Kempton Park Bowling Club celebrates 50 years

Members of Kempton Park Bowling Club celebrated the club’s 50th anniversary doing what they love, bowling.

The members celebrated the milestone through a go big tournament at the club at Barnard Stadium on March 9.

The tournament saw 72 players from around the country participating and being part of the celebrations.

“The club turns 50 this year and we organised the tournament as part of our celebrations. We had 36 teams competing from KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga, Pretoria and Ekurhuleni,” said Richard Connellan, the local club’s president.

“We managed to attract a lot of inter-provincial bowlers who used the tournament as practice for upcoming tournaments and competitions.”

Connellan also told Express they switched things up and turned bowls on its head for the tournament to make it more exciting. They shortened the game and number of bowls with everybody playing with a two-bowl pair format, playing 10 ends instead of the normal 21 ends with just two games in a day. This meant the teams were able to mix and mingle with more teams.

“It was a fantastic day and everyone enjoyed the different style of bowling and shared in the celebrations,” said Connellan.

Wilma Richardson from Northmead and Cherry-ann Mills from Boksburg were the winners who went through to a sudden-death final against the runners-up, John Connellan and Des Hean from Stella Park in Durban.

Honorary life member Bobby Ermer told Express about the club’s history and how it has grown over the years.

“The reason we are celebrating is that we have made it and some of us are still alive,” joked Ermer.

“I joined the club in 1969, in its first year, and they had already formed a committee with Len Futcher as the club’s first president. There was only one green at the time and it’s amazing to see that today we have three beautiful greens.”

Ermer initially came to Kempton Park to play rugby and sarcastically mentioned he found the players to be “too rough”.

“I came from the Western Cape for the rugby, but they were big and strong and the ground was too hard. Several times I would look over the hedges that were around the one green at the time and speak to the elderly bowlers,” said Ermer.

“I eventually joined the bowling club when I was 29 and have been playing for the past 50 years.”

Over the years, Ermer managed to be a reasonable player who also played provincial bowls. He has been a president of the local club, the district and has been the chairperson for the South African Bowling Championships in 1983.

One of the sad memories Ermer recalled was a fire at the club. “Our hall burnt down, which was devastating because that was our home,” explained Ermer.

“We then shared the clubhouse with the golf until the big country club was built for the golf.”

One of the three greens was built where the hall was situated and one of his more pleasant and special memories was when he was made honorary life member on the same night as when golfer Ernie Els was made honorary life member at the golf club.

Ermer also shared that the club has won many district tournaments and produced players who won South African tournaments.

“Some well-known bowlers that have come from the club include Clive Webb, Jason Evans, Marina Brink and recently Brenda Webb,” said Ermer.

“We have gone from being a very strong club right down to being a mediocre club, but it is building up again with lots of youngsters who are reaching honours. Bowls is no longer an old man’s game.

“We have fantastic facilities here with different sporting codes around us. The municipality has done very well and looked after us as a sports club, which we are grateful for. We are all looking forward to the municipality continuing with its support as they help us keep these greens in a good condition, which is important for good bowling results.”

Ermer also thanked everyone who contributed towards the success of the club and said they looked forward to more successful years going forward.