Tuesday, 22 December 2009

We had a great Christmas Party - thank you Lucy!

Asquith Bowling Club hosted our Annual Presentation and Christmas Party on 12th December. Many, many thanks to Lucy Mandarano who organised the party and gorgeous decorations. The food was great, the company was fun, we had prizes and dancing - all you need for a very good night.

Note the glitzy bowling pin tree ornaments!
We were able to thank our Patrons, Nan Horne and Judy Hopwood for their support throughout the year.


Mrs Wilson has been to London this year, so she wore her pearl encrusted crown (there is a vicious rumour that it is really a tea cosy!), and carried her Very Best Bag. Does she remind you of someone?


Warren thanked Ron Crompton, on behalf of the Rockets members, for the enormous amount of work he puts into being President of Hornsby Rockets, and presented him with a gift.


We had a few speeches (see Ron's below) recognising the importance of supporters, and the achievements of the Rockets



Santa made an appearance ......






There was a lot of dancing to the excellent music of Gary Wallace (who has written a song for the Rockets!)



And some lucky winners went home with lucky door prizes and raffle prizes.





Thanks to everyone who contributed from planning, to organising raffles, decorating the room and coming along to join in the fun. We'll see you back at bowling in 2010.

A few words from the President ....


At the Christmas Party, Ron Crompton, President of Hornsby Rockets, thanked those who made 2009 a very good year for the team, and foreshadowed some events for 2010:

I would like to welcome everyone here to night & to thank our two Patrons Judy Hopwood (MP for Hornsby) and Nan Horne for their ongoing support this year.

Thank you also to Margaret and Dave McMonnies, from Building Code & Bushfire Hazards Solutions for their ongoing sponsorship of the Rockets, unfortunately they are unable to attend because of family commitments.
To Wendy Escott from Studio Artes, our thanks for allowing us to hold our committee meetings in their workshop.

On behalf of the Committee, our thanks to Lucy for organising this night for the Hornsby Rockets and supporters, a great job.

There have been some great events held over the last twelve months with our first trivia night, which was a huge success, many thanks to all the work of the committee, parents and Karen Story for helping to putting the night together. People are looking forward to next year event.

The Rockets held a social night at Michel’s Berowra courtesy of Les Abood the owner, numbers were down, but those who attended had a great evening.

The Rockets attended the Nationals in Rockhampton which was a great trip, enjoyed by all. Whilst not winning any medals the team had some great experiences visiting the crocodile farm, holding a real one, going to the rodeo at the great western hotel, were our host Rocky ensured we had great seats. Warren made a wish that a cowboy would land on his table - it did happen!

We attended several competitions during 2009:

Macarthur. winning 19 Gold, 13 Silver, 4 Bronze, 1 trophy & Club Champions Trophy.
Singleton, winning 10 gold, 8 silver, 10 bronze & 1 trophy
Strathfield - we won 20 gold, 8 silver, 1 bronze & 4 trophies.

Overall the team won a total of 49 gold, 29 silver, 14 bronze medals & 7 trophies a great effort by all players taking part in the competitions.

We also attended a fun day at Maitland, which had some eventful happenings on the day; they are working on having a competition weekend next year.

The Rockets held their first Invitational competition 18-19 April which was attended by 6 clubs, a total of 76 bowlers. Thanks to all the parents that assisted on the day and special thanks to Denis Wilson for entering the scores and preparing the final score tallies.

We held our second Challenge Night which was a huge success. People are still talking about what a great night it was, I have had enquires from people wishing to put a team in for 2010 Challenge Night, we will confirm a date later in the new year.

2010 is looking like a great year again with a trivial night planned for Saturday 1st May to raise funds.

We will be holding the Hornsby Rockets Invitational on Saturday and Sunday the 17th & 18th of April, Help will also be needed to ensure it is a successful event.


The Rockets will be travelling to Perth in for the National Disability Competition from the 29th May to 5th June with a group of 21 bowlers & carers travelling to take part in this event.

We will also be attending Macarthur, Strathfield & maybe Illawarra, Singleton & hopeful Maitland in October for bowling competitions.

I will be posting a calendar during the Xmas break with details of events for 2010, membership application form, TBA membership forms, dates of general meetings and also a roster for Saturday mornings for parents to help to organise the bowling, and allow those who regularly give up their Saturday morning, to have some time off.

All this would not have been possible without the help of the parents who offered their support and committee members who at times were tested by my demands to achieve the best for the Rockets. There are some parents that I would like to publicly thank for their support and understanding. Annette, Esther, Anna, Denis and Jill.

I would like to thank the players and parents for supporting me as President of Hornsby Rockets, who have proven to be very caring, friendly and supportive group of people to each other, as well as players and parents from other bowling teams.

Lastly I would like to thank Gary Wallace for providing the music tonight, his time & effort in putting a song together about the Hornsby Rockets.

Thank you all!

Awards and trophies for 2009


The presentation of wards and trophies was made at the Christmas Party.

Trophies 2009


MOST IMPROVED AWARD - based on their average improving during the year.

Melany Newman
Tim Wilson

HIGHEST GAME AWARD - based on their highest game above their average.


Karina Peters


Kevin MacPherson




HIGHEST SERIES AWARD - based on their highest series above their average.

Karina Peters
Mark Milner




TURKEY AWARD - based on a bowler getting 3 strikes in a row in a game during our bowling year.

Karina Peters 4 turkeys

Kevin McPherson 5 turkeys, 4 Bagger & 6 Bagger


STEVELY AWARD - Ian Stevely played with the Rockets in the 90s when his family lived in AUstralia for four years the before moving back to Enlgand. The award is worked out on the number pins per week a bowler gets over his or her average in a series during the bowling year, then added up to find the winner.

Emma Mathews



Simon Thatcher



ANDREW GASH MEMORIAL AWARD - Andrew was an original member of the Rockets until his passing some 6 years ago. The award is worked out using the “Star of the Week for a Series” given out each week to the winning player, then adding up the number of pins over their series average to find the winner for the year.

Calina Olliver

Mark Milner


HORNSBY ROCKETS AWARD - the award is worked out using the “Star of the Week for a Game ” given out each week to the winning player, then adding up the number of pins over their game average to find the winner for the year.

Karina Peters
Declan O’Connor

JUDY HOPWOOD ENCOURAGEMENT AWARD - given to player who is a team player, supports other club members & attends bowling regularly.

David Hunter


CLARK AWARD - presented in remembrance of Tim Wilson's grandfather Fred Clark who was a great supporter of the Rockets. It is given to the bowler who bowls the most numbers of games over his or her average each week.


Gold: Brooke McNamara 7



Silver Warren Seymour 15



Bronze Kevin McPherson 15 and Jeremy Wright 15


Each player received a trophy in recognistion of the participation in the Rockets throughout the year.

Thanks to Vute Sirivivatnanon for his photos.