The Finley Bowling Club may be forced to close without support from the local community.
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A public meeting will be held tomorrow to start a ‘brainstorming’ process.
A decision on whether the club will continue will then be made later in the year.
The club has said while an amalgamation with the Finley Golf Club is being investigated, it is hoping new thinking from the community would allow the club to remain a stand alone business.
While debt free, increased costs and reduced patronage of the facility has had an impact.
But club president Graeme Close and manager Fred Braybon said involvement in the club will be key to its continuation.
The public meeting has been called after the club was forced to temporarily close its doors last week.
It followed the resignation of one director and two more walking out of a board meeting, creating what is known as a dysfunctional board.
“Advice was sought from Liquor and Gaming New South Wales, Clubs New South Wales and Club Auditor Mogg Osborne, and the difficult but necessary decision was made to close the club and call a general meeting for Thursday, October 12 when the club will reopen,” Mr Close and Mr Braybon said in a joint letter to the community.
“The future of the Finley Bowling Club is entirely in the hands of our amazing community,” the letter continues.
“Anyone interested in the bowlo going forward is encouraged to attend the meeting.
“The exact purpose of this meeting is to inform the community of where the club is at and ask all our generous locals to look at ways that they may be able to assist going forward.”
Mr Braybon said the meeting would be purely for information, with no new board members being sought at this time.
That will be reserved for the AGM to be held next month.
“This meeting is intended to give us a month to think about what we, as a community, can do to save the club,” Mr Braybon told the Southern Riverina News.
“The club cannot survive on bowls alone.”
Mr Close and Mr Braybon have proposed a number of potential solutions which will be discussed further at the meeting, and encourage others with new ideas to bring them forward on the night.
Possible solutions include:
• Social membership of $10 for one year or $20 for three years. The club could also benefit greatly from an enthusiastic social committee to coordinate functions on a regular basis.
• Greater support for the club’s raffles. Held each Thursday and drawn live on Facebook, prizes include $650 in local business vouchers. A percentage of the proceeds are donated to Can Assist Finley & District. You can subscribe for a weekly ticket purchase or arrange tickets weekly.
• The club has been unable to secure a caterer for 15 months. On the junction of the two highways that dissect our shire, there is an opportunity to establish a commercially viable cafe/coffee shop type business in the eastern end of the club while also servicing the needs of the club patrons when required.
• There is always gardening/weeding to do on club surrounds, maybe put your green thumb to use as an outside volunteer.
• Choose the club as a venue for your private, community or fundraising event.
Mr Close and Mr Braybon said the club would also benefit greatly from volunteer labour.
“Do you or do you know of anyone who has both Responsible Service of Alcohol or Responsible Conduct of Gambling certificates who may be able to give a few hours a week?” they said in their letter.
“A stand alone bowling club, with paid labour, is extremely rare in these much tougher times.
“For our club to survive we need to think outside the box and come up with ways to increase revenue or decrease costs, to make sure we secure the future of a true community club.
“Whilst the club still enjoys a debt free position, recent years have seen a major deterioration in cash reserves.
“The club can do nothing about the twice a year alcohol price rises and the past three years has seen a 100 per cent increase in insurance costs and a 40 per cent increase in electricity costs.
“While these unavoidable cost increases have been inflicted upon us we are under constant pressure to maintain cheap in-house prices.
“Post-COVID, patrons are more attuned to how much less expensive it is drinking at home. The pressures on home finances are seeing more people make the unsociable but financially necessary decision to drink away from licensed premises.”
The public meeting will be held at the Finley Bowling Club tomorrow, from 7pm.
Senior journalist