Fresh coffee at Café 22
Great food at The Grill 
The Punt Sports Bar
Courtesy BusBrett's Bowls Bulletin Everything you need to knowposted March 10 2009
Firstly I must thank Club Management and members for their support after winning the Australian Open in February. The support I have received has been fantastic and makes me proud to represent Club Helensvale. Congratulations to Lynsey Armitage for winning the Australian Open Pairs with Karen Murphy, Lynsey and Karen are unstoppable in pairs and just keep adding to their impressive record. Well done to Brenda Thompson for reaching the semi final of the Australian Open Women’s Singles where she was narrowly defeated by Scottish International Kay Moran. Former Helensvale reps were also successful at the event with Mark Casey winning the Men’s Pairs and Robert Thompson winning the Men’s Triples.
The Helensvale Hawks Premier and Reserve grade teams have started well with the Premier Grade winning nine from ten rounds and the Reserve Grade undefeated. Our club has been successful in our bid to host the Premier League finals once again in 2009 & 2010. With the introduction of a top 8 finals series this year, the finals system will now follow the current AFL finals “top 8” system. A qualifying/elimination final will be played from the 17th – 19th April with the host clubs being the teams who finish either 1st, 2nd, 5th or 6th on the ladder in each grade. The successful teams will then advance to the finals series at Club Helensvale on Saturday 25th & Sunday 26th April. This is Anzac day which means the first final will commence at 1pm, the next game will commence at approx 5:30/6pm, and the grand final will be played on the Sunday at 1pm. This year’s finals series will see the reintroduction of a finals brunch, this will be held at our club on the Sunday morning before the grand final at 9:30am.
We have seven sides in the new Premier 7s competition with all sides performing well in the new format of singles, pairs & fours. Currently all seven of our teams are a final chance with three rounds left to play in March. The finals series will be held on Saturday 28th & Sunday 29th March at a venue yet to be decided.
New pants arrived for both Premier League and Premier 7s during January; unfortunately these pants were the wrong make and design from the original pants ordered. The manufacturer has accepted liability and has offered to produce the correct pants free of charge; the new pants will be ready by the second week in March. Please support our continued sponsors Helensvale Quality Meats, Labrador/Helensvale Tyre & Mechanical (Goodyear Auto Centre), Zupps New & Used Cars and Coomera River Smash Repairs.
The Annual Trans Tasman Series between Australia and New Zealand will be held in Brisbane at the Hendra/Nundah Bowls Club on Friday 13th, Saturday 14th and Sunday 15th March. Anthony Kiepe and Lynsey Armitage have been selected to play in this series, I was lucky enough to be called in as a late replacement for Mark Jacobsen from Victoria who has withdrawn due to the Victorian Premier League grand final. Lynsey will play singles and pairs, Anthony will play pairs and fours and I will play triples and fours.
The Australian Sides Championships will be held in March with the Queensland women’s and men’s teams looking to defend their titles after both winning in Perth last year. Helensvale representatives include Lynsey Armitage & Brenda Thompson in the women’s and Nathan Rice, Anthony Kiepe, Michael Breen, Leif Selby and I in the men’s team. This event will be held in Canberra at the Tuggeranong Valley club from the 23rd – 26th March and will include all States and Territories in a round robin format.
Brett Wilkie Bowls Development Manager