Sunnyside Bowling Club celebrates major milestone
One of Pretoria's oldest bowling clubs, the Sunnyside Bowling Club, hosted their 101 Challenge tournament recently, celebrating the club's existence of more than a century.
In terms of participation, the very popular sport bowls is still a large part of the DNA of sport and recreation in a city like Pretoria.
Bowling is intertwined with the social history of the city, especially considering the number of active clubs across the length and breadth of the city’s borders.
There are probably very few of these clubs that can rival the Sunnyside Bowling Club in terms of their historical role as the cradle of this sport in Pretoria. The club is located on the border between Sunnyside and Clydesdale, just a few blocks west of the Afrikaanse Hoër Meisieskool.
The original Sunnyside Bowling Club was founded in 1924, which means it would have been 100 years old in 2024.
In 2000, two other clubs, both struggling at the time, merged with Sunnyside to continue under the club’s banner. They were the Pretoria Bowling Club (originally founded in 1905) and the Pretoria MOTH Bowling Club, which had been in existence since 1954.
Photo: Koos Venter
The Sunnyside Bowling Club, which currently has two well-maintained bowling greens and is in the process of upgrading their third green, is affiliated with Bowls Gauteng North. The club’s women’s team competes in the fourth league, while the men’s team is part of the fifth league.
According to the club’s president Maureen Taylor, their membership has been growing strongly again in the past year and they can currently boast more than 70 active members.
This club, which also boasts a very well-organized and equipped clubhouse, is affiliated with Bowls Gauteng North. The club’s women’s team competes in the fourth league, while the men’s team is part of the fifth league.
Due to logistical reasons, the Sunnyside Bowling Club was unable to celebrate their centenary in 2024, after which it was decided that this event would be moved to 2025 to celebrate it with a 101 Challenge. This tournament, to which all the bowling clubs in Pretoria were to be invited, again had to be moved from December last year to the third weekend of February due to unforeseen circumstances.
More than 80 members of bowling clubs all over Pretoria therefore participated in the Sunnyside Bowling Club’s 101 Challenge.
Photo: Koos Venter
Photo: Koos Venter
Photo: Koos Venter
Experienced and less experienced players played in the tournament together and various sponsors contributed to making very attractive prizes available for the 101 Challenge, with the top prize including a week’s holiday in Ballito on the Natal north coast.
The management has now decided, following the success of this weekend’s tournament, to make this 101 Challenge an annual event.
In the meantime, interested and prospective new players are welcome to join the Sunnyside Bowling Club. Official matches take place on Tuesdays from 13:30 and Sundays from 08:30. On Saturdays, social bowls are played at the club and these proceedings start at 09:30. Interested parties can contact the president, Maureen Taylor, via email at mbtaylor@mweb.co.za.
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