SLBC beginnings
HISTORY OF SOLANDER LAKE BOWLS CLUB INC
SOLANDER LAKE BOWLS CLUB WAS FORMED AT AN INAUGURAL MEETING HELD ON SUNDAY 25 MARCH 1979 AT THE PICTURE THEATRE, COTTERILL AVENUE DUE TO AN OVER-WHELMING RESPONSE TO FORM A ‘LADIES ONLY’ BOWLS CLUB.
THE LAND WAS LEASED FOR 99 YEARS FROM THE CABOOLTURE SHIRE COUNCIL. JOCK McILWAIN, THE DEVELOPER OF SOLANDER LAKE, STRONGLY SUPPORTED THE PROJECT.
BEFORE ANY BUILDING OR DEVELOPMENT COULD TAKE PLACE, TI-TREES HAD TO BE CLEARED FROM THE AREA, WHICH WAS ORIGINALLY FOUR ACRES OF SAND-FLY INFESTED SWAMP.
WORKING BEES CUT THESE TREES INTO SMALL LENGTHS, STRIPPED THEM OF THEIR BARK, AND THEY WERE THEN SOLD FOR NURSERY PLANT PURPOSES.
THIS WAS THE FIRST FUNDRAISING EFFORT AND PROVED HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL.
AFTER NUMEROUS APPROACHES TO THE COUNCIL, PERMISSION WAS GIVEN TO SHIFT A SMALL BUILDING, WHICH WAS AFFECTIONATELY CALLED ‘THE HUT’, ON TO THE SITE.
THIS BUILDING WAS GIVEN TO THE CLUB BY SHIRLEY & KEITH RENTON.
THE BUILDING ORIGINALLY CAME OVER TO THE ISLAND BY BARGE IN TWO SECTIONS. ‘THE HUT’ HAS SINCE BEEN REMOVED, AND USED AS A SITE OFFICE BY DEVELOPERS.
AFTER EXTENSIVE PAPERWORK, VISITS TO THE FIRE DEPARTMENT, REDCLIFFE COUNCIL AND THE LICENSING COMMISSION, THE CLUB STARTED TO PROGRESS.
A CORK ALL-WEATHER GREEN WAS BUILT WITH ADVICE FROM KEN & TESS JAMESON, WHO HAD EXPERIENCED CORK GREENS IN NEW GUINEA. THE SOLANDER LAKE LADIES’ BOWLS CLUB WAS OFFICIALLY OPENED ON 22 NOVEMBER 1980 BY THE THEN PRESIDENT OF THE C.D.L.B.A., TONI SEICKER, FROM THE WOODFORD CLUB.
THE FOUNDATION PRESIDENT WAS DAWN STANTON, WITH SECRETARY TESS JAMESON, AND TREASURER MARJORIE LEMM.
THE MEN’S CLUB WAS FORMED, LED BY FOUNDATION PRESIDENT ARNOLD McCRACKEN, SECRETARY GORDON VEITH, AND TREASURER ALBERT MUDGE.
MANY FUNDRAISING ACTIVITIES WERE HELD TO BUILD A BIGGER CLUBHOUSE TO REPLACE ‘THE HUT’. THANKS TO THOSE PEOPLE WHO SHOWED FAITH IN THE CLUB AS GUARANTORS, THE NEW CLUBHOUSE EVENTUALLY STARTED TO TAKE SHAPE WHEN IRIS REEVES WAS PRESIDENT.
A ‘MINI-OPENING’ OF THE CLUB WAS HELD ON 4 OCTOBER 1987, WHEN OLIVE GRIFFITHS WAS PRESIDENT.
THE OFFICIAL OPENING OF THE NEW CLUBHOUSE TOOK PLACE ON 15 MAY 1988, PRESIDED OVER BY FOUNDATION PRESIDENT DAWN STANTON.
THE OPENING WAS A VERY FESTIVE OCCASION, MARRED ONLY BY THE SUDDEN DEATH OF THE BUILDER, TED BAKER, ON A JOB AWAY FROM THE ISLAND.
THE MEN’S CLUB SUPPORTED THE DEVELOPMENT CONTINUALLY, WITH WORK INSIDE AND OUTSIDE THE CLUBHOUSE, HEADED BY EVAN GRIFFITHS AND HIS TEAM OF HELPERS, INCLUDING GRAHAM GRIEN AND DENNIS WALSH.
CREDIT MUST ALSO GO TO THE VOLUNTEERS WHO PROVIDED MEALS FOR THE WORKERS, AND TO VOLUNTARY BAR STAFF WHO SATISFIED MANY THIRSTS.
GRASS GREENS EVENTUALLY REPLACED THE CORK SURFACE, AND DESPITE OPPOSITION BY SOME PEOPLE TO THE CLEARING OF THE TREES, EVERY EFFORT WAS MADE TO BEAUTIFY THE AREA, WITH COUNCIL COMMENDING THE CLUB FOR THE WORK CARRIED OUT IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CLUB.
DUAL PATRONESSES VIOLA MITCHELL AND HOPE RICHARDSON, AND MEN’S PATRON LES MITCHELL, SUPPORTED THE CLUB FROM ITS INCEPTION. IT WAS THE LOYALTY OF PEOPLE LIKE THIS THAT ENABLED THE PROJECT TO SUCCEED.
IN 1993, THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE CLUB WAS TAKEN OVER BY A BOARD OF MANAGEMENT, WITH LADIES’ AND MEN’S COMMITTEES TO OVERSEE THE RUNNING OF BOWLS, AND THIS FORMAT CONTINUED UNTIL 2022 WHEN A JOINT “BOWLS COMMITTEE” WAS FORMED.