History
History of the Ballarat North Bowling Club
Founded in 1896 by Mr J.F. Denniston who thought that the Northern part of Ballarat was not sufficiently provided with recreational spaces and clubs. He approached some friends at the time about forming a Bowls and Tennis Club.
One person approached was Rev. C.J Carmichael of St. John’s Church. He became the driving force to found a club on a block of land on the corner of Armstrong and Gregory Streets. This block was offered at a very low rental by the owner in an effort to entice someone to occupy and clean it up.
On 7th February 1896 Mr Denniston, W Owen, John Deardon, RJ Vale MLA and Rev. Carmichael convened a meeting of Ballarat North residents to consider the formation of a Bowling and Tennis club at the site.
In August 1896 the Ballarat North Recreation Club was founded with Mr J.F Denniston as its first president, Mr Owen as the Secretary and MR J.B Cameron as the Treasurer. The committee immediately decided to find ways to raise the necessary funds to purchase the site. To facilitate this Mr Denniston purchased the land for 348 pounds and on 11th December 1896 sold it to the club for that amount with no interest terms and no time frame for the money to be repayed.
The official opening of the club was held on 11th February 1897, the first anniversary.
As far as can be determined, the first official game of bowls was a friendly against Ballarat. North losing this game 70 to 87.
In 1904 Ballarat North was one of the first 3 clubs in Australia to install electric lights over their green.
Between 1907 & 1919 Ballarat North won the pennant in 1912, 1914 & 1915. The club inducted its first life member R.M. Lambert as the first member to have this honour. 1914 was also a drought year and members were levied 1 Pound each to provide the necessary appliances to water the green, members were rostered on to water with the pump and tank.
Between 1920 & 1929 were golden years for the club despite World Was one interrupting play. 1921 & 1923 we won A & B grade pennant. 1924 & 1926 we won C grade pennant and 1929 another A grade pennant. In 1926 the club was also debt free. Ballarat North won the Ballarat Bowling Association singles Championships in 1921 (Chas White), 1926 (W Morrell), and 1927 (A Farrar), the club also produced runners up in 1920, 1921 & 1924. Teams were selected with the committee selecting the skippers and then the skippers selecting their teams.
In the 1930’s despite the depression the club really prospered on and off the green. A legend of the club Herb Bryant was making his mark on the green and on the committee. The Herb Bryant Memorial Fours is still and honour board club game that is still being played to this day. Once again Ballarat North was successful in the Ballarat Bowling Association singles championships with A Farrar winning in 1933 & 1934 with Chas White being runner up both of those years. The original clubhouse was moved onto the current site in 1934 which was the No1 tennis court which allowed for the construction of 2 new rinks. In 1936 a Ladies a Ladies club was formed with inaugural president Mrs E Beanland and secretary Mrs Cullen.
The 1940’s saw the appearance of a new generation of committee members as the foundation members passing on the running of the club. In a very important move for ladies bowls in the city president Mr Les Grisby approached the executive of the Ballarat North ladies to form a ladies association. On 18th April 1948 a general meeting in the Ballarat North Clubrooms, the Ballarat and District Ladies Bowling Association was formed. Mrs Allen from Ballarat North was elected as the inaugural president.
1950 was the beginning of the Ballarat Ladies Bowling Association Pennant competition with the Ballarat North “Gold” team defeating the Ballarat North “Navy” team to take the A Grade Pannant. In November 1958 the lights over the main green were officially turned on, this was achieved mainly by the efforts of the lady bowlers at the club. The club officially changed its name from the Ballarat North Recreation Club to the Ballarat North Bowling Club. Indoor Bias bowls was becoming very popular taking over from the more traditional carpet bowls.
The 1960’s arrived with several problems for the club, one was being unable to obtain a liquor licence. The greens had deteriorated badly, and the greenkeeper was dismissed. Fencing around the club needed repairs. Suddenly in 1963 a liquor licence was granted. The 1963-64 Season approached with the bar now operational, membership grew from 23 to 63 members. By 1967-68 it had grown to 102 members. A property in Armstrong Street was purchased and a 4 rink green constructed.
The 70’s saw the ladies bowlers starting off the decade with success in the Ballarat Section of the state singles and the state fours. Major clubhouse renovations and extentions were undertaken at a cost of $17,400 with members assisting. More major renovations began at the end of the 1978-79 season and were officially opened by the president of the Victorian Bowls Association at the start of the 1979-80 season, the clubhouse had now doubled in size.
The 1980’s bar patronage increased meaning there was a need for some more storage space for bar stock. Increased interest in Indoor bowls saw the club buy an additional 2 mats. The greens were in excellent condition, the Ballarat Regional Bowls Association conducted all finals and zone finals of the champion of champions at the club, as well as the State and Country fours. The club became incorperated in 1983. Several burglaries and vandalism during the 80’s cost the club financially. A major hail storm in the late 80’s caused significant damage to the clubhouse roof which was replaced.
The 90’s saw upcoming issues with the upkeep and long-term viability of the greens. 2 options were raised, a possible relocation to Invermay or the installation of synthetic greens. Weighing up all the optuons the club decided to install 3 new synthetic greens, the first in the district to do so. Security lighting was installed around the club to try and curb the vandalism that was occuring. The 3 new greens were completed in July 1992 and Friday Winter triples and Saturday pairs commenced.
The 2000’s was the start of a new look club with the 4 rinks and the neighbouring house in Armstrong Street being sold in 2009 to fund the new carpet green. The club was very successful in this decade with mens pennant wins in 2002/03 Division 7, 2006/07 Division 2, the ladies also won the 2005/06 Division 2. Indoor bowls also won their respective divisions in 2002 divisions 4 & 6 and 2005 Division 3.
2010 saw the new carpet green installed and alterations to extend the width to accomodate 8 rinks. In 2017 the club agreed to sell the green in Doveton street to finance a new sand filled synthetic green after the deterioration of the carpet green, this has allowed the club to be financially sound for the future and has allowed some much-needed upgrades to be done around the club. September 2017 the new sand filled Berry synthetic green was installed. 2017/18 saw Amy Newman win the Ballarat District Bowls Division & Central Victorian Region Womens U/25 Novice Championship. A 42 panel solar system was installed in 2019 allowing the club to remove the out dated gas wall furnaces and install some split system heating and cooling. Through some grants and club finances some new shelters were built at each end of the greens to provide much needed shelter from the weather. Pennant winners in this decade were scarce with only 2017/18 in Division 5 Midweek and 2018/19 Division 7 Weekend.
2020 started off well for the club with the Saturday Division 2 team finally winning the pennant grand final in 2020/21 season after 2 previous loses. Glenn Mattei, Daniel Nestor, Alex Parker and Michael Clark won the Ballarat District Bowls Division Men’s Fours. We implemented a Club Captain for the 2020/21 Season which was Daniel Nestor for 2 seasons.
2021 Jordan Atkinson won the men’s Novice Singles Championship and represented the Ballarat Highlands Bowls Region in Melbourne. Amy Newman teamed up with Anne Draffin from the Ballan Bowling Club to win the Country Womens Pairs title at the Moama Bowling Club. The club entered a Division 3 women’s indoor bias bowls team and finished in last position for the season. There was no indoor bias bowls men’s team entered.
Season 2022/23 – Greg ‘Diesel’ Williams was nominated as the Club Captain. This same season saw the Club enter teams in Division 2, 5 and 8 Saturday Pennant, with a Division 4 Tuesday Pennant team. Saturday Pennant Division 8 were defeated in the Grand Final by Buninyong (51-60). Tuesday Division 4 Pennant won their Grand Final against Smeaton (69-56). Amy Newman, Janice Conroy (Ballan BC) and Anne Draffen (Ballan BC) won the Ballarat Highlands Bowls Region Women’s triples Title on Sunday 18th December 2022. Glenn Mattei and Daniel Nestor won the Webbcona Bowling Club FW Barnes Classic Pairs 2023 on the 7th January. The club did not enter a women’s indoor bias bowls team as there was not enough interest from Ladies. The club entered a Division 1 Men’s indoor bias bowls team. The team finished 5th for the season narrowly missing finals by 2 points.
Season 2023/24 – Michael Clark was nominated as Club Captain. This same season saw the Club enter teams in Division 2, 5, 7 Saturday Pennant, with a Division 3 Tuesday Pennant team. BHBR Men’s Fours Champions. Skip Will Hodgetts, Andrew Dalgleish, Greg Thomas and Dave Anderton. Tuesday Pennant Division 3 won their Grand Final against Victoria (62-50). Saturday Pennant Division 5 won their Grand Final against City Oval (74-65). The club once again entered a Division 1 Men’s Indoor bias bowls team.