It was a great day, the green was fantastic and friendship was terrific as usual.

Congratulations to Manildra, you were too good winning 5 rinks to 2 and 162 to 107. We had a great time catching up with you all, see if we can win it back next time at our house.

Australia Day at the Railway

Sixteen brave Aussies turned out for two games of 10 ends of 2 x4 x2 bowls, sponsored by the Bugman himself Paul Lewin. A very big thank you to Paul, a very keen member of our little club.

Parkes Shire Council gave away two Aussie day shirts and two caps presented by Tim Keith.

Winners of the day were Tony Latter and Graham Thomson 2 wins +19. Runners-up Mick Furney and Terry George 2 wins +17. Third prize went to Peter Job and Lea Tanks 2 wins +15.

We had three teams take part in the Parkes Bowling and Sports Club Australia Day mini carnival on Tuesday. All had a great day.

Wednesday on a hot day, 14 played.

Winners were Mick Furney and Neil Riley W16+ 13, runners-up Wally Grant and Mike Parkes W15+6. Margins were 6, 6, 13 and marble 25 rolled out so next week's jackpot will be $98.

Friday night raffles, happy hour 5pm to 7pm. Members draw $100 and the joker is down to nine cards and $2700. Robyn's nest serving as usual.

We have five representatives going to Lithgow on Saturday to play in the Zone 4 Match Trials against Zone 5. Ray Griffith, Greg Howlett, Peter Job, Lea Tanks and Mick Furney. Good bowling Railway.

There will be four games of fours played on Sunday 31/1/21 so if you want to see some good bowlers in action get on down to the Railway, Toot Toot!

A fantastic roll-up of 14 teams from several clubs descended on the rinks on Australia Day.

As usual, ground control had done their thing, perfect greens, pretty good weather too.

A bit of cloud cover and constant breeze made for comfortable playing conditions, not as hot as forecast. Congrats to all the winners and well done to the organisers!

Don't forget, Saturday, tomorrow, 10am at the club for the Q&A and information session on the Unification of Women's Bowls NSW and Bowls NSW.

You will need to register to attend. Please visit this website: https://www.womensbowlsnsw.org/unification/ or visit Facebook - Parkes Town Ladies Bowling Club, and click on the link.

To play social bowls next Tuesday, February 2, please call the club 6862 1446, between 8.30am-9am, with play to begin at 9.30am.

There is a committee meeting as well: 1pm-1.30pm.

Social roster: Lorraine Baker.

Please collect programs and rosters from the club room.

It's time to get back into the swing of tennis for 2021.

All registrations are now open including HotShots for preschool and primary school girls and boys ages 4-12 years every afternoon, group lessons for high schoolers, half hour private lessons for all ages, development squad training as well as junior comp on Tuesday afternoons.

Night competitions are also set to start with Monday night ladies social doubles from 6pm-7.30pm.

A Grade singles challenge on Mondays from 6.30pm.

Tuesday nights will be three in a team mixed starting at 7pm each week.

Register online www.parkestennis.com.au with a February 8 start date.

Booking a court and enjoying a social hit has never been easier with online court bookings through the Parkes Tennis website.

Parkes Junior Open

Thanks to everyone who helped make the Parkes Junior Open a successful event last weekend. Our friends from the city thoroughly enjoyed the canteen facilities, as well as the delicious locally grown relishes, jams and honey.

Many great matches on display with the best performing locals including Gabe Goodrick making the semis of the 14s boys conso and Poppy Fisher making the quarter finals of the 12s girls conso.

Unfortunately the heat rule came into play about 2pm on Sunday and five matches could not be completed. Coin tosses followed to distribute trophies. The next tournament will be in April.

On Sunday, three Parkes Sharks swimmers competed at the NSW Country Regional carnival in Orange. Normally the carnival would be held at the Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre, but for this year it was split into three regional locations.

Hunter and Quinn Kriedemann and Khan Jackson had a wonderful time in the pool.

Khan took first place in the 10 years 100 metre breaststroke, taking five seconds off his previous best time, and placed third in the 10 years 50 metre butterfly and 50 metre breaststroke.

Quinn improved her personal best times in five out of six events while her brother Hunter improved on his times in six out of seven events he competed in.

Prior to Christmas, there was a cap of 250 swimmers allowed to take part in the Country Regionals at Orange. That number filled up within 45 minutes of registrations opening.

Eventually that number was able to increase to 400, which once again, filled out for this past weekend's event.

A total of 47 clubs from regional NSW and the ACT were there on the day.

A great day of swimming. Now club members' focus turns to the upcoming school carnivals, and Mountains and Plains Summer Championships in Lithgow on February 13-14.

Last Sunday saw 7 shooters attend the Deep Lead Shooting complex and shoot at ordinary targets at both 25 and 50 metres for a maximum of 500 points.

Target Rifles: Brian Drabsch 250 - 246 - 496; John Davis 250 - 246 - 496 and Jeff Charlton 246 - 243 - 489.

Field Rifles: John Maddison 249 - 246 - 495; Ron Cunningham 250 - 245 - 494; Alan Briton 249 - 244 - 493 and John Smeaton 247 - 235 - 483.

The changing North Westerly wind caught out everyone at the 50m range along with the mirage.

Our next shoot is at 10am Sunday January 31 and will be fox targets at both ranges.

A Central West pool competition is returning to the region in 2021 with the Central West Singles Championships on Saturday, January 30 at the Parkes Hotel.

The ladies and juniors competition will begin at 9.30am sharp, with the open division to follow immediately after.

Entry is $20.

Those who plan to compete are urged to let organiser Joe van Opynen (he can be contacted on the Central West Pool Facebook page) know as soon as possible.

If you're a Parkes sporting club and would like to see your weekly sport reports or results published in the Parkes Champion Post, you can do so by emailing Kristy Williams at kristy.w@parkeschampionpost.com.au. Or if you have a sport story you'd like to share with us, give us a call on 6862 2322 or email journalist Kristy Williams.