Bowlers roll up for 80th party
The Hills Bowling Club celebrates 80 years.
Hills Shire
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Eighty years ago, a group of bowlers who were tired of travelling to Parramatta to play decided to build a local club.
They gathered 49 bowlers together, who each paid 21 shillings, to build the club on what was then an empty clearing on Old Northern Rd, Baulkham Hills.
This month marks The Hills Bowling Club’s 80th anniversary, and the milestone was celebrated on December 11 by more than 150 bowlers with a social game followed by lunch with special guests including Commonwealth Games medallists Ian Schuback and Cameron Curtis.
Life member George Greaves, who joined The Hills Bowling Club 30 years ago, said 10 men decided to form a local club and found the ideal location in Baulkham Hills.
“Baulkham Hills in 1935 consisted of a few shops, open paddocks, and unsealed roads,” he said.
“There was an area fronting Old Northern Rd, which had been the site of the steam tram and light railway that connected Parramatta and Castle Hill.
“An inaugural meeting was held at Joe’s Store, where today a group of shops stands at the intersection of Windsor and Old Northern roads.
“This meeting of 10 men decided to form The Hills District Bowling Club.”
The green was officially opened on December 19, 1936, by the then Baulkham Hills Shire Council president Arthur Whitling.
Eighty years later, the club – which won its first pennant flag in 1942 – has about 320 bowlers and more than 4000 social members as well as golfers, cricketers and barefoot bowlers enjoying the facilities.
“The Hills Club today is a proud memorial of those early visionaries who unselfishly brought an idea to fruition,” Mr Greaves said.
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