By Eleanor Wilson
“If ever there was a self-fulfilling prophecy, this is it,” joked Narre Warren Bowls Club secretary Eric Sydenham as spots of rain hit the new roof at the club.
The Narre Warren Bowls Club gathered on Friday for the official launch of its long anticipated roof installation, which saw all levels of government collaborate to provide a total of $1.5 million in funding.
Sail structure company Greenline were contracted in 2020 to build a bowling green roof across two large greens at the club, allowing play under a wider variety of weather settings.
The upgrade also enables the space to be used for large scale outdoor community events.
“It’s great I absolutely love it,” said club member Susie Menzel.
“I joined last year after my old club shut down and I just love it, all i want to do is bowl here.”
The build was supported with $500,000 from both the Federal and State Government, $390,000 from the Australian Sports Commission, $50,000 from Casey Council, along with a number of community donations.
Funds were also raised to implement digital scoreboards and replace the grass on the greens with a synthetic alternative.
In attendance to unveil the upgrade was Senator David Van, State member for Narre Warren North Luke Donnellan, City of Casey’s Noelene Duff, along with Bowls Australia and Bowls Victoria representatives.
“It’s a community oriented club, so there will be lots of others using the facilities and that’s the beauty of it,” Mr Donnellan said.
“I think it will deliver an enormous amount of benefits to the community for many years to come.”
And it appears the benefits of the roof are already evident for the bowls club.
“It’s just amazing. We’ve doubled our memberships in two years, quadrupled our social memberships, had the most successful season we’ve ever had as far as the competition goes,” Mr Sydenham said.
While construction of the roof has been complete for several months, the official launch was delayed due to Covid-19 restrictions.
