Bateau Bay Bowls celebrates 60 years in style

Bateau Bay Bowls Club celebrated its 60th anniversary last month and continues to go from strength to strength including an ambitious 2025 program.

Bowlers wore a 60th anniversary shirt especially designed for the day on December 14, 2024 which was celebrated with a great day of bowls and presentations.

Bowls NSW Vice President John Ellison presented a silver plaque to club presidents Karen McKay and Kevin Russell to commemorate the day.

Other guests included President of the Central Coast Bowls Region Tony Oliver, Bateau Bay Venue Manager Andrew Feneck, valued club sponsors, bowlers and supporters.

The club has experienced many ups and downs over 60 years, but the resilience of the bowlers has always seen the club bounce back.

The concept of establishing the Bateau Bay Bowling Club came about in 1960 at a meeting at the Sun Valley Caravan Park, now the Shelly Beach Holiday Park.

Despite initially being granted a lease at Sutton Reserve (Parkside Rd/Reserve Dr, Bateau Bay) by Wyong Council – in the face of a very hostile community group – hopes were dashed by the then Minister for Lands who rejected the lease.

Not to be thwarted by complacency and strong opposition from community groups, a small group pressed on with dogged determination.

It would be another two years before the club became a reality with a grant of a special lease of 2.5 acres in bushland at Bateau Bay on what was to become known as Bias Ave.

The first bowls to be rolled down the green did not happen until late 1964 after a tremendous amount of hard work.

The Women’s Club formed a few months later in 1965 and the club went from strength to strength.

The original clubhouse was small but functional and eventually was relocated to become the Long Jetty Aquatic Club House.

The club grew to have four greens and boasted more than 1,000 men and women bowlers.

A decision was made to build a new modern clubhouse, and this became a reality in 2001.

At the time this made a lot of sense with membership very high and the club’s bowlers performing exceptionally well.

Unfortunately, another one of those down times soon followed with the club finding it had over-extended itself financially and it was soon acquired by the Canterbury Rugby League Club.

After several years of management by Canterbury their Board decided in 2015 that it would be prudent to sell the club, and it was sold to the Wyong Leagues Group.

This proved to be an inspirational and rewarding move by Wyong Leagues Group which already had a number of bowling clubs in its group.

The Bateau Bay Bowlers became rejuvenated with an enthusiasm to grow in numbers and once again become a leading bowling club.

Around the corner though was the COVID-19 shutdown, lasting for several months and derailing sport everywhere.

The never say die attitude of Bateau Bay bowlers rose to meet yet another challenge and they resumed bowls after the shutdown with a passion and a five-year plan to rebuild the club’s fortunes.

Coupled with the courage and foresight of the Wyong Leagues Group management to build an all-weather cover over the main bowling green the dream of lifting the club began to show promise.

This culminated in the Bateau Bay club achieving a record making performance in the 2023/24 bowls season by winning a Women’s Divisional Pennant Flag and four Open Pennant Flags.

A trio of players won the State Senior Triples title and Bateau Bay women, after winning the Regional Division 4 Pennant Flag for the Club, went on to host the State Finals with players from all over the State coming to the Central Coast.

Stemming from this fabulous year Bateau Bay achieved finalist status in four categories of the Central Coast Sports Award Bowls held recently at Gosford RSL Club.

The club continues to embark on an ambitious 2025 program, hosting bowlers from far and wide when it stages the widely acclaimed annual four-day Hibiscus Carnival, March 4 to 7.

Over the Easter weekend in April, the club will stage one of the richest bowls tournaments ever seen on the Central Coast, the Stingray Prestige Easter Fours Tournament with $12,000 prize money on offer.

These two major events will attract some of the best bowlers from all over NSW and interstate.

Winning a tournament such as these provides bowlers with ranking points that assist them in their quest for gaining Commonwealth Games selection.