Tim Wilson (Goldstein, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is a great pleasure to be able to get up and celebrate the wonderful activities in the Goldstein electorate as the blossoms come out and the trees in the sun show the wonder of spring. It's sports time, in the Goldstein electorate. And what are we seeing? The opening of the lawn bowls season. In fact, I have been at three lawn bowls occasions for the opening of the season in my electorate.

On 26 August we had two openings. The first was the Hampton Bowls Club opening of the green, and, in particular, I want to pay acknowledgement to the club president, Rob Coulson, the club manager, Frank van der Kraan, and the bowls champions who joined me, Nellie Kosta and Peter Murray. I was also very fortunate to be joined by the deputy mayor of the city of Bayside, James Long. It was a great opportunity to bring people together. I rolled that first jack. I have got to say: I was very straight in my direction, but I lacked the power to do so, so we had to move it along a little bit. But it was a great honour to be able to fill that time-honoured tradition. The Hampton Bowls Club does lots of very good things. The following weekend, in fact, they had a competition with Australia and New Zealand—international bowlers—and they have one of the most extensive lawn bowls programs, working with community organisations, particularly schools, and the Bayside U3A, as well as Seniors Week events.

The same day we had the opening of the Sandringham Bowls Club summer season, with their president, Steve Choat, the vice president, Nick Owen, and the secretary, Alan Watson, all of whom were part of it and celebrating the use of their new green down in Sandringham on Tulip Street. So well done to them!

Last weekend, on 2 September, we had the Bentleigh Bowling Club's opening of the green, with President Ron Gleeson, Vice President Steve Brady and Club Secretary Stephen Elmer. They are looking at avenues for a new scoreboard for their club. On Thursday nights they have barefoot bowls. But let's face it: one of their great boasts is that they do make a mean cup of tea, which I have enjoyed myself as part of a pleasant visit down there on a Saturday afternoon.

But it isn't just bowls clubs. We also have the Sandringham Croquet Club, which had its opening on 2 September as well. I'd like to give particular recognition to its president, Jennie Bowles; its secretary, Margaret Barnes; and its treasurer, Harley Johnstone; and also to Matthew Gallop, from the local Sandringham Bendigo Bank, which has been instrumenting in providing significant support and assistance to the Sandy Croquet Club. We were also joined by the Deputy Mayor of Bayside, James Long, and the local state member, Murray Thompson. They did raise with me some issues they had around a local tree, an overhanging tree, which I will be raising with the mayor and the CEO of the local council. But, on each occasion, these sports bring people together and make sure they promote healthy living at all stages of life, and we congratulate them.

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