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The Nanaimo Lawn Bowling Club recently held three open house sessions. The club will also host the senior women's provincials in late June and Is introducing some new improvements for wheelchair bowlers. (Image Credit: Dan Marshall/NNN)
Enticing new members

Open house sessions brought many new faces to Nanaimo Lawn Bowling Club

May 17, 2026 | 6:28 AM

NANAIMO — The Nanaimo Lawn Bowling Club (NLBC) is in the early portion of its season.

Recently, the club held three open house sessions on the green at Bowen Park and NLBC president Kathleen Hewitt was pleased with the results.

“They were unbelievably successful. Even better than our 100-year anniversary. We had 110 people try lawn bowling over those three sessions. We had a number of people who signed up for coaching lessons and several who wanted membership forms. We encourage people to take a couple of coaching lessons before they become members.”

Most of the players who came to the open houses have lived in the area for a while but never tried lawn bowling, but there were a few newcomers to the mid-Island who showed up to give it a try.

The club is seeking to increase its membership, but Hewitt said they are pleased with the number of people signed up so far.

“We had a 166 the year before last and then 136 in 2025. Every year need to have at least 20 new members because people have to retire from bowling for various reasons. We need that to keep our numbers up. We’re at 100 right now but it’s very early in the season.”

There are six district tournaments, some league play and lots of open sessions.

Hewitt said two high-profile tournaments are on the horizon for this summer.

“The biggest event for Nanaimo is that we’re hosting the senior women’s provincial championship at the end of June. Qualicum Beach is hosting the senior men. The last time we hosted was in 2023 and we had 18 in the field. It’s a big deal to host a provincial championship.”

Last September, the NLBC was one of the venues for the BC 55-plus games.

There was some money that came back to the club for hosting, and Hewitt explained it was put to good use.

“We are using it to make our greens accessible to wheelchair users. Wheelchair users will be able to bowl in any of our open tournaments or regular game days. We have a ramp to get onto the green and lattice that protects the green and makes it easy to bowl.”

The next local tournament is on May 23-24, with the provincial women’s and men’s tournaments slated for June 26-28.

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