Not many lawn bowls clubs can lay claim to still be thriving after 100 years in the game but the Glen Innes men’s is still going strong in its centenary year.
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The club turned 100 on October 6 and last month they combined their birthday celebrations with their annual Rose Carnival – also marking a milestone with its 60th year – with a huge reception.
The event went over five days with the Ian Moore Memorial Mixed Pairs on Wednesday, Phyllis McLaren/’Nan’ Bush Memorial Ladies Triples on Thursday, Mick McLoughlin Open Pairs on Friday, Jacob E Davis Memorial Open Pairs on Saturday and Murray Stewart Memorial Open Pairs on Sunday.
“Sydney bowling clubs are closing up every week and for Glen Innes to be successful for 100 years is pretty special,” Glen Innes men’s bowls secretary Sandra Orvad said.
“Because we are such a small club we had to combine the Rose Carnival and the 100 year celebration into the one thing so each day was named after one of our significant bowlers.
“Every day had 28 teams. They came from as far away as Gladstone and Queensland and a group of bowlers came from Woy Woy.
“A lot of the prizes went to out of town bowlers which is always good, you like our locals to win but it was great a lot of our away bowlers [to win].”
There are currently 43 members in the Glen Innes club but Orvad said there is always room for more with a Fun Day planned to give people the chance to try the sport.
“We are looking for numbers, there is a big fun day on Sunday, we are hoping to get lots of new bowlers coming to that,” she said.
“The club is actually going from strength-to-strength, we just need some younger people to give it a go.”
She believes some people may be put off from trying it out with a common misconception of it not being a young person’s sport but there are plenty of local juniors trying it out including her six-year-old grandson.
“Everyone thinks it is an old person's game but in reality it is not,” Orvad said.
“Hayley Ross, one of our juniors here, she played in the state open pairs and I think is only 15.
“We have some younger guys, they would be in their 20s I suppose, and they have only just started playing and can't get enough of it so it is a sport for everybody.”