The City of Geelong Bowls Club looks to the future with confidence after ‘extremely difficult’ year

An embattled Geelong bowls club which had no treasurer has been rescued from potential closure after a freelance bookkeeper stepped in.

The City of Geelong Bowls Club under construction at 7-9 Ballarat Rd, North Geelong.

An embattled Geelong lawn bowls club which had no treasurer has managed to avoid going under through financial intervention.

The City of Geelong Bowls Club secretary Muriel Wells said in its annual report that 2024 had been a “very challenging year”, which began in the first week of the new board being installed.

The club was formed in 2015 when the Geelong West and Drumcondra clubs merged, both selling their lucrative, but cramped, inner-suburban estate, and moving to North Geelong under a multimillion-dollar plan.

She said the club went through an “extremely difficult time” addressing legal and business issues, with a freelance bookkeeper identifying troubling financial arrangements with the former caterer at the club.

The City of Geelong Bowls Club was built adjacent to a local golf course.

This masthead reported in October that a Pekish restaurant had operated out of the club’s North Geelong base, but owed money to its employees as well as goods and services to others.

However, the club refuted claims it owed the restaurant $50,000, according to ASIC documents, and would reveal “the actual situation” at a later date.

“Please be assured that the club has acted in the best interests of its members and patrons in this matter,” the club said on Facebook in October last year.

However, new management of the clubhouse bistro with the Hoppers Crossing Club is expected to allow the club to plan for a more secure future.

This masthead has made several attempts to contact the club for new comment.

In the club’s annual report, chairperson Maureen Reynolds said the new board had worked through “major issues” this year.

“It was obvious to me that the club was not travelling well, financially,” Reynolds said.

“Without a club treasurer, the board had no choice but to engage an external bookkeeper.”

The bookkeeper was recommended by a firm that had been consulting with the club’s board about its financial difficulties.

The City of Geelong Bowls Club.

“(He) identified how the club was ailing financially and measures were put in place to curb the losses,” Reynolds said.

“The board also engaged a lawyer for the last financial year. This has cost the club but eventuated in a real financial survival outcome for the City of Geelong Bowls Club.”

The club has since established a catering partnership with the Hoppers Crossing Club.

“The board is of the opinion that it will now be able to meet its outgoing cost obligations with this new business partnership,” she said.

“Moving on from last year’s financial dilemmas, we have a lot to acknowledge and celebrate.”

The installation of a kiosk will provide the club with a guaranteed monthly rental income for five years, and will have a new focus on engaging advertisers over the next 12 months.

Reynolds said last year had challenged the board and club members to “realise that change was necessary and then making it happen”.

“I feel that the hard work has been done and the club can work towards a much brighter future,” she said.

Originally published as The City of Geelong Bowls Club looks to the future with confidence after ‘extremely difficult’ year