The Club
Established in 1873, the bowling club was created as the centrepiece of the beautiful St Vincent Gardens in the heart of the bayside suburb of Albert Park. The green itself is open year-round, permitting members to enjoy both casual and competitive bowling in all seasons.
The current club membership of about 150 (60/40 male/female) is a diverse community of men and women of all ages and bowling experience. New members are always welcome. The club, with its beautiful surroundings and friendly atmosphere, is the ideal place to while away a few hours. Members enjoy bowling in a variety of formats. Many a casual game of bowls will be followed by relaxed conversation in our licensed clubhouse. Rather more animated discussions typically follow the popular and highly competitive inter-club pennant matches on Tuesdays (2 teams) and Saturdays (4 teams).
Membership
Members of Albert Park Bowls Club enjoy bowling in one of the most attractive environments in the city on a green that is open year round. Other membership benefits include:
• Access to the clubroom and rinks
• Bowling opportunities ranging from casual social games to regional pennant competitions
• A club community that is welcoming and supportive
• Professional coaching
• Club bar at member prices
New memberships require a current member to propose, and another to second, the application, which must subsequently be approved by the Board of Management. Successful applicants will be advised by email. Membership is currently available, so please download and complete the membership application form here if you are interested in joining and forward it to the secretary (secretary@albertparkbowlsclub.com.au)
Covid Impacts
2020 was a surprisingly successful year for our club given the uncertainties we faced. Our seconds team on Saturday won the section pennant and was promoted as a consequence. Most of our other teams made it through to section finals. We are fortunate that we have retained most of our membership and have managed to minimise the impact on club finance in 2020, however revenue dropped by 30% from our main source of external income, corporate bowling days.
2021 has been a very difficult year for bowling clubs. We have been prevented from bowling for 3 months. The Pennant Season start has been delayed by the lockdowns and many major bowls competitions have been cancelled, including our own Muriel Powe Memorial competition. In addition, our club has seen a series of annoying acts of vandalism since the latest lockdowns took effect, including the "tagging" of our club house front and all our scoreboards and damage to one of our shade structures.
The summer of 2021 will be difficult financially, with the ongoing significant restrictions on social gatherings and density quotients on internal spaces we expect to see our external revenue base further eroded.
2023 - Our 150yr Celebration
We are 150yrs old in 2023! We are busily planning our celebration events and look forward to seeing our friends and neighbours joining in the fun events we are planning.
