THE Bomaderry Bowling Club will officially take over the Nowra Golf Club after members voted in favour of the amalgamation on Sunday.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The bowling club has been running the club since November last year.
Sunday’s meeting to formally ratify the proposal was attended by 258 members. Just 23 voted against the proposal.
Bomaderry Bowling Club secretary manager Garry Wilbraham said club members also voted unanimously to amend the club’s constitution to bring golfing members into its fold.
“This was the final stage of the amalgamation process as far as the membership is concerned,” Mr Wilbraham said.
“It’s onward and upward from here.”
He said there would be another 10 months of negotiations with the Office of Liquor, Gaming and Racing (OLGA) before the merger would be official.
“Processes have already been put in place when that is finalised the Nowra Golf Club will be put into receivership and will be passed onto the Bomaderry Bowling Club,” he said.
“Simply it means the golf club can continue to operate and function.
“If we didn’t come along the club could have shut.
“There has been a few ups and downs between the two boards throughout the process but we eventually got there.”
As well as the golf club, Mr Wilbraham will now also oversee the running of Bomaderry and Berry bowling clubs and Bomaderry RSL Club.
Mr Wilbraham said a 10-year strategic plan had already been put in place.
“We are definitely looking for a return on our investment,” he said.
“The plan at this stage is to run the club as a golf club by day and a function centre by night, once the golf club operations were completed.
“Having that extra function centre is the gold in the deal for us.
“The popularity of the Nowra Golf Club is five times greater than the Bomaderry Bowling Club.
“It is a superb location and we get five more inquires to host functions, mainly weddings, birthdays and reunions.
“There is also a demand for weekday functions, events and conferences.
“The river is a real magnet.”
He said the club would continue to open on Friday evenings for the weekly members’ raffles and provide a bistro.
“The simple plan is to let the golfers use the course during the day and we can use it as a function centre at all other times,” he said.
Mr Wilbraham said the organisation also remained committed to its long-term plan of developing the Nowra Saleyards site off Moss Vale Road which it purchased in August 2015.
The club has plans for an indoor bowling club and a retirement village on the 8.48 hectare block securing its future growth into West Bomaderry, North Nowra and Cambewarra.