Fours comp marks return to lake life

WHILE on the outside last Sunday’s T.B. White & Sons Fours Tournament held at Learmonth Bowling Club might not have seemed out of the ordinary, it marked some key moments for the community institution.

With over 100 bowlers rolling up, the club was not only celebrating a return to post COVID normalcy, it was also the first time an event of that size has been played on Learmonth’s new synthetic green.

“This is the largest tournament we’ve held in several years,” said Learmonth Bowls Club president Craig Findlay.

“It’s fantastic to have 28 teams of four competing. We’ve been able to get a lot of teams from Ballarat and district but even much further abroad, which is really great.

“COVID certainly has had its challenges, and it’s been quite disruptive, but we’ve been able to get our pennant teams underway.

“The new green was only completed early this week, so the timing was great in terms of getting this tournament underway.”

While Learmonth’s brand-new synthetic green is the centrepiece of recent works at the club, it’s not the only recent upgrade. There’s also new shade structures, new benches and concreting.

Along with the turf playing surface, the new synthetic green means the club is better placed to handle the region’s unpredictable weather.

“It very much future proofs us as a small country club for many years and gives us great flexibility to run tournaments, or practice, or our Saturday Pennant,” Mr Findlay said.

“The new green has been the hard work of a number of members within the club, particularly Graham Findlay and Dave Kelly.

“They have worked very closely with the City of Ballarat and secured some significant funding for us, and we thank Cr Amy Johnson for her support.”