How Lavington Bowling Club stood the test of time ahead of 40th anniversary

The club, which will celebrate its 40^th anniversary on September 16 and 17, has had an eventful journey to reach this point.

Life member Sandra Kitt, who was a foundation women's member in 1985, said out of the 16 ladies who first joined, only two knew how to bowl.

Mrs Kitt is the only one of those 16 still involved to this day.

"My husband (Slawko) and I had always been involved in our children's sport with the junior footy and everything and then they got into indoor cricket. As they got older and got their car licences, they said 'Mum and Dad, you don't need to take us everywhere anymore'," she said.

"We'd always been involved in sport and the bowling club was forming so we thought we'd get involved in that.

"The ladies didn't come in until a couple of years later because NSW women at the time had to have an actual bowling club to form."

Times on and off the bowling green have brought Mrs Kitt plenty of joy.

"One day we were playing pennant down on the bottom green. We were up and down all day and some players were standing up on the bank and all of sudden there was a squeal and there was a snake in the ditch," she said.

"We'd been stepping over this snake and it suddenly woke up. The greenkeeper had gone to lunch and the sheds were locked, so there was no shovel available and here we are with our bowls trying to get it away.

"Another time we were hosting a district event here and there was a chook running around in the garden.

"They got hold of Les Waldron because he's got chooks and he only lived just up the hill. We said 'we think one of your chooks must have got out'.

"He was babysitting one of his granddaughters, so he comes down the hill with the granddaughter in the pusher because his wife was somewhere with the car, and a net to catch the chook.

"Here he is running through the garden and the chook was squawking, his granddaughter was crying 'don't hurt the chook, Poppy'.

"He finally catches the chook and he gets some string out the cupboard, ties the legs and hangs it on the pusher and his granddaughter was bawling."

Bowls trips to other Panthers-affiliated clubs including Bathurst, Port Macquarie and West Epping were among Mrs Kitt's favourites.

On June 20, 1983, a meeting was held to seek formation of a bowling club within the Lavington Sports Club precinct and was voted in unanimously.

With board approval granted in August of that year, Royal New South Wales Bowling Association was approached to affiliate the club.

Provisional affiliation was awarded in October under the name Lavington Sports Club Bowling Club, with a request made to Winsor Park Bowling Club, near Albury train station, for Lavington members to use its greens for practice.

Winsor Park and Lavington alternated play on Sunday, with an interim committee formed at both clubs.

Frank Tracey (president), Stan Blakemore (secretary-treasurer) and Allan Roach (bowls secretary) filled executive positions, while Peter Burzocott, Lawrence Mongan, Ken Tonkin and John McFarland were also on the committee.

The club slowly started to grow, but without its own greens, many began to question how it could function.

But thanks to hard work from the committee, construction of two greens adjacent to Lavington Sports Club began in October 1984 after Albury Council gave the project the green light.

Australian Turfgrass Research Institute oversaw the construction, estimated between $130,000 and $140,000, with Winsor Park still being used for practice and pennant in the meantime.

The greens officially opened on Easter Saturday in 1985, with the first invitational event in July attracting 72 bowlers from 12 clubs.

On August 1, 1985, the Lavington Sports Club Women's Bowling Club was formed with 16 foundation members.

Royal NSW Bowling Association president Jack Ball officially opened the greens in December, with an amenities block coming 12 months later after plans were in place with Albury Council.

By the early 1990s, the club had well and truly outgrown the facility and an application to extend the amenities building was approved late in 1993.

Life member and historian Slawko Kitt recalls club members dipping into their own pockets to cover the cost.

"It was a loan to the club. If they went to the bank with X amount of dollars they would lend them the rest to do it," he said.

"I think we've put in at least $10,000, but I don't know how much it cost to extend. It was put into a special building fund and it accumulated.

"We used the windows that were there and extended it to double the size."

The introduction of poker machines in Victoria in 1991 had put increasing pressure on Lavington Sports Club's profits.

In 2001, Lavington Sports Club amalgamated with Penrith Panthers Rugby League Club, which forced a change of name to Lavington Panthers Bowling Club.

The closure of the sports club in 2014 left bowlers in limbo for the next three years until it was purchased by Wodonga businessman Scott Walters in 2017.

"When Penrith put it on the market, that was a really worrying time because we didn't know if we were going to be here or if we could afford to buy the property. We didn't know what the new owner would do with us," Mr Kitt said.

"When Panthers closed we were making money, but that's the way it goes."

A year later, Albury Council purchased the bowling club from Mr Walters and its future was secured with a 25-year lease agreed upon.

"We really survived because of volunteers," Mrs Kitt said.

"The men and the women have always worked well together, and I think that's a plus for any club because we back each other up.

"I think that's what has made us a strong club because we've had to work together."

Mr Kitt said the future of the club looked bright with a new chapter to be written after joining the Victorian-based Ovens and Murray Bowls Region.

"We thought the best way to do it for our members was give them strong competition. We'll attract better bowlers," he said.

Current bowling club president Bill Collins, who joined Lavington in 2013, said there was about 100 members and "plenty of room for more".

"We've got 40 or more ladies and we're getting more and more social members. We slowly convert them over to play more if they're keen enough," he said.

"The club is very appreciative of all the efforts of all the members, and especially the life members who have given years of support."

A social bowls day will be held on Saturday, September 16 from 1pm, with a triples tournament featuring $1000 in prize money to follow on Sunday, September 17, to mark the club's 40^th anniversary.

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