Back from the wet
Brand new green: Pat Lizza, Matt Dorazco, Nigel Butterbut and Chris Gell spent almost a month putting down a new surface at the Fish Creek Bowling Club.
FISH Creek Bowling Club is back in action and almost ready to roll.
After the floods in late March completely destroyed the club’s bowling green in an event Deputy Premier Peter Ryan described as “devastating”, the new green has been put down and will be ready to use by the end of October.
Club secretary Tim McLean said a great deal of work was involved to have the green assessed and replaced, with more than $200,000 worth of damage done by the floods.
“It was completely ruined,” he said.
“I had to get a quote to have it replaced, and also a quote on the machinery that was damaged, as the irrigation system was ruined too.”
The quote was given to the South Gippsland Shire Council who then put in a claim to the insurance company.
A hydrologist was then required to examine the surface of the green and determine whether the damage was caused from excess water running off the car park or water from the creek behind the grounds, which took some time.
“If it was found to be from the car park and natural rainfall, the excess was about $10,000,” Mr McLean said.
“Had it been found it was overflow from the creek, the excess would have been $100,000; it was a huge difference.”
Luckily, the hydrologist reported the water was from the car park and repairs could finally get underway when the claim was accepted in May.
As the whole winter season had to also be cancelled, with competitions usually held once a fortnight, the club also received compensation for loss of income.
Mr McLean said it is normally up to an 18 month wait to have a green replaced, but A.J and E.A Berry, the company who installed the previous green, pushed the club up the list.
“They virtually came in a hope to get us ready for the season,” he said, which has started.
Unfortunately the ground won’t quite be ready and the club will call on its neighbouring teams for the first few weeks, but it is certainly a big change from their ‘swimming pool’ of last March.
The green was expected to be finished last month, with poor weather holding up the process. The green will now need to be passed by Bowls Victoria and finally have lines marked out.
The recent repairs have been a relief for the club, as members were not sure if insurance would cover all the damage.
“It just could have been the death of the club,” Mr McLean said.
“And it is the livelihood of the older community; a lot of people, all they’ve got is the bowling club.”
Mr McLean said they owe thanks to a number of people who have helped get things back up and running over the past five months, including council risk management co-ordinator Bret McLean, OHS/RTW adviser Judith Middleton, CEO Tim Tamlin, Mr Ryan and Michael Myer, as well as Berry’s.
“Mr Ryan came down here and he was terrific. He offered any help that we needed,” he said.
And people can be guaranteed celebrations will be held when the job is finally finished.
“We are going to have a huge celebration; we’ll do a very big opening and of course we’ll invite all these people that have been so good to us,” Mr McLean said, adding the Deputy Premier would get a chance to personally test out the new surface.
“Mr Ryan had said he’d be delighted to come along so we’ll definitely get him on the green.”
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