The Cobourg Lawn Bowling Club has endured its share of hard times brought about by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Membership in the club, said executive member Bill Arthur, took a big hit in the past two years of the pandemic, dropping from a high of more than 100 members in 2019 in pre-pandemic days to around 60 members last year. Moreover, membership fees were lost with only a half-season played in 2020 and all tournaments — a major source of revenue for the club — were cancelled over the past two seasons.
But, Arthur and other members of the venerable Cobourg club that’s been a social and competitive hub since the turn of the last century are hoping to emerge stronger than ever in the months ahead prior to the start of summer season.
The club had applied — and recently received — a Seniors Community Grant from the provincial government of $4,750. The cheque was delivered last week in a special announcement ceremony at the club attended by Raymond Cho, the Minister of Seniors and Accessibility, and by David Piccini, the MPP for Northumberland-Peterborough South.
Arthur said the grant money will allow the club to purchase audio and video equipment to be used for a promotional campaign prior to the start of the lawn bowling season. The club executive is hoping its community engagement strategy will be enough to pull the club’s membership woes out of the doldrums.
The Cobourg Lawn Bowling Club weren’t the only Northumberland seniors’ organization to receive some much-needed Ontario government largesse. Cobourg’s Community Training Centre for Innovation and Improvement received $24,595 for its ‘Eat Better, Live Better’ program for seniors, and the Municipality of Port Hope was the recipient of a $13,320 grant for its seniors.
Port Hope Mayor Bob Sanderson said he was grateful to the province for its financial assistance toward enhancing the municipality’s virtual hub and programming for seniors.
“This funding will benefit older adults, particularly those who are isolated during the pandemic,” said Mayor Sanderson in a press release. “Port Hope is an active, vibrant, healthy, and caring community and this support allows us to provide more opportunities for our seniors to remain healthy, active and socially engaged.”
Arthur said the Cobourg Lawn Bowling Club, which has been at its same Victoria Park location since 1907, has been a longtime part of the sporting fabric of Cobourg. The beautiful setting of the club within the park will be a major selling point in the promotional material it will produce.
“It’s one of the points we’re making in the promotional video we’re doing. We probably have one of the best locations in Ontario for lawn bowling. It’s right in the middle of the park, you look out from the club onto the lake and the beach so, yeah, it’s such a lovely location to be in the summer,” said Arthur.
Although the Cobourg Lawn Bowling Club is primarily made up of seniors, the club does offer a youth section where players are schooled in the ways of lawn bowling starting at age 8. The oldest player within the club is 92.
“It’s something families can do together. It’s one of the few sports where someone of my age in their 70s can play with somebody in their teens and we can complete and play on an even level,” said Arthur who joined the club 2011.
Arthur hopes the receding of the current Omicron wave of the pandemic will allow the club to boost its membership into the 70- to 80-player range and allow for an entire season of lawn bowling beginning in mid-May and ending in September.
“We’re planning for a full season, hopefully with the government announcements that have been made this week things will improve and people will come out and bowl. Especially since we’re an open-air sport. We’re planning for a normal season and hopefully that will happen.”
