In 2020, the Campbellford Lawn Bowling Club (CLBC) will celebrate its 100th Anniversary.
The Club is located along the Trent Canal, beside the town dam, in an updated historic building that was originally a field office for engineers building the canal.
Frank Turpin, Player Development Director for CLBC, explained, “not only is our location stunningly beautiful, there always seems to be cool breezes on hot summer days.
The Club is also air-conditioned so players can enjoy the sociability, moderate exercise and fun of our game in comfort.
“We our kicking off this pre-anniversary year with our Learn to Bowl program.
This is a four-session evening program that starts on June 3 and ends on June 13. At the end of the sessions, participants will be experienced enough to enjoy playing and competing with Club members.
All are welcome.
The Club are placing a special emphasis this year on Junior Members, “after all, it’s our Junior Members who will become our Club leaders for our next 100 years of lawn bowling.”
Leslie Turpin, Chair of the Membership Committee, said the program will run on the first two Mondays and Thursdays of June from 6:45 p.m. until 9:00 p.m..
The fee for the program is $30.
If anyone decides to become a member at the end of the program, that fee will be credited to your annual dues.
The program fee for juniors (those 18 years old or under as of January 1 of this year) is only $8. Their membership rate for this season, should they wish to become members after the course, would then be only $27.
Some junior bowlers in this area have been extremely competitive. Not only have they won national championships, some have gone on to compete internationally in countries like England, South Africa and Australia with financial assistance from our game’s governing bodies.
Turpin explained, “unlike hockey or golf that has thousands of junior players, lawn bowlers are a rarer breed so the opportunities are much greater for them to reach national and international levels of competition.”
“We hope our modest dues for juniors will encourage parents to make our Learn to Bowl program a family affair.”
Club bowls are available for all to use and young people in the latter grades of public school will have little difficulty delivering bowls down the grass.
Lawn bowling can be a lifetime sport with members playing well into their 80’s and occasionally into their 90’s.
The reason lawn bowling is such a great social game is that all ages play together. Regular evening games are played with teams whose names are randomly drawn.
Like curling, inexperienced members initially start as leads, however they can progress quickly from there.
Unlike curling, much of the socializing is done during the game, rather than at the end.
There is no sweeping in lawn bowling so players have much more time during a game to chat with their own team members as well as those on their opposing team.
Lawn bowls bend just like a curling stone.
The direction of turn is based on how you hold it when you deliver it.
To pre-register for Learn to Bowl, visit CLBC’s website at CampbellfordLawnBowlingClub.weebly.com. Or for further information, call Frank or Leslie Turpin at 705-778-1467.
Author: Pete Fisher
Has been a photojournalist for over 30-years and have been honoured to win numerous awards for photography and writing over the years. Best selling author for the book Highway of Heroes - True Patriot Love
