Sod turned for Torquay Bowls Club's new green

Sod turned for Torquay Bowls Club’s new green

Victorian Liberal Senator Sarah Henderson (centre) turns the sod, watched by Torquay Bowls Club chair Gary Banks (left) and bowls section president Joe Issell. Photo: JAMES TAYLOR

WORK has officially started to replace the top green at the Torquay Bowls Club with a synthetic surface.

As reported by this newspaper on May 14, the club has received a $450,000 federal government grant to install a new surface to replace the top green, allowing it to operate year round instead of having to close down for four months over the winter.

The grant was an election commitment from then-Corangamite Liberal federal member and now-Victorian Liberal Senator Sarah Henderson, who visited the club on Thursday last week to ceremonially plant the shovel and turn the first sod.

Dulux Australia has also donated paint to retouch the clubhouse interior, which Joe Issell (who is also the incoming bowls section president) and his team of painters have done at no cost to the club.
Works are expected to be completed by September, in time for the start of the 2020-2021 bowls season.

Torquay Bowls Club chair Gary Banks said the club would now look to secure more funding to carry out more projects.

“We are broke, COVID-19 has very much shut us down, but we’re looking forward to starting up in September.”

Ms Henderson said her visit to the club in April 2019 with Prime Minister Scott Morrison and a considerable media contingent in the lead-up to the federal election to make the pledge (later matched by Labor’s Libby Coker, who won Corangamite) was one of the highlights of the campaign.

“I am so delighted to be supporting you to have secured this grant on behalf of the Morrison Liberal-National Government.

“We know what a difference this makes. Of course there’s been a lot of other state investment to bring you where you are – we’ve done a few other things, like the solar panels, at a Commonwealth level – but this is a very serious injection of funding, and we know the difference that you have made to this community.

“I know that in those very early days when the club was shut down, there was deep concern about how you would survive, but I know JobKeeper has kept you out of trouble, which has been really important, so I’m pleased to be able to support you in that way as well.”