top division bowlers, John Goddard and Ian Linford, had drawn two lower division players. They immediately suggested swapping partners to have a fairer game. This was agreed and all four players had a great afternoon in a closely competed game. This is fantastic and shows that it is not all about the money and that we are all getting together and enjoying each others company. A change in culture? I hope so! Finally a big thank you to the organisers of our winter Wednesday afternoon games. – Shona Carter

Some more “Did you hear/know”

Did you hear that the “hot shot” Nominated Pairs team of Colin Jasper and Paul Kain, lost only two games over a two year period? The only teams that managed to beat them over this period were Barry Stewart /Peter Snow and Ross Cunningham/John Goddard? (PS: Colin was a bit hesitant about us publishing this information as he fears “having a target on his back.”)

Did you know that you may suffer from Cenosillicaphobia? This is the fear of an empty beer glass. Many of us have felt the chill of a depleted pint glass after missing last orders, but fear of an empty beer glass is apparently a genuine phobia.

Did you know that there is a lady bowler who has had four “husbands”? In a recent game at Osborne Park she told us that she calls them the “four Ds”. When asked why she said she Divorced the first, the second Died, the third was Deported and the fourth is now her De facto husband, She said that she has told him that if he misbehaves she will cut his “family jewels” off! (Note: She said we could publish this useful bit of information.)

Did you hear that Rob Tozer tried to mark a toucher with a Panadol? He thought this pill was a piece of chalk! It is understood that although he was unable to mark the toucher he got “rapid relief” from the Panadol.

Did you know that over the last three years Brian Lucas has raised $100000 in various grants that he has applied for on behalf of our Club? These grants take a lot of time to prepare and justify and on behalf of all our readers we thank Brian for what he has achieved.

Did you know that our Assistant Bar Manager, Debbie Goldsmith and

her hubby Dave went east of Leonora (“the middle of nowhere”) on a “Pirates Gold Prospector Tour”? They found nine little nuggets in crushed rock. They panned the crumbs and turned them into a small “nuggie”. Their ten pieces had a total weight of 2.8g. They won a $50 prize for finding the treasure hunt prize. Debbie tells us it was good fun but not something she would want to do full time.

Did you know that players failing to hand in their cards at the end of a match are the bane of Match Committees, making it very difficult to quickly determine and award the winners? Recently, Trevor Orton (former Men’s Match Committee Chair) forgot to hand his in one Saturday. Not to be outdone, Lee Leach (Women’s Match Committee Chair), on the following Wednesday, forgot to hand both her and her opponent’s card in!

Did you know that, one of our Patrons as well as one of our Sponsors, Tony Krsticevic MLA is not only the Member for Carine he is the Opposition Whip in the Legislative Assembly; Shadow Minister for Community Services; Youth; Special Shadow Minister for Homelessness; Cost of Living; Housing; Shadow Minister Assisting the Leader in Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs. Not sure what he does in his spare time or how this all fits on his business card!

Did you know that two members of the “Kiwi Dream Team” (pictured alongside), that played in the Men’s Club Fours Championship, actually played rugby together at the Marist Rugby Club in Wanganui in 1977? Recently, on looking back at some old rugby photos, Ross noticed that Kevin McKersey and himself had been in the same team! What are the chances of that happening? It really is a small world!