By sports editor Russell Bennett
Right in the heart of Pakenham sits arguably the community’s most impressive sporting asset, and it’s one many may not have visited before.
The Pakenham Bowls Club, the home of the mighty Lions, on the corner of Anderson and Henry Streets has just received a stunning facelift to its greens – bringing them roaring into the 21st century.
Set to be completed in just a matter of days, the greens will soon be covered by an all-weather roof with a state-of-the-art lighting and sound system.
It weighs well in excess of 30 tonnes, and it’s been constructed over the greens without any equipment on them during construction.
That feat alone is remarkable, but the project – to get to this point – is a credit to all those involved.
President Terry McRedmond said the seeds for the concept were first sewn some two-and-a-half years ago when he and club secretary David Laird played for Pakenham at Deer Park, and saw first-hand a similar roof structure.
“I’ve been involved with bowls for the best part of 50 years and I’ve seen a few clubs come up with structures like this,” Terry said.
“I’ve played under one at Deer Park, Dandenong has one, and we came up with the idea that if we didn’t get one in the very near future, we’d be left behind because most clubs are going that way.
“This means we can play all-weather bowls – including at night-time. We’ve got an aging membership and they’ve always got to be careful of skin cancers and that sort of thing, and it’s something we’re hoping to have other community and sporting clubs use too, depending on how they want to use it. It just gives us access to the green 24/7.”
Terry and David said are hoping the new roof – installed by Wagga Wagga-based specialists, Greenline – will give their club’s barefoot bowls, and schools programs a real shot in the arm.
The roof, itself, cost upwards of $825,000 and was paid for by a combination of all three levels of government – including a $500,000 commitment from the Federal Government (through La Trobe MP Jason Wood), $250,000 from the Cardinia Shire Council, and $50,000 from the Victorian State Government (through Bass MP Jordan Crugnale) – as well as some of the club’s own money.
All up, the project will cost around the million dollar mark, once the surrounds are also upgraded.
“We advertise ourselves as a community bowls club,” David said simply.
“The whole aim of this is to increase that barefoot bowls participation.
“We’ve got a big population here, and a lot of the clubs that have rooves do very, very well out of barefoot bowls and it’s something that we do want to push.
“We haven’t cut corners. The lights are top-quality lights, as is the sound system we’ve put in. We’ll have a really state-of-the-art atmosphere to complement our great clubrooms and bar facilities.”
The project was originally supposed to be completed by the end of September… but then Covid intervened.
“The foundations were all done, and then everything came to a grinding halt. It would have been finished in September,” David said.
“We started our pennant season just under a month ago, and we should have been playing under it (the roof) then but it just wasn’t to be.”
But there’s a massive boost just around the corner, with Terry adding: “We could even be playing our last games this year under the roof”.
The Pakenham Bowls Club thanks everyone who has contributed to their ground-breaking project.
