Club bowled over destroyed green
ONE of the best bowls clubs in North Queensland will be out for almost two months after last week’s flooding destroyed the bowling green.
Social and competitive lawn bowls games have been put on standby at the Suburban Bowling Club at Hermit Park after $65,000 worth of lawn bowls stock was destroyed.
Damage to the bowling green will also bring the damage bill up to about $150,000.
Acting green director David Whiting said despite the extent of the damage, games would not be moved to another venue.
“It’ll affect us pretty hard because bowls and the social side of things is our main revenue,” he said.
“We’ve spent the past six days cleaning the place up and we’ve still got a fair bit to do.
“I’d be happy if it can all be done in six weeks. We won’t be relocating to a new venue in the time being, so we can focus on things here.”
Bowling equipment and merchandise will have to be thrown out after being inundated with floodwater, as will fridges and furniture.
About 20mm of mud remained on top of the bowling green when floodwaters receded last week and damage was caused to the layers underneath.
“The green has to be millimetre perfect from corner to corner,” Mr Whiting said.
“You can’t have lumps and bumps all through it when you’re trying to bowl.
“We’re one of the best bowls clubs in North Queensland so we want to maintain that standard.”
A restoration and recovery team will be tasked with cleaning up the mud-covered trophies and memorabilia left inside the clubhouse.