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From the past -From the ashes

From the ashes rise a bowling club’s new rooms

At Saturday’s official opening, members, special guests and politicians gathered to celebrate the community support which spawned the club’s modern facility which signals a new era for the 198-member club.

The new clubrooms, located just metres from where the original clubrooms once stood – before faulty electrical wires caused a fire that burnt the building to the ground on October 16 last year – are testament to what can be achieved when people work together, club president Keith Sheppard said.

He said despite the “dark day”, which claimed more than a century of history from the Central Bowling Club and the Wendouree Bowling Club which merged in 1990, the club had moved on.

“It’s really been very positive, I think we’ve become a stronger club because of it,” he said.

“It’s a great feeling to be back in (a clubroom).

“We reckon it’s probably one of the best in Ballarat now.”

The clubrooms were designed by Kevin Slater and built by Robert Bond and include a kitchen, bar, indoor bowls area, committee room and function room.

The facility’s construction was funded through the club and its members, donations from other bowling clubs and a State Government grant from the Department of Sport and Recreation.