Message from our President

Message from our President

Season's greetings to all our members and their families. I wish all of you a Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year. The past 18 months have been difficult and frustrating. Hopefully 2022 will be a better year with lots of bowling, croquet, darts and social activities.

In September Brian Lucas advised the Board that he was stepping down from his role as the Appointed Director of the Governing Council (GC).

Brian has served in this role for the past six years and prior to that served as President for three years, Vice President for one year and Treasurer for two years. He was awarded life membership of the Sorrento Dart Club in 1997 and of the Sorrento Bowling Club in 2013. Members may know that the role of the Appointed Director is non-operational and has specific responsibilities for strategic planning, governance, compliance, awards and grants. In this role he has helped the Club secure over $150,000 in grant funding in addition to the over $300,000 associated with the new synthetic green CSRFF grant.

Brian said that he has found his roles with the Club both rewarding and challenging. He said that he gained great satisfaction from seeing the Club’s membership double to over 800 moving from having a Second division top bowls side to gaining First Division and then Premier for both men and women, having six State bowls representatives this year; and of course since 2015 seeing the Club win three Bowls WA Metropolitan Club of the Year awards, five Clubs WA Club of the Year awards, entering the Clubs WA Hall of Fame in 2019 and also

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in 2019 being runner up in Bowls Australia’s Bowling Club of the Year award. None of which he pointed out would have been achieved without the dedication of the Club’s 100 plus regular volunteers which includes the members of the GC.

He expressed enormous gratitude to the Club’s unsung heroes. Those volunteers who continue to give generously of their time and energy and ask for nothing in return. He cited the times when on a chilly night he has sat in the warm and cosy bar with other members and watched our volunteers freezing out on the green while looking after social groups. He said that members should never take our volunteers for granted and in fact should join them.

During my six years as President, I can testify that Brian has been a tireless contributor to the GC, working collaboratively with other GC members and helping plot the future direction of the Club that has heralded much success.

He said that he is making his announcement with the expectation that members might come forward to volunteer their time to perform the role that he has been undertaking and offered to provide support and mentoring if required.

He asked me to pass on his appreciation to the other members of the GC for standing tall during the torrid times of Covid and staying true to their determination to see Sorrento remain “the best bowling club in Western Australia”.

We all thank Brian for his efforts, loyalty and commitment to our Club and for his contribution as a volunteer over so many years.

– John Abercrombie