ROSEWOOD Bowls Club members, officials and supporters celebrated their 70th anniversary “party’’ with a special visitor.
Life member Edie Bambling, who turns 104 in August, was all smiles when mixing with friends and helping cut the cake to mark the milestone occasion.
“It’s a lovely day,” a beaming Edie said, receiving a stream of affection.
Edie joined the club in 1971, spending 50 years playing regular bowls being looked after “by the ladies around town”.
Asked what she enjoyed most about her time at the club, Edie answered: “Everything”.
Edie grew up in the Lockyer Valley. She moved to Rosewood in 1960.
“She loves it here,” Edie’s daughter Lynnell said.
Edie enjoyed listening to club president Terry Hobden and other members share their stories of past years.
The club was formed at a meeting on July 15, 1948, at the School of Arts hall.
It was decided at another meeting on July 19, 1949 to proceed at the Mill Street site after the Church of England rectory and Rosewood Showgrounds were deemed unsuitable.
Life member Matt ‘Matty’’ Dale remembers the block of land being purchased in 1953.
The green was officially opened on February 5, 1955.
Matt watched as future club expansions took place.
“The besser block area was built later on,” he said.
Matt joined the Rosewood club in 1976, watching another extension in 1978.
He was club secretary from 1977-78 and president from 2008-10.
His dad Frank, an original club member, was also a past president from 1975-76.
Photos of Matt and Frank are on the walls of the Rosewood clubhouse with other dedicated past presidents, highlighting some wonderful history.
“My family goes back to about 1853 here,” Matt said.
Growing up in the Rosewood area, Matt said he most enjoyed the camaraderie at the bowls club.
“We’ve had a lot of good times in this place,” he said.
“We used to have good Saturday night socials and we had a band in here.”
He recalls a country and western band from Deception Bay being among the entertainers. They even put on a free show.
“We had bales of hay all over the inside of the club in here,” the life member said.
Matt said Rosewood’s country cooking was also a hit.
“In the early days, we had a lot of visiting clubs coming up from Brisbane because they got a good feed when they got here. We used to look after them,” he said.
Before the club had a kitchen, Matt helped prepare “two big lumps of corn meat” with bags of onions, carrots, potatoes and pumpkin on a wood fire outside.
He said the aroma in the wind aroused plenty of excitement among the bowlers on the green.
“The next thing, everybody dropped their bowls and the whole team walked around the back to see where this smell was coming from,” Matt said.
Apart from his Rosewood Bowls Club honour, Matt also has life membership of the Queensland Police Bowlers Association, where he travelled around Australia with past teams.
The former policeman, who turns 88 in June, was delighted with the response to the 70th anniversary event.
“These are all fun days,” he said.
Matt was pleased to see Edie joining the celebration.
“She was a really good bowler and a good sport too,” he said.
Fourteen teams were involved in the morning play last Saturday with bowlers from Lowood, Caloundra and Brisbane clubs like Jindalee joining the Rosewood Cobbers.
Before lunch, they were entertained with live music from Dennis Russell on the club’s new deck, rekindling more memories of past Rosewood Bowls Club celebrations.
