About Us

The History of Rye Bowls Club

Back in the 1950’s many Rye residents were members of Sorrento bowling club, but they felt that it was time Rye had its own Bowling Club. So a public meeting was held on 28th, Nov 1958. This meeting was the turning point for a strong history, which continues to this day. Straight off a committee was formed to oversee the construction work & recruitment of foundation members.

The Flinders Shire Council provided the land under lease with some money. The members provided much voluntary toil to bring the dream into fruition on Opening Day, 24th. September 1960. This was about the same time that the Club adopted its colours of green, maroon and white, which remain current to this day. Ladies were admitted to the Club as full members in 1991.

Over the next six decades many improvements have been made. Ownership of the land moved to the Mornington Peninsula Shire on December 15, 1994. Pleasingly the strong relationship between the two bodies continues to this day, as evidenced by a recent grant to upgrade the fence (see photo below) the ongoing, responsive maintenance of the building and an ongoing lease to the Club.

Club committees continue to provide strong governance and direction and have ensured ongoing members’ enjoyment of this wonderful Sporting and Social Club. In November 2006, Rye won the R.V.B.A & VICHEALTH ‘Club of the Year” Award for its submission on the subject of “Welcoming and Inclusions”. The award reflected the culture of the Club to reach out to the local community and to promote Bowls.

This philosophy of reaching out to the local community has continued and strengthened more recently with the extending of events, exhibitions and many social events planned across the year, which are much wider than the traditional bowls one would expect.