Getting to Know Our New Members

way the Club was being run especially the way things were heading and so I decided to stand for re election. This year I do not want to do a seventh year and I am now happy to pass the Captaincy over to Peter Flack. We need someone like Peter to be strong and stand up for all men bowlers and I know Peter will do a great job so best of luck Peter.

After 6 years it's all over for me and I would like to thank everyone who supported me because it was a pleasure for me to be your Captain. – Regards John Godfrey

Getting to Know Our New Members

During his tenure as Chairman of Selectors, Rob Tozer said in regard to new bowlers joining Sorrento that it would be highly encouraging if our Club could attract “a few younger blokes”. “When I say younger blokes, you are looking at blokes less than 60 which is a pretty loose definition of younger,” Rob said at the time.

Well, in the 2021 Men’s Novice Singles championship the average age worked out to be 60.5 years. That’s pretty close to Rob’s mark but the most important aspect is that Sorrento is still attracting new bowlers when a lot of clubs are struggling just to maintain their numbers.

The six blokes pictured above are a diverse lot from varied backgrounds, but they all have interesting stories to tell. This is what they revealed.

BARNEY FLEISER: Barney certainly knows about the boom times, firstly as the winner of this year’s Novice Singles championship and also in his work as a real estate agent. When it comes to drawing, the 56-year-old, by virtue of his 21-7 win over Gary Bayne in the final, proved he is just as efficient getting to the kitty as he is with a pen and a property contract. He reckons it’s a bit of a juggling act bowling while still yet to retire but results speak for themselves. Born in Johannesburg, where he went on to play first division rugby union for Parktown, He later lived in Durban, before moving to Australia in 2009. He also loves his cricket and on arriving in Perth coached junior sides, including the one of which his son was a member.

Barney’s lawn bowling has gone ahead in leaps and bounds, and this season he represented Sorrento in Pennants, mostly in the team skippered by Derry Ellis. As the winner of our Novice Singles, Barney qualified to represent Sorrento in the inter club championship final, at Morley and Osborne Park to determine who is the best fledgling bowler in Perth. But things didn’t exactly go Barney’s way in the final. Having never before played on an artificial surface, Barney lucklessly found himself drawn against the bowler representing North Beach. You can’t win them all.

GARY BAYNE: Under the persistent persuasion of Roger Palmer, whom he has known for 40 years, Gary fortunately decided to come down to Sorrento to try his hand at bowls. Gary may not have won the Novice Singles final against Barney Fleiser, but getting into the final decider was no mean feat and augurs well for his foray into the sport.

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Born in Broken Hill and completing an apprenticeship, Gary later decided to move to Perth for six months, but ended up staying for 45 years. Now aged 68, Gary spent most of his working life with the Water Corporation, ensuring the six treatment plants around Perth were operating efficiently. He is adamant, almost to the point of indignation, that his work involved ground water plants and not sewerage treatment plants – and who could blame him for that. There’s no disputing Gary’s bowls flourished this season and it’s no coincidence that happened under the careful watch of his Skip Barry Bradshaw.

GREG CLEMENTS: Greg, at the age of 69, makes it quite clear he doesn’t rue the decision to swap his golf clubs for a set of lawn bowls. After trying to hit a little white ball as far away from him as he possibly could at the Joondalup Resort and Mt Lawley golf clubs, he is now hell bent on getting as close to another little white ball as he possibly can at the Sorrento Bowling Club. And, as an entrant in the Club’s Novice Singles championship, he is making a pretty good fist of his new sport.

After a career in banking, Greg has given a pretty good account of himself since joining Sorrento and picking up a bowl for the first time two years ago. He oozes confidence, especially since switching to a stick, and describes Sorrento as “a beautiful set-up and like being in paradise.”

Greg’s decision to switch to a stick was made after he decided bowling in a conventional manner was doing his knees and hips no good whatsoever. In fact, so rapidly and adept has he become with his new “delivery weapon” that Greg entered the Novice Singles championship