Our logo:

Club History

The club was formed over 70 years ago in 1954 when a meeting was called by a group of interested citizens to consider a bowling club in North Balgowlah/North Seaforth area. In 1955 approval was given to form The North Balgowlah Bowling Club.

In September 1955 the matter of the site was decided in favour of Kirkwood St and it was resolved that the name of the club be changed from the North Balgowlah Bowling Club to Seaforth Bowling Club”.

Approval to develop the Kirkwood Street site came from the Lands department in late 1957. This was the green light! The culmination of three years’ enthusiastic planning! The works committee quickly set about the organisation of the planning and construction of stage 1 of the clubhouse-and of the first green. By September 1958, the green was showing a rich covering of fine new bent grass and the Club House was rising above ground level.

On 14^th December 1958 the stage was set all 8 rinks of our first green were fully occupied by a bunch of excited members happy to be bowling on their own green. 

“The early days of 1959 saw the solitary green in great demand, and it was not unusual to see 10 to a rink-five a side-and swinging leads were frequently used in order to give as many as possible a game.

On the recommendation of the greens committee it was agreed that a second green was necessary. And that it should be prepared for planting in the spring of 1959. The official opening of the second green and club house extension took place in April 1960.

Five years later our third green was officially opened in May 1964.

In 1962 came the formation of the Seaforth Women’s Bowling Club to whom facilities were made available. 

In 1998/9 one of the greens was replaced with a synthetic surface to help reduce maintenance costs. Lights were installed on this green to promote night bowls during the summer months.

In 1998 a decision was made to close the no 3 green to minimise costs. This left the club with one grass green (no 1) and  the synthetic green. As wear increased the synthetic surface became unpopular with members due to scratching of their bowls. The no 3 grass green was re-instated in April 2005. From that time and now with 2 grass greens the synthetic surface was only used for functions and in particular as a playground for children’s functions.

Following a generous but anonymous donation the Board made a decision in February 2010 to divide the synthetic surface into 2 parts – one part will be converted to a 3 rink championship grass green with the remainder of the synthetic surface to be left in situ for function use. This project is sheduled for completion in 2011.

Celebrating our 50^th Anniversary on 14^th and 15^th June 2009

Our celebration was held over 2 days. Sunday 14^th of June was for club members only. On Monday 15^th June 2009 Seaforth Bowling Club officially celebrated it’s 50^th anniversary at which invited guests joined with past and present members for a formal lunch. We were delighted that two of the three clubs Balgowlah and Forestville RSL who helped in the establishment of our club sent mixed teams along and we were most appreciative that teams from North Manly, Pittwater Memorial and Harbord Diggers joined them to show their support for our big occasion. In total 60 visitors and club members participated in two games of mixed triples which were planned for a day of enjoyment rather than intense competition.

At the official luncheon with 90 in attendance the Guest of Honour was Alan Rosenberg who is Vice President of the Royal NSW Bowling Association Inc.

Club Chairman David Plomley, Ladies President Kathy Anderson and Men’s President Graham Chalkley all gave short speeches with very well chosen words in which our visitors were welcomed and relevant information about our 3 clubs was conveyed.

Alan Rosenberg , speaking without notes gave a most informative talk in which he presented some interesting facts about the state of Bowling Clubs in NSW. In 1984 (25 years ago) there were 800 Bowling Clubs. In 2009 there has been a reduction of 25% to only 600 clubs and he forecasts there will be a further significant reduction in the short term. At present 54% of Men’s Clubs have less than 100 members 88% of Women’s Clubs have less than 100 members 177 Women’s club have less than 30 members.

Alan Rosenberg is Chairman of the Unification Committee. He was most impressed with the close working relationship between our Men’s and Women’s Clubs something which sadly is not all that common in other clubs.

Alan Rosenberg presented Merit Badges (the highest Honour of RNSWBA) to 5 selected members for their outstanding service to the club – Eric Beattie, Cheryl Butler and Kathy Anderson as well as to David Plomley and Graham Chalkley.

He also gave to the club an engraved silver commemorative plaque from the Royal as a memento of the occasion.

Our two 90 year olds – Rene Symonds and Len Pink jointly cut the cake. Everyone who played bowls on one or both days received a commemorative engraved wine glass whilst every club member whether they played, attended or not, received a personalised certificate which was designed, prepared and printed by our chairman David Plomley.