It was Easter 1986 in the bowls club where Alf McKay was observed in deep negotiations with colleagues on membership for his team. The word had spread that there was a vacancy for a snooker team that had to be filled today! With convincing tones, Alf managed the first hurdle – a team. Then came the second hurdle – a name. After tossing around several innate and unworthy suggestions, it dawned on them that they were all bowlers. So the Bowlers name was instilled into the history books.

It took just 4 years for the Bowlers to win their first premiership which followed with back-back wins in 1090 and 1991. Located on Dare Street, this table was one of the original tables for the snooker club. Now reinstated, it remained here until Alf passed the team to John Lucas in 2000. In 2012 Patrick Wools took over the team but was yet to have a home. With some coercing, Gerry Sanderson agreed to provide the table venue until a permanent home could be built in Callistemon Court ready for the 2014 season.

In the last 30 years, the Bowlers membership composed of 40+ players.

 

The lake in Ocean Grove is attractive to all sorts of flying insects. This is their natural habitat. One evening during a game several of these native inhabitants followed a player into the room and proceeded to hover over the table basking under the fluorescent lighting. This was seen as a small hindrance to the game which had just begun. So in an effort to alleviate the hindrance, John decided he would catch the said uninvited guests using relevant tooling within easy reach. Unfortunately that tooling was not so relevant. John picked up fishing net. These nets are designed with woven threads that allow water to drain straight through whilst retaining any caught fish. Unfortunately these same holes are large enough to allow insects to pass straight through.

So here was John flapping around with this net and the insects thoroughly enjoying the game. One of the insects flew a little too close to the florescent lighting and a swift swoosh of the fishing net saw contact between the net’s frame and the lighting tube. The tube, now dislodged, started its downward journey towards the snooker table ending with an explosion with the end poles being flung to the two ends of the table and the glass frame shattered into powdered fragments all over the balls and cloth. The clean up procedure that followed delayed the game more than 30 mins and the raucous laughter took all evening to subside. The insects are believed to have exited the room on the next door opening unassisted.