ELORA – While the popularity of the leisure sport has waned over the years, the Elora Rocks Lawn Bowling Club (ERLBC) is still around more than 100 years later.
The club, located at 74 David St. E., is hosting an open house on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday to encourage people to give the sport a try and increase membership.
ERLBC president Ian Burns said in an interview he’s been involved with the club for 52 years, first joining as a teenager as his parents were involved with the club.
“Elora was a lot smaller then and it was more of a community where people joined the legion, the Lion’s Club, the masons, the lawn bowling club and they were all the same people,” Burns said, adding his veteran father and mother were legion members who were convinced to try lawn bowling by other members.
“Then they told me about it and I came up and I enjoyed it and I’ve been with it ever since.”
Although Burns has been a long-term member, his time with ERLBC is not even half of its more than a century-long history.
According to a historical report provided by Burns, the ERLBC was first established in 1906 by hardware merchant Augustus Hobbs who was advised by his doctor to be more active.
Hobbs had seen lawn bowling while on vacation and organized a group of friends to officially establish the club with 20 members.
The original club was also on David Street, on land owned by Hobbs close to the Irvine River bridge. A ladies club was formed in 1928 which increased membership to 100.
In 1936, Art Bradley and John Burt bought a new property at 74 David St. E. After a few years of work to create the bowling greens, the inaugural match between the president and vice-president took place on May 30, 1939.
This same location is still in use to this day where players will step out onto the grass to play what Burns described as “curling on grass.” At one time, the Burns said the club claimed to be the largest one in North America before the greens were squared off more precisely.
Over the years Burns said there’s been a decline in membership over the years. He recalled when he joined the club had more than 120 members. Now in a more usual year — as in one not impacted by COVID restrictions — Burns said they would have around 70 players.
This doesn’t mean there’s been a decline in enthusiasm among players who Burns said are a mix of social players and some who are competitive.
“When you’re a bowler, you come out, enjoy it and not only at club level but you can get into tournaments,” Burns said. “You can go into district playdowns that will take you to the Ontario championships which will take you to the Canadian championships and we’ve had several members get as far as winning the district.”
Burns said the club is working to attract some younger members as he acknowledged members tend to skew to retirement age, which he attributed to it being more difficult to find the time to regularly participate when you have children and a job.
He encouraged interested people to come out to the open houses held on Tuesday and Wednesday 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. or 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. to give lawn bowling a try and to learn about being a member.
The season is set to kick-off after the Victoria Day long weekend.
For more information on how to join, visit the ERLBC website.
