Berkeley Lawn Bowling Club

08/11/2026

Looking for a way to unwind after work?

Leave the work stress behind and come try lawn bowling—it's relaxing, social, and more fun than you might expect.

🎉 FREE Try-It Sessions
📅 Wednesday August 12 and Wednesday August 19
🕠 5:30 PM*
📍 Berkeley Lawn Bowling Club, 2270 Acton St, Berkeley

Whether you come with a friend or on your own, you'll be welcomed by club members and shown everything you need to know. No experience needed, all equipment will be provided. Just wear comfortable, flat-soled shoes and a hat and bring water. For safety reasons we ask that participants be at least 12 years of age.

A refreshing change of pace: for one evening, enjoy a game that doesn't involve endless notifications, another Zoom meeting or AI.

Come see why lawn bowling has been helping people relax for generations. Come roll a few bowls with us at our beautiful, outdoor club in the heart of Berkeley.

Thank you,

BLBC Membership Committee
berkeleylawnbowling.org/
(510) 841-2174

We promote the game of lawn bowling for the enjoyment of new and experienced players alike.

06/17/2026

05/31/2024

Congratulations to BLBC members Janie Hillyer and Jim Corr for winning the Pacific Inter-mountain Division (PIMD) Singles women’s and men’s title!!!

12/06/2023

“They sure didn't bowl like novices!”
BLBC Pres. Glenn Nunez to BLBCers on 12/4/2023:

After watching the participants during the eight morning matches of last Saturday's BLBC Novice Tournament, one of our club's veterans confided to me that he was glad he wasn't playing against them. We had some serious bowling going on. There were blowouts. There were matches decided on the last end. The four markers went through a lot of chalk. One end was so close that even the umpire declared it a tie. And there were just enough wrong-biased deliveries to keep it real.

I was tempted to start this paragraph with "When the dust settled," but mist and drizzle throughout the chilly, overcast day made sure there was no dust to settle. So... After tallying the results of the two Round Robins, Cindy announced that Judy Hillyer and Gordon Beveridge had each swept their matches to finish as the preliminaries' only undefeated contestants and would face each other in the first-to-eighteen-points Final.

An enthusiastic audience, including Ginger Cheng - winner of 2022's edition of this event who was on hand to congratulate her successor - gathered at the center rink. Applause was the order of the afternoon as both finalists showcased skills gleaned from many months of diligent practice and competition at various levels. Judy probably could make a case that Gordon be cited for petty larceny, as time and again she laid down an impeccable shot only to see him draw just a smidge closer or somehow pop her seemingly unbeatable bowl out of the head. Judy never faltered, but Gordon's repeated successes proved to be too much and he finally claimed victory shortly before dusk. Congratulations, Gordon!

Kudos to our stellar Hospitality Committee for providing goodies and to those participants who added extra treats. Thanks also to the day's volunteer markers. It was heartening to see the number of new bowlers stepping up for their first competition. The future looks bright for bowling at BLBC.

Great day on the Green

10/31/2023

Updating our FB Page re 2023 BLBC 4-Bowl Singles Outcome, 9/16/2023

By Jim Corr

An unseasonably gray and chilly Saturday saw 14 players compete for the 2023 4-Bowl Singles title on a fast-running green. And the markers and small band of spectators saw some fine bowling and closely contested matches.

The format provided for a preliminary round of three matches played to first to 15 points, followed by the top two players from that stage battling it out in a first to 18 points Final.

At the end of the set of three matches, Jim Corr emerged in first place after defeating Bernie Chan, Daniel Gorelick (the latter in a down-to-the wire 15-14 victory) and Hugo Deaux. Meanwhile, Robin Hoey was also on 3 wins—over Jim Audas, Luis Zapata, and Phil Grattan—but had to await the outcome of the match between Ian Cameron and Bernie Chan. Ian went into that game with two wins (beating Annie Brillhart and Bing Burns along the way). A win by any margin would give Ian the advantage over Rob based on differential, but it turned out to be a nail biter. He and Bernie went toe-to-toe until tying at 14 each. With Bernie holding three shots, Ian snuck in with his last bowl to take the point and the game, edging Rob out of the Final by the margin of that one point.

The matchup for the Championship game was a repeat of the 2018 4-Bowl Singles Final in which Ian (then still a novice) had defeated Jim by a solitary point. He looked like handily repeating that win by jumping into a 13-5 lead. But after a short “bathroom break,” Jim returned to the field and bit by bit fought his way back into the match. Whether it was the break that broke the momentum, or his tactic of playing longer jacks than had been seen hitherto, or the “curse of 13” falling on Ian, Jim did not concede another point and worked his way steadily to an 18-13 victory.

Thanks go out to all those who assisted, especially our wonderful greeenskeeping team, the markers who gave up a part of their Saturday to keep the games flowing nicely, and to Sarah Allday and the hospitality crew for providing vittles.

10/31/2023

Updating our page re Summer League Results and Winners, 8/23/2023

By Jim Corr

Our Wednesday evening Summer League came to an end last night after 7 weeks of keen competition. You will recall (or not!) that the format was 12-end Pairs games with separate round robin sections for Skips and Leads—i.e., each Skip played once against each other Skip and each Lead once against each other Lead. Unfortunately, the parameters did not allow us to arrange that each Lead played with or against each Skip only once, so there was some doubling or tripling of those combinations. That said, it was a fun event and a nice way to pass a summer evening. And in the end, as shown in the attachment, the winners were:

Skips—Cris Benton in 1st Place (with an impeccable 7 wins out of 7), Glenn Nunez 2nd Place, and Mo Shooer 3rd Place (just edging out Hugo Deaux). On the Leads’ side, Lennon Hamilton took 1st Place, aided by a victory against Cindy Moss on the final evening, who emerged 2nd, with Judy Hillyer coming up 3rd, by almost the narrowest possible margin ever. She and Gordon Beveridge were tied on win/loss points, tied on differential (points scored minus points ceded), and Judy won through the ratio of points scored to points ceded—a mere 2/1000th of a point!

Thanks to all the participants and those who participated as subs when needed due to absences. And to Cathy Dinnean for arranging snacks and drinks to round of the final week.

See you on the green.

10/31/2023

Ann Brillhart and Jim Corr are headed to Nationals! We hope you bring us back a couple of trophies.

08/30/2023

What a beautiful evening for a roll up!

08/15/2023

Tunnel Challenge, 8/12/2023
BLBC Pres. Glenn Nunez to BLBCers on 8/14/2023:

As most of you know, this past Saturday saw our club host the annual Tunnel Challenge with our good friends – and worthy opponents – from Rossmoor LBC. Long-standing travel plans prevented BLBC’s Tournament Director from coordinating the event, but Jim confidently handed the reins to Cindy, who (if I do say so myself) acquitted herself admirably. Thanks to a crew of capable volunteers on all fronts, everything went off without a hitch.

Six teams of three bowlers from each club faced off in two 14 end matches. After a couple of routs and a couple of nail-biters, Berkeley’s squad found itself up 5-1 when the morning’s dust settled. A leisurely lunch preceded another set of games in the afternoon. The home team wasn’t about to squander its commanding lead and wound up repeating the morning’s result to handily secure victory. Once the engravers have etched “2023 BERKELEY” on the plaque, you’ll see it proudly displayed on our clubhouse walls for the first of what we hope will be many consecutive years.

Check out the pictures of everyone surrounding Aika holding the trophy and yours truly making sure Rossmoor’s President doesn’t abscond with it!

Now it’s on to the Meat Axe …

08/15/2023

Thank you Ray Francis for your share of a little bit of BLBC history, 8/4/2023

A couple months ago I took a walk through El Cerrito’s Sunset View Cemetery. The columbarium happened to be open, so I took a walk through the halls. As I looked around, I found the remains of one of the BLBC’s founders: Dr. J. W. Henderson, D.O., along with those of some of his family. I went to the office to confirm that this was the BLBC’s Dr. Henderson (for whom the first green — the one next to the corporation yard building–is named for). The address on file for this Dr. Henderson was the Capistrano Avenue address for the BLBC’s Dr. Henderson.

A little bit of incidental history and happenstance that I thought I’d share.