Some facts including the trials and tribulations experienced in the formation of the Claremont Bowls Club 2nd green. By Dudley Coleman.
It is generally known that when Cadburys amalgamated with Schweppes the company decided to dispose of non-income earning property such as the houses on the estate and all the grounds on which sporting activities were conducted which included the Claremont Golf Club and the Claremont Bowls Club.
The value placed on the areas occupied by these two clubs was $150,000 of which $21,000 was assessed for the bowls club and the balance of $129,000 for the golf club. In discussions with Mr. Lloyd, the chairman of Cadburys a view was expressed that in view of the very small area occupied by the bowls club which at the time consisted of only one green and the car park, the allocation of $21,000 appeared to be high when compared with the many acres covered by the golf club.
He made enquiries and ascertained that bowling greens were classified as “improved value” and golf club greens as “unimproved value” thus causing what appeared as being an anomaly. In view of this, Mr. Lloyd decided to include in the $21,000 the land behind the houses in Bournville Crescent on the understanding that an easement would be provided for the tenants to have access to their garages. This was a terrific move as it enabled the club to plan for a second green at a future date and get away from the uncertainties associated with a one-green club.
Without delay plans were drawn up and these were approved by the council. Two of our members worked at William Adams at Berriedale, and with their influence they arranged for that company to cart a bulldozer to the site one week-end and with one of these members as operator the area was levelled out, the extent of which is evident today from the height of the bank between the houses and the green. This was allowed to consolidate for some time.
When it was evident that the time had been reached when a second green was essential for the club to advance arrangements were made with Cadburys for all their ashes to be carted to the area and at this point it is fair to say that this was where “Dads Army” came into operation consisting of a number of veterans most suffering with either a heart complaint, rheumatism, ulcers or hernias. It is acknowledged that the majority of labour centered on this gang. The formation of the ditches was an exception as this required special equipment and expertise.
A major problem was the drainage from the houses. All the tenants were in the habit of consistently watering their back-yards with the result that the area below the bank was sodden. To overcome this, a wide and deep trench was dug in which agricultural pipes were placed and filled in with two-inch metal.
A similar ditch was provided at each end of the new green and three more evenly spaced within the playing area all five ending up along the bank facing the river. It was unfortunate that on one occasion when a large truck arrived loaded with metal with the intention of partly spreading it during unloading that it got bogged in the aforementioned sodden area with the result the whole load was dumped in one big heap. |
This of course necessitated some heavy shovelling into barrows and this put a bit of a strain on the members of “Dads Army”.
It had been decided that the green would be sown with “Tift Dwarf” the same as that used almost exclusively in Queensland and which had been successfully installed at the Geeveston Club which had agreed to supply us with sufficient seed to cover the new Claremont green.
When it was known that the Geeveston green was being scarified two cars of members from Claremont went to Geeveston and helped gather the seed and when two large bags had been filled one of the cars returned to Claremont for emptying the bags before the seed had time to sweat and another team was on hand to start sowing. In the meantime the remainder of the club members had returned from Geeveston with sufficient seed to complete the job. Unfortunately that night proved to be exceptionally windy and the next morning a lot of the seed was found in the ditches.
After all these trials and tribulations the eventual green was a great success and it was at this stage that the “Cadbury Fours” competition was introduced and many top bowlers from other clubs regularly took the opportunity of participating.
To help finance the installation of this second green a novel way of raising funds was to offer an allotment of 10 square feet to a member for the sum of $10 for which he or she was issued with a certificate [printed at Cadburys] showing that person’s name and the allotment number. Each person was invited to keep their allotment free of weeds but this proved far from satisfactory as some allotments appeared to have been sown with potatoes.
It is not on record how many of the allotments were “sold” but it is believed that a fair portion of the 144 [12 x 12] were “disposed" of.
The saddest thing to report was that after confirming that this “Tift Dwarf” was a goer and had been proved to meet the conditions applying as regards weather etc. it is understood that a particular load of top dressing contained more weeds than would normally be expected and for some reason the whole green was sprayed for weeds and as the “Tift Dwarf’ is a weed everything was killed and time did not permit the establishment of this grass in time for the commencement of the next bowling season.
With a few exceptions the green has proved consistently to be one of Southern Tasmania’s best hosting local and state events.
Recently hedges have been removed in an effort to stop potassium damage to the greens edges and shortly a colour bond fence will be erected in replacement.
Dudley Coleman |
