Aberfeldie Bowls Club Inc

Aberfeldie Club History

The first meeting was held in Miss Dedrick's School, on the corner of Buckley & Washington Sts. Essendon, on Wednesday 16th March 1910.

On the motion of Messrs. Mclndoe and Cliff, it was resolved to form the Club, to be called the Aberfeldie Bowling, Croquet & Tennis Club.

One thousand debentures, at £1-0-0 each, were issued to purchase the land in Scott St. Essendon, having a frontage of 360 ft. at a cost of 10 shillings per ft.

The estimated cost of preparing 7 rinks was £334-0-0 and the Croquet Lawn was £136-0-0.

On the 7th April 1910 the Club opened a Bank Account with the E.S.& A Bank.

Mr. David Elder was elected the first President, and the Committee was comprised of the following:

Vice-Presidents. Messrs. Lyons, Guinn & Mountain

Hon. Treasurer. Mr. J. L. Davies

Hon. Secretary. Mr. J. A. McIndoe

Committee. Messrs. J. Peacock, G. F. Edington, H. Cliff, W. Main, D.B.McCutcheon, W. J. A.Simpson, & W. E. Benwell

Patrons were Messrs. A. McCracken, C. McCracken, Hon. W. A. Watt. MLA Hon. J. G. Aitken. MLC. Hon. N. J. Evans. MLC. Hon. J. E. Fenton,
Mayor of Essendon Cr. N. Catanach, Hon. S. Manager, W. Sutton, & M. Quinlan.

The first Delegates to the VBA (now RVBA) were Messrs. McCutcheon & Cliff.

The Foundation Members of the Club were:
Messrs. Guinn, Cliff, Edington, Main, Peacock, Davies, Fraser, Yourg, Summer, Lyons, McCutcheon Mountain, Simpson, Newbold, Logan, Benwell, Richards, Mooney, Gilders, D. Smith & Mclndoe.

The first Annual Meeting was held in Miss Dedrick's School on Thursday evening 8th September 1910.

For the erection of the Pavilion a tender was received at a cost of £257-0-0, but
this was amended to provide for the Building to be erected for £167-7-6 without a verandah & lining. Later, a billiard room & two verandas were erected, at a cost of £315-0-0.

The Green was opened on the 26th of November 1910, with the first Club Champion being Mr. A. H. Price.

This picture is of the first jack of the following year (14th November 1911)

On the 27th of August 1943, the name of the Club was changed to the Aberfeldie Bowling & Croquet Club. Later, with the closing of the Croquet Club the name was changed to the Aberfeldie Bowling Club, and was registered under the Religious, Successory & Charitable Act 1928.

Electric lights were installed over the Green in 1948.

In July 1956, Ladies were admitted to the Bowling Club and named the Aberfeldie Bowling Club Associates, Ladies Section.

The first meeting of the Ladies Section was on the 20th September 1956, with Mrs. D. McBain elected President, Mrs. H. Middleton Treasurer, and
Mrs. H. Barrah, Secretary.

Jubilee Celebrations were held in the Clubhouse on the 12th March 1960, the President then being Mr. D. McBain.

In the Ladies Section, Life Membership was conferred on
Mrs. J. Smith, (Secretary 17 years & President 2 years)

Mrs. R. Flack, (Treasurer 17 years & President 3 years)

Mrs. B. Bailey, Mrs. R. Hurst, & Mrs. H. Hammond also have been awarded Life Membership for their untiring work for the Club over many years.

The Ladies Section was disbanded in 1999, but now ladies are now permitted to join the RVBA, and bowl with males.

In recognition for their services to the Club over many years Life Membership has been awarded to:-

1944 F. Towers
1952 W. Smith
1953 L. Thompson
1954 H. Brown
1958 R.R. Hindson
1960 A.C. Dibb
1968 C.F. Trathan
1971 R.C. King
1971 D.B. McBain
1974 R.F. Roberts
1976 C.C. Bailey
1977 C.H. MacDonough
1980 R.J. Buchanan
1980 W.R. Schurer
1988 P. Bailey
1990 V.R. Baker
1990 A.J. Paton
1999 F.T. Wright
2002 A.N.F. McLean
2002 V.R. Cripps

For dedicated Service, the South(No.1) Green is named the 'Frank Norris' Green & the North (No.2) Green the 'George Frew' Green.

	Great war Honour Board.
	Original logo replaced by Tim's design featured above.
	North green which was subdivided and finally sold in April 2002.
	Charlie Browne takes plenty of grass.