Now it's 101st year, the Nanaimo Lawn Bowling Club recently celebrated National Bowls Day on June 1. The 140 member club is actively seeking new members. (Nanaimo Lawn Bowling Club)

By Dan Marshall

On the Green

Busy times at the Nanaimo lawn bowling club on the heels of National Bowls Day

Jun 8, 2024 | 8:38 AM

NANAIMO – The Nanaimo Lawn Bowling Club is into it’s 101st season.

One of the highlight events on their calendar, which runs from April to September, is National Bowls Day which happened June 1.

Club president Ian Yewer said they had about 60 people attend.

“It went really well. In past years we’d use it as an open day for people who hadn’t really bowled before to come try it. We’ve had three open days earlier in the season so we just had it as a social event for our club members.”

At the open house days in April and May Yewer said they had just over 80 newcomers try lawn bowling for the first time.

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Some of those players signed up to bring total membership to 140.

Thirty of those are new to the club.

Overall numbers are down just slightly but Yewer believes some good June weather will bring out more people.

The green at Bowen Park is in excellent shape and is well used with the expection of maintenance days on Mondays.

“We’re doing something almost every day from visually impaired bowling, coaching sessions, leagues, open sessions and the Nanaimo Sports and Social are renting the green for eight weeks. They’ve got 16 players in a pairs and league and they’ve never bowled before. They’re taken with it and didn’t realize how much fun it is.”

Local players may wish to participate in provincial tournaments but Yewer said most prefer to stay closer to home.

“Most of our tournaments are within our six club district. We do about five tournaments where we invite other clubs to come. Out biggest one is called the Gold Bowl and that is in July.”

Yewer urges more people in the community to try lawn bowling, which he said is very easy to learn.

“When someone starts golf they can be terrible for a long time. If you come and lawn bowl we provide three coaching sessions and after that a person can then participate with the club and really do well in any tournaments. Because of the way we set up tournaments and social events you don’t have to find a team, we’ll do that for you.”

The NLBC is focused on attracting new members in the 20-40 year-old age range and junior age players between 12-19.

“We’ve also found a lot of five pin bowlers and lawn bowling really suits them,” Yewer said. “We’ve had a number of younger people join the club which has encouraged us to set up a junior program. If we can get at least a dozen teenagers we would then set up a program which would include a league.”

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