IN THE BEGINNING: Greenkeeper Kieran Aherne and volunteers do the preliminary work (top pictures) and the near finished A green gets an early mow. Right: the modest clubhouse before its substantial extension
Age no barrier to success
MERRIWA BOWLING CLUB has been in existence less than 20 years but has picked up nine Pennant flags in that time - not bad for a club whose members have an average age somewhere in the 70s.
The bowls club is an offshoot of the retirement village and as such inherits players who have had their prime bowling years or, in a few cases, introduces men and women to the sport fairly late in life. Nevertheless it remains a competitive club although the higher echelons of the men’s game are well out of reach.
Five flags have been won by the men’s section - the first seven years after starting Pennant bowls in the 1996/97 season. Having waited for that elusive first flag, they won two in the same season, 2003/04 - Division Three Silver and Division Four Purple, both Thursday competitions.
The sudden success coincided with the arrival in the village of Lindsay ‘Joe’ Marsh, who had been playing for 40 years with a host of clubs - City Beach, Rockingham and Clairmont. Good enough to be a First Division skip, Lindsay has won 16 titles at Merriwa prior to the 2014/15 season, including the men’s singles six times - five in a row from 2007. His run came to an end in 2012 when beaten in the final by current men’s captain, Bob Gillian.
A radio technician in the air force and later proprietor of a small flying school and local newspaper (the Corridor Courier), Lindsay rates his most difficult final opponent Geoff White, who led for him at Clairmont. Geoff is a resident of the Mindarie retirement village, Harbourside, while other Merriwa bowlers are drawn from the RAAFA estate at Cambrei and the Settlers village, a particularly productive source, and a few from the community at large.
Geoff and Lindsay were part of the only Merriwa Saturday side to collect the Flag - in 2005/06 -along with others still involved today in Grahame Gough (twice singles champion), Gil Barr, Peter Price, Ivor Thomas, Les George, Barry Lague, Doug Leicester and Denis Cockayne.The following season came another Thursday double, Division Three Purple and Division Four Lime.
Club coach Alan Arter is well placed to judge Merriwa as a bowling club, having played to a high standard in England and then joining Sorrento when he and his wife Hazel arrived in Australia.
‘We are not in the business of actively canvassing for players. Obviously with the age of our players we have people who give up the game or shuffle off the mortal coil but we attract sufficient new players on a regular basis,’ says Alan.
Although Alan had played bowls in England for 16 years he admits that playing the game in Aus came as a real culture shock. ‘Like most players in England I was self taught. When I came to Australia I had coaching at Sorrento and it was like starting all over again. It is so much more professional here’ He now imparts that knowledge to newcomers to the sport at Merriwa along with Ellaine Jopling and Doug Leicester.
‘I think the club is in a good place - financially healthy and with a sustainable membership,’ says Alan. ‘The men’s section will never reach the heights because we just don’t have the strength in depth. We were out of depth last season in Division Two but we will be highly competitive in Division Three and could even win it.’
The women are in a much higher grade of Pennant bowls and were virtually guaranteed to be successful from the moment their section was formed.
Audrey Patterson was a driving force in the early days - and still is. On the verge of moving to the village, Audrey joined Quins Rock in 1996 as Merriwa was not then affiliated to Bowls WA . Audrey’s Quins Rock side went on to win promotion to Division One and then, much to the chagrin of Quinns, ten of the side joined Merriwa the following season even though it meant dropping down to Division Five .
Not surprisingly they swept all before them. Starting in the 1997/98 season, a year after Merriwa had entered a men’s Pennant ide, they won four successive Flags until in 200/01 they reached Division One, where they have been ever since.
Apart from Audrey that 1997/98 flag-winning side included Ann Walsh, the first ladies singles champion, Maila Piirto and Mavis Price - all still playing in Pennants.
Of the 29 women who attended the inaugural ladies annual meeting on May 5, 1997, Audrey is the only one still playing. She started bowling in 1976 at Thornley after giving up tennis and was an ideal person to drive the ladies section forward - a section that now has three teams - in Divisions One, Two and Three, drawing on a membership of around 60.
Audrey was the first club president when Merriwa’s men and women joined forces at the instigation of Lindsay Marsh in 2011 with the support and encouragement of Bowls WA.
Audrey, Lindsay, Christine Peacock, Clive de Ridder and David Jopling spent several months re-writing the club constitution, after the amalgamation had been overwhelmingly approved by members. Basically the constitution was plagiarised from another club but still had to be ratified by RAAFA and Bowls WA,
‘For a small club that doesn’t own anything and doesn’t receive any bar profits we are in a sound financial position,’ said current treasurer Clive de Ridder.
In Bill Morrow’s last report as treasurer in May 2012, assets over liabilities amounted to more than $89,000 and prompted the spending of $14,000 on new chairs and $7,000 on new shirts for every member - almost certainly a unique gesture from a bowls club in WA.
It costs the club $6,500 to play under the auspices of Bowls WA and the groundstaff costs are in excess of $36,000 so the club needs to be resourceful in fund raising since membership fees amount to just $14,500.
Even with the purchase of chairs and shirts the ‘assets over liabilities’ was more than $73,000 according to the latest figures, testimony to the success of all the various club activities.
One feature the club can rightly be proud of is the fish and chip platters provided on men’s Pennant match days - surely the best refreshments on the club circuit. The platters are funded completely by the men’s section through the match fees on Pennant practice days and a portion of the Pennant day match fees. * Below are the Flag winning squads, starting in 1997/98 and ending in 2023/24 - hopefully with more to come. Ann Walsh is in the first picture and the second 26 years later.
The bowls club is an offshoot of the retirement village and as such inherits players who have had their prime bowling years or, in a few cases, introduces men and women to the sport fairly late in life. Nevertheless it remains a competitive club although the higher echelons of the men’s game are well out of reach.
Five flags have been won by the men’s section - the first seven years after starting Pennant bowls in the 1996/97 season. Having waited for that elusive first flag, they won two in the same season, 2003/04 - Division Three Silver and Division Four Purple, both Thursday competitions.
The sudden success coincided with the arrival in the village of Lindsay ‘Joe’ Marsh, who had been playing for 40 years with a host of clubs - City Beach, Rockingham and Clairmont. Good enough to be a First Division skip, Lindsay has won 16 titles at Merriwa prior to the 2014/15 season, including the men’s singles six times - five in a row from 2007. His run came to an end in 2012 when beaten in the final by current men’s captain, Bob Gillian.
A radio technician in the air force and later proprietor of a small flying school and local newspaper (the Corridor Courier), Lindsay rates his most difficult final opponent Geoff White, who led for him at Clairmont. Geoff is a resident of the Mindarie retirement village, Harbourside, while other Merriwa bowlers are drawn from the RAAFA estate at Cambrei and the Settlers village, a particularly productive source, and a few from the community at large.
Geoff and Lindsay were part of the only Merriwa Saturday side to collect the Flag - in 2005/06 -along with others still involved today in Grahame Gough (twice singles champion), Gil Barr, Peter Price, Ivor Thomas, Les George, Barry Lague, Doug Leicester and Denis Cockayne.The following season came another Thursday double, Division Three Purple and Division Four Lime.
Club coach Alan Arter is well placed to judge Merriwa as a bowling club, having played to a high standard in England and then joining Sorrento when he and his wife Hazel arrived in Australia.
‘We are not in the business of actively canvassing for players. Obviously with the age of our players we have people who give up the game or shuffle off the mortal coil but we attract sufficient new players on a regular basis,’ says Alan.
Although Alan had played bowls in England for 16 years he admits that playing the game in Aus came as a real culture shock. ‘Like most players in England I was self taught. When I came to Australia I had coaching at Sorrento and it was like starting all over again. It is so much more professional here’ He now imparts that knowledge to newcomers to the sport at Merriwa along with Ellaine Jopling and Doug Leicester.
‘I think the club is in a good place - financially healthy and with a sustainable membership,’ says Alan. ‘The men’s section will never reach the heights because we just don’t have the strength in depth. We were out of depth last season in Division Two but we will be highly competitive in Division Three and could even win it.’
The women are in a much higher grade of Pennant bowls and were virtually guaranteed to be successful from the moment their section was formed.
Audrey Patterson was a driving force in the early days - and still is. On the verge of moving to the village, Audrey joined Quins Rock in 1996 as Merriwa was not then affiliated to Bowls WA . Audrey’s Quins Rock side went on to win promotion to Division One and then, much to the chagrin of Quinns, ten of the side joined Merriwa the following season even though it meant dropping down to Division Five .
Not surprisingly they swept all before them. Starting in the 1997/98 season, a year after Merriwa had entered a men’s Pennant ide, they won four successive Flags until in 200/01 they reached Division One, where they have been ever since.
Apart from Audrey that 1997/98 flag-winning side included Ann Walsh, the first ladies singles champion, Maila Piirto and Mavis Price - all still playing in Pennants.
Of the 29 women who attended the inaugural ladies annual meeting on May 5, 1997, Audrey is the only one still playing. She started bowling in 1976 at Thornley after giving up tennis and was an ideal person to drive the ladies section forward - a section that now has three teams - in Divisions One, Two and Three, drawing on a membership of around 60.
Audrey was the first club president when Merriwa’s men and women joined forces at the instigation of Lindsay Marsh in 2011 with the support and encouragement of Bowls WA.
Audrey, Lindsay, Christine Peacock, Clive de Ridder and David Jopling spent several months re-writing the club constitution, after the amalgamation had been overwhelmingly approved by members. Basically the constitution was plagiarised from another club but still had to be ratified by RAAFA and Bowls WA,
‘For a small club that doesn’t own anything and doesn’t receive any bar profits we are in a sound financial position,’ said current treasurer Clive de Ridder.
In Bill Morrow’s last report as treasurer in May 2012, assets over liabilities amounted to more than $89,000 and prompted the spending of $14,000 on new chairs and $7,000 on new shirts for every member - almost certainly a unique gesture from a bowls club in WA.
It costs the club $6,500 to play under the auspices of Bowls WA and the groundstaff costs are in excess of $36,000 so the club needs to be resourceful in fund raising since membership fees amount to just $14,500.
Even with the purchase of chairs and shirts the ‘assets over liabilities’ was more than $73,000 according to the latest figures, testimony to the success of all the various club activities.
One feature the club can rightly be proud of is the fish and chip platters provided on men’s Pennant match days - surely the best refreshments on the club circuit. The platters are funded completely by the men’s section through the match fees on Pennant practice days and a portion of the Pennant day match fees. * Below are the Flag winning squads, starting in 1997/98 and ending in 2023/24 - hopefully with more to come. Ann Walsh is in the first picture and the second 26 years later.
Flying the Flags then...
1997/98 Division Five:Back row: Mavis Price, Ann Williamson, Ann Walsh, Flo Host, Pam Merrick, Jean Crossley, Irene Gatter (President) Front row: Maila Piirto, Audrey Patterson, Janet Close, Rose Koh, Rona Gibbings, Fay Butler
1998/99 Division Four: Back row: Audrey Patterson, Peg Dyas, Fran Riley, Ann Walsh, Maila Piirto, Rona Gibbings, Pam Merrick Front row: Verna Nichols, Janet Close, Irene Gatter, Jean Crossley, Jean Brown
1999/2000 Division Three: Back row: Jean Crossley, Ann Walsh, Rona Gibbings, Pam Merrick, Verna Nichols, Ivy-May Wright, Maila Piirto Front row: Janet Close, Jean Brown, Irene Gatter (President), Audrey Patterson, Fran Riley
2000/2001Division Two:Back row: Maila Piirto, Pam Merrick, Rona Gibbings, Jean Crossley, Janet Close, Joan Marsh Front row: Ann Walsh, Jean Brown, Irene Gatter, Audrey Patterson, Fran Riley, Verna Nichols
... and now
2018/19 Tuesday Division Three:
Roberta Waldeck, Maggie Edgar, Alison Turner, Kaye Gedling, Mimi van Heeswijk. Julia Barron, Joy Gillian, Gayle Harding, Marj Moreton, Barbara Maffescioni, Elizabeth Jackson, Val Ikin
2018/19 Saturday Division THree:
Barbara Maffescioni, Fay Stanley, Julia Barron, Kaye Gedling, Veronica Thysse, Joy Gillian, Maggie Edgar, Gail Kempton
2022/23 Midweek Division Three:
Eddie Eaton, Les Mikowiec, Alan Arter, Colin Tremlett, Mitch Brown, Steve Appleton, Ian Edgar, Len Paterson, Clive de Ridder, Derek Cope, Lindsay Marsh, Graeme Winter
2023/24 Tuesday Division Two:
Edwina Foster, Gail Kempton, Maggie Edgar, Ellaine Jopling, Julia Barron, Pauline Wright, Veronica Thysse, Lynette Sibson, Lyn Ker,
Soly Batka, Roberta Waldeck, Ann Walsh
Pennant titles... but no Flag
2003/04 Division 4 Purple ThursdayNorm Sanders, Ivor Thomas, Bert Wright, George Messer, Brian Hotchin, Lloyd Trotter, Bobby Brennan, George Rundle, John Sheridan, Fred Emmerton, Barry Lague, Barry Whinfield
2003/04 Division Three Silver ThursdayLes George, Mitch Brown, Frank Durrant, Keith Aldred, Merv Nash, Glyn Herbert, Hugh Sheridan, Les Wright, Lindsay Marsh, Tom Acton, Frank Pimm, Doug Harris
2005/06 Division Three Silver SaturdayGrahame Gough, Gil Barr, Peter Price, Ray Spybee, Ivor Thomas, Les George, Randall Harding, Geoff White, Brian Smallwood, Barry Lague, Noel Polain, Doug Leicester, Denis Cockayne, Mick Bassett, Les Wright, Lindsay Marsh
2006/07 Division Three Purple Thursday Don Williamson, Grahame Gough, Les George, Bert Muir, Geoff White, Reg Woodhead, Brian Smallwood, George Rundle, Randall Harding, Lindsay Marsh, Gil Barr, Peter Price, Barry Lague 2006/07 Division Four Lime ThursdayKen Perriam, Alan Firth, Bob Mann, Brian O’Shannassy, Greg Davis, John Sheridan, Fred Emmerton, Colin Ansell, Lloyd Trotter, John Sofoulis, Colin Kingshott, Wally Henry
2003/04 Division Three Silver ThursdayLes George, Mitch Brown, Frank Durrant, Keith Aldred, Merv Nash, Glyn Herbert, Hugh Sheridan, Les Wright, Lindsay Marsh, Tom Acton, Frank Pimm, Doug Harris
2005/06 Division Three Silver SaturdayGrahame Gough, Gil Barr, Peter Price, Ray Spybee, Ivor Thomas, Les George, Randall Harding, Geoff White, Brian Smallwood, Barry Lague, Noel Polain, Doug Leicester, Denis Cockayne, Mick Bassett, Les Wright, Lindsay Marsh
2006/07 Division Three Purple Thursday Don Williamson, Grahame Gough, Les George, Bert Muir, Geoff White, Reg Woodhead, Brian Smallwood, George Rundle, Randall Harding, Lindsay Marsh, Gil Barr, Peter Price, Barry Lague 2006/07 Division Four Lime ThursdayKen Perriam, Alan Firth, Bob Mann, Brian O’Shannassy, Greg Davis, John Sheridan, Fred Emmerton, Colin Ansell, Lloyd Trotter, John Sofoulis, Colin Kingshott, Wally Henry
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