A Double Act Hard to Match

A Double Act Hard to Match

When it comes to quality commitment you don’t have to look any further than Roger and Shirley Palmer to find shining examples. In an amazing and valuable double act there wouldn’t be too many at Sorrento who would disagree that the pair have taken on two of the most demanding, complex and time consuming jobs you will ever find at a bowling club

Both filling their respective jobs for the first time during the 2021-22 season, Roger drew a deep breath and joined Sorrento’s Men's Selection panel while Shirley took over from Lee Leach as chairperson of the Ladies’ Match Committee. And both performed at a dazzling level of efficiency. Roger, always calm and sensible, blended in well with his fellow selectors under the chairmanship of Rob Tozer to deal with a multitude of problems including Covid drop outs and bowlers who left it until the very last minute before pulling the plug on a game of Pennants.

The highly organised Shirley, and her fellow Match Committee members, are always under the pump by virtue of the clock to collect the money, allocate players to various greens and making sure the cards match up. Then follows the procedure of collating the results at considerable speed and working out the winners. Those who complain about what the Selectors are doing and how the Match Committee goes about its work should think twice – or themselves put their hand up for these vital roles. For a number of years Roger and Shirley have also been involved with the organising of Community bowls.

We are just as lucky that Roger and Shirley ended up at our Club as they themselves ended up together. Back in 1974 Roger was rushing along the footpath on Plain Street in the Perth CBD when he turned a corner and ran into a woman travelling in the opposite direction. “I literally bumped right into her,” Roger recalled. “She said she was going to this show, so I said to her ‘I’ll come with you". That woman was none other than Shirley – and the rest is history.

But that fortuitous collision was a long time in the making. Roger was born on the outskirts of London and Shirley hailed from Townsville in Queensland. After an adventurous journey to Australia which involved a plane trip to Singapore and completed in a rundown but seaworthy boat to Perth, Roger and his mates, one of them a Scotsman he met on arrival, ended up working in a mine out of Mt Magnet.

Back in the big smoke, Roger held a variety of jobs over the years including in the Government's Department of Public Works workshops where he worked with Gary Bayne close by. Then came stints at the Orbital Engineering Company at Balcatta and with the RAC maintaining their fleet of mobile vehicles. In between times, Roger and Gary raced catamarans, including at national titles, with Roger also heavily involved in racing motor bikes at Wanneroo Raceway.

Not only that, Roger and seven other mates who had played golf at Wanneroo, were heavily involved in forming the Carramar Golf Club slightly to the north, where Roger played off a handicap of 15.

Shirley, in Perth on a working holiday with a couple of girlfriends, got a job with the ANZ Bank and later as a receptionist at a medical centre in Padbury before becoming the Practice Manager.

As far as bowls goes, Roger and Shirley started their journey at the