In almost perfect conditions last Saturday, Kukerin were at home for our pennant match against Kulin. The game was keenly contested and at the end of the day each side had won two rinks, but Kulin won the aggregate comfortably resulting in a 6—2 win to the visitors.

This Tuesday and Wednesday, the annual Alan & Mary Williams Classic, will be played at Kukerin and at this stage a capacity field of bowlers from a wide area of the South-West of W.A. have entered and two days of some very good competition are anticipated.

Next Saturday Kukerin travel to Lake Grace for our pennant game.  There will be pennant practise on Friday afternoon from 4.30 pm for all who can attend. Teams will be announced following practise. On Sunday, the club triples are to be played.  The captain will advise starting times after pennants on Saturday
 Article by P.Adams

Friday night social tennis as usual, come along for a burger and a hit so you are ready for Saturday 29 October.
 
On Saturday we will hold the Championship Doubles at 1pm. Please get names to Jane 98637205 lensfield1@bigpond.com or Drew 0427084500.
It is a BBQ tea so please bring a salad to share and we will have meat available to purchase. Cost
is $7 to play in the tournament if you are a member and $15 if you aren’t a member. Might be a good time to pay your subs please. bsb 066525 acc 10004283 - $80 for senior members.
 
Congratulations to Frosty who won the Solaris Raffle.  Chocolate, Wine and a size 3XL Solaris Shirt!
 
Wednesday Ladies Pennants
Wednesday Ladies have won both their games and play in Kukerin this week.
Weekend Pennants have another week off this weekend and play on the 6th Nov against Tarin Rock at home.  
Article by T.Bartram

Ladies Pennant Bowls
Pennants for the women commenced on Tuesday 18 October at Dumbleyung against Kojonup Gold with unfortunately the ladies going down 1-3.  Room for improvement with some ladies deciding to get a few coaching tips during the week. 

Men's Pennant Bowls were played in Wagin with a great win over Wagin Black 5-1 and this was with some of the big guns missing in action.  With all the celebrating, the trip home was quite late!

Ladies Championship 4's Sunday 23 October
After looking at the fixtures, the ladies voted to play the 4's at the same time as the men.  But due to too many of the men unable to back up 2 days bowling or celebrating in Wagin for too long on the Saturday after their win, they cancelled, with the ladies holding theirs.  There was one hiccup when hubby Malcolm Gooding came looking for his mobile phone with an extremely withdrawn and worried look on his face, not too sure what he was so concerned about, Helen didn't know his code anyway, but might want to look into this incident more closely.  Of course Helen didn't think she had it but!

The final scores didn't give a true closeness of the games played, with many a change in players holding shot. I have decided bowls is not for the weak-hearted. You have to be super fit to play bowls; having to contend with the wind, heat, obeying and trying to do what your skipper wants,  standing up all day and of course sometimes the advice of others. 

Winners: Skipper, Audrey Bateup (who we believe is just getting over celebrating her birthday at the casino), Lola Hannah, T Bartram and Justine Hughes 2 wins =30  R/ups:  Skipper, Jeanne Hudson(who will be joining the jet setters with Murray shortly), Jean Lee and Tania Kirk- 1 win minus4.

Scroungers was held on Sunday as well and it was great to see new comers in Hanna and Scott and I believe Graham Coad has had a crack at scroungers some time in his career.  It was great to see such a good crowd at the club with the younger, jet setting establishment and their children enjoying the facilities.
Article by T.Bartram

The 2016/17 cricket season got underway on Saturday for Kukerin/Dumbleyung with a home game at Kukerin against Narrogin. Last season started with an easy win and when the start time was approaching and there were no signs of Narrogin it looked like the season could start with an even easier win via a forfeit.
 
Narrogin eventually turned up and after a couple of attempts, Narrogin won the toss and decided to bat. The Kukerin/Dumbleyung team was very similar to last year so as always the bowling was opened by the reliable combination of David Head and Scott Gray. Narrogin got off to a good start and reached their fifty after ten overs without the loss of a wicket. In the final overs of his spell Scott managed to get the breakthrough that was required. Nathan Ditchburn and Conan Holder then came on and started to tighten the screws. The pressure mounted before two wickets fell in successive overs. At 3-85 the scoring had slowed and Conan started to take charge, picking up two wickets in two balls. With a weakened batting lineup Narrogin were exposed, reaching drinks at 5-101. Kalan Joyce came on for a few overs and picked up a quick wicket before Conan finished off a great spell, picking up three wickets in his last two overs to finish with the great figures of 6-35 off his 10 overs. Narrogin finished with 137, not an imposing total but a potentially tricky chase.
 
Dame Leo and Matt Gilfellon went out to open the batting knowing that if the team batted out their overs then the runs should be reached comfortably. They got off to a steady start with Dame showing a glimpse of his flair and Matt using the edges of his bat to full effect. The momentum started to build and they reached the fifty in the eleventh over. A good opening partnership of 75 was broken when Dame fell. Kalan came in but before he could could get his eye in Matt was out. This brought Scott Jefferis to the wicket and things started to speed up. By the time his dashing innings ended there was only ten runs left to get which were knocked off without incident. Kukerin/Dumbleyung passed the score four wickets down in the 25th over to finish with a comfortable win.
 
This week the team travels to Wandering who have entered the A Grade competition after a successful season in the B Grade last year. After a good start Kukerin/Dumbleyung will be hoping to get another win on the board but with an unknown team it will be an interesting game. The next home game will be on 12 November at Stubbs Park.
 
Matt Gilfellon 57                                              Conan Holder 6/35 (10)
Scott Jefferis 33                                             Scott Gray 2/43 (7.4)
Dame Leo 29                                                  Kalan Joyce 1/9 (4)
Article by Jiminy Cricket

The Department of Agriculture and Food reminds landholders and stakeholders to prepare for predicted locust activity during spring 2016 in parts of the eastern Wheatbelt and southern agricultural region.
 
Significant spring locust activity is expected in parts of the eastern Wheatbelt and southern agricultural region, which may result in locust bands and loose swarms. Variable hatchings are also likely to occur in other parts of the southern agricultural region and Wheatbelt.
 
Landholders are reminded to inspect their properties for locust activity and start preparing for control if necessary to protect their assets, including crops and pastures.
 
The Australian Plague Locust (APL) 2016 Assistance Scheme is now available to support landholders to control populations of locusts and protect their assets.
 
The Scheme is available to landholders and Local Government Authorities that manage land within nine shires identified as having an increased risk of APL activity in spring/summer 2016.
 
A State Government contribution of $5 per hectare is open to landholders seeking to control locusts in pasture, crop, fallow, greenbelts or where locusts are on public amenities, such as ovals, through spraying with a suitable insecticide, within  Ravensthorpe, Jerramungup, Gnowangerup, Lake Grace, Kulin, Yilgarn, Westonia, Mukinbudin and Nungarin shires
 
In order to access the Assistance Scheme, landholders will be required to provide the following documentation to demonstrate financial accountability in making a claim:
-     A map identifying the number of hectares and area treated,
-     A tax invoice or statement proving the purchase of insecticide and/or a tax invoice or statement proving that a contractor has been engaged, and
-     Track logs of the area treated to confirm application.
 
Any application for $10,000 (2,000ha) or more will require verification by the Department. Photographs or videos may also be uploaded as further evidence of application. The department will also undertake a level of accountability compliance inspection.
 
Variable hatchings are also likely to occur in other parts of the southern agriculture region and Wheatbelt. The scheme may be extended to additional shires if department survey teams identify other areas experiencing a high level of activity.
 
The scheme will be available for control activities up to 31 Dec 2016 and applications can be made up to 31 Jan 2017 via the department.
 
Further information on the scheme, including the guidelines and application details, are available from the department website www.agric.wa.gov.au/locusts or by contacting freecall 1800 198 231.
 
Thanks to C.Hadlow for supplying the information for this article

After being one of the founding members of the Dumbleyung Soil Conservation Group formed in 1989 and serving on local and regional Land Conservation Bodies during that time, Owen Dare, after 27 years of voluntary service, has called it a day. Following his resignation from the Dumbleyung Zone and Land Conservation District Committee a small gathering was held to acknowledge his dedication, contribution and support to the Landcare Organisation. Past member Rodney Wright, accompanied by Marjorie, travelled from Albany for the function and other past members unable to attend sent their apology and best wishes to the retiring members.

Also retiring from being the Shire Representative on the local and regional Landcare Organisation was Gordon Davidson. Gordon spent many years representing the wishes of the local community and was a staunch supporter to initiate deep drainage into the Shire as a method to alleviate the rising water table responsible for the ongoing salinity issues happening largely on the valley floor.
The two members were acknowledged by a thank you and farewell speech from Jon Adams, the current Chair of the local Landcare Committee and each responded with their highlights and historical summary of time spent involved with the various Landcare Organisations.

On behalf of past and present members, best wishes and a big thank you is extended to the two retirees.
Pictured above(L-R): Outgoing volunteers Owen Dare and Gordon Davidson.
Article by C.Hadlow

Kukerin travelled to Newdegate last Saturday for the opening game of pennants of season 2016-17.  The game was played in strong gusting wind and very cold conditions-which made life extremely difficult for all players.  After a very competitive game each team won two rinks, with Newdegate winning the aggregate by the narrow margin of eight shots resulting in a 6-2 win to the home side.   On Sunday, in much more pleasant conditions, captain Graeme Smith organized three games of social bowls for those present.

Next Saturday Kukerin will be at home for our pennant game against the reigning premiers Kulin, so a big effort will be needed by all.   There will be pennant practise from 4.30pm Friday afternoon for all who can be there.  Pennant teams to be announced following practise.

 There will be organised social bowls on Sunday commencing at 1.30 pm. Club competitions begin the following Sunday. 

Article by P. Adams

The Tennis Pennant season has commenced with a new look team for Dumbleyung. Welcome to Kym Smith who started the day off well by checking out the hairy legs of the new Dumbleyung Ladies Captain, Glenn Ball.  Ethan Henry playing his 1st 5-setter for the club winning both mixed with Kym.  Thanks to Carmen for driving the bus after a bloody start to her day, but thanks to a great shower scrubbed up well and left Hubby to clean up the mess from the beast.  

Due to the nerves (or eagerness) of the new ladies Captain we arrived at Kukerin before their players had time to get out of bed.  This paid off, with words of encouragement to Glenn and the expertise of Drew Roberts (the reigning Men's and Ladies Captains). Choosing the teams wisely, it was a very close win over Kukerin 17 sets all with 155 games to 147.  Jamie Dare gave us a chance by winning his singles game, with all scores even going into the mixed. 

The last off were Carmen and Tom clinching the win with a tiebreaker last set.  Tom was heard to mutter ‘I hope that this is worth it’, as his partner, Carmen, was making him work hard, though Tom must remember that if you inform your Captain that you would like to play with Carmen you must suffer the consequences. Everyone was in fits of laughter, taken in a light-hearted manner by Michelle by the quote of the day -which was very contradictory.  Megan Henry, partnering Glenn Ball and playing against Michelle Gooding and Nigel Faulkner, informed us that Nigel encouraged Michelle to bend her knees and spread her legs-BUT Nigel's information, of course, was completely the opposite-Michelle was to bend her knees but keep her legs together. You make up your own mind on this information, but the recommendation for the Kukerin ladies is beware when partnering Nigel.    

Well done to Carmen and Tara Ball for winning 5 sets.  A great spread as usual after the day's play by the host club, and it is always a fantastic day of tennis to catch up with old friends and foes!!!  Our next Pennant match is not until Sun 6th November -Tarin Rock at Dyg at 1pm.

Article by T.Bartram