Colin Brewster bowed out of his committee association on 6 December 1975. His contribution to the Bowls Sub-Committee, the work done in being the architect for the clubhouse and two bowling pavilions along with many years as greens director well befitted him for a life membership. It seems a shame perhaps that he was not recognised in this respect before some of our other Life Members but that is an opinion of the historian.

The house that the Phillips' built at No 1 green

It seems that some minor conflict existed between Mr. C.A. Phillips and the club. Mr. Phillips built a house adjacent to the No.1 green and the project was halted by General Committee as there was concern about his building casting a shadow over the green. The historian recalls Roly Travis once saying that Mr. Phillips accepted the decision without comment, demolished his building and reconstructed it in a different position.

Minutes 17 September 1964, "In view of the assistance being rendered by Mr. C.A. Phillips in connection with the greens and the gardens, it was decided that he be appointed to this Sub-Committee". He never attended a meeting but the October minutes state, "The President has since received from Mr. Phillips his resignation because of business reasons". Very strange - and it was decided to request the President (President note, not Chairman) to see Mr. Phillips. The upshot was that Mr. Phillips withdrew his resignation and from there on he became a highly valuable club & committee member.

Drinks from a well stocked bar - 1991

KGC chefs serving at the barbecues - 1991

The first bowls barbecue was proposed by Alex Phillips and the Bowls Committee ran it independently of the golf club on 10 December 1966. Attended by 214 this first function was to become a very popular event on the social calendar. Bowlers manned the bar, the barbecue and did all jobs - everything including the collection of money and payment of expenses. Everyone had to bring their own plate, knife, fork and spoon. After that first year the club, possibly sensing a money spinner, took over the evening and it developed into a major event with numbers up to 300. It was a summer open-air affair with tables and chairs beside No 1 green.

The bowlers' barbecue with numbers up to 300 highlighted the inadequacy of the ladies' toilet facilities. The fact that there was only one female toilet in the pavilion generated complaints from the ladies who were not keen on disappearing into the bush and Mr. Phillips pointed this out on 4 April 1974. Colin Brewster undertook to provide drawings and an order of costs for submission to House Sub-Committee. A meeting 6 June 1974 saw a ceiling price of $500 placed on the alteration and Alex Phillips, Jack Kyd, and George Hughes did the construction from funds provided by the club.

Minutes of a meeting 3 July 1980 commencing at 5.00pm and concluded 6.00pm.
Item 1 - The minutes of the previous meeting were passed.
Item 2 - General matters were discussed but nothing of importance needed to be passed on to General Committee.
Item 3 - Generally agreed bowls is functioning well.
Item 4 - Close
It would be most interesting to know how this "busy" agenda managed to take up only one hour of members' time!

1980 was a very bad year for greens brought about by rather unprofessional railings (levelling) of No 1 green. The No 2 green had not recovered after conversion to tiftdwarf and the unsatisfactory work done on the other green threw an extra load on a No 2 trying to recover. Mr. R.H. (Roly) Travis states in his annual report 1980 "Quite a number of members belong to other bowling clubs. So a lot of PR work will be required to get them back - the best way of course is good greens". On the positive side meeting 23 June 1981 "It was recommended that in future all railings of club bowling greens will be budgeted for and professionally performed".

From 2004 "railing" was replaced by "laser levelling" which produces a highly accurate, level surface. A laser placed on the perimeter of the green controls a blade on the rear of a tractor to take all the guesswork out of the job.

R. H. (Roly) Travis was the Chairman from 2 February 1978 until his death on 14 June 1995. For this period (17 years) he ran things as a benign dictator. Although there was a Bowls Committee they had no recorded meetings after 28 August 1980 or if they did, no records exist in the archives. It is a shame to lose all those years of history, though possibly, at the time it didn't seem to matter. In spite of this, he was awarded KGC Life Membership for his contribution. He did however introduce a levy on the afternoon tea charge to cover costs of trophies. Then referred to as the "slush fund" in this politically correct era it is now the "Bowlers Fund".

In the late 20th century the afternoon tea charge was $2 and bowlers were charged $3 - $1 going to the fund. With the advent of GST, afternoon tea went to $2.20 so the Bowls Committee elected to collect $4.00, the remaining $1.80 going to the fund. This increase enabled all trophies and the Xmas Verandah Lunch to by paid for as well as quite a large chunk of the Bowlers' Dinner. Later this charge was reduced to $3.00 with only 80 cents going to the fund. For the moment this seems to be an adequate contribution to provide for social functions.

Verandah Luncheon - Christmas

When Roly Travis died June 1995, H. E. (Harold) Wood took over the Chairmanship and followed the lead that was established. Harold Wood, who was in declining health, was Chairman for 2½ years retiring 13 November 1997 and he took his job very seriously. It was not until the 1998 Chairmanship of T. D. (Tom) Crossman that meetings were re-introduced, for the first time the Women's Chairman was invited to attend, and records retained once more. His tenure remained until the end of 1999 (a period of two years) when Mr. J. S. (Jim) Watson took the chair.

June 1994 saw the first edition "Bowls News", started by D.G. (David) Goodearl, as a single sided A4 sheet. In December 1995 it was expanded to an A4 double-sided landscape publication with newspaper style columns & an endeavour was made to gain the women readers as well. The purpose is to publicise all bowls activity of course but, as it only comes out about every second month, some news is either too far in the past or too premature to announce at that stage. The gaps are filled in by amusing snippets.