Back in 1921 a group of bowlers decided to form a club in the twin towns.
Ninety years on, that one club is now two thriving entities, the Tweed Heads Bowls Club and the Coolangatta Bowls Club and both continue to serve the community and give the bowlers of the region a great place to play their favourite sport.
The original Tweed club, situated in Coral Street, split into two back in the 40s but that didn’t stop both clubs from joining together last week to celebrate the amazing milestone.
“We still have a friendly rivalry and a great camaraderie,” Tweed Heads chaiman Peter Howell said.
“It is the first time we have celebrated the anniversary together though.”
The celebrations took the form of cocktail parties, high teas and bowls days, with players from both clubs joining together.
He said the original green was put down in Coral Street but in the mid-forties it was decided there was a need to expand and two greens were put in at the location of the current Coolangatta Club.
“They played both sides of the border then,” he said.
“It was three days a week at Coolangatta and three days a week at Tweed.”
Over the years both clubs have undergone their fair share of changes with the Tweed Club moving to it’ current location in the 70s and Coolangatta also expanding both their clubhouse and greens.
Now Tweed has grown to have more than 17,000 social and bowls club members and both have hosted some of the biggest tournaments in Australia over the years.
There were high teas, cocktail parties and even a game of bowls or two – what better way to mark the 90th birthday of the Tweed Heads and Coolangatta Bowls Clubs.
Members past and present, dignitaries and members of the community flocked to the Tweed Club to mark the mile-stone, have a bit of fun and reminisce – and of course play a few ends of the game they love.
Photographer Peter Henning of Three Loose Coconuts was on hand to capture all the action, fun and memories.
