News

VALE JOHN ROWLAND

The death  of past member John Rowland has made many of the Indoor Bowlers very sad. Indoor bowling was his forte even though he played outdoors too. He bowled for Templestowe as well as Doncaster.

”John joined Doncaster  in 2002 and was a great contributor, in particular, to the Indoor Bowls group during his time at the Club. Unfortunately ill health saw him resign around 2016.

He was an accomplished lawn bowler , being part of the winning rink in the 2006/07 Men’s Triples Championship and Runner up in the Mixed Pairs in the 2007/08, 2009/10 and the 2011/2012 seasons.

But it was on the Indoor carpet that John really made his mark, having served as President of the IBB Section 2007/2016 , and a selector during the same period.

He won the Club IBB Singles and Mixed Pairs championships and was runner up in these events on many occasions. John also played a significant role in the Club’s impressive IBB Pennant record at that time. He successfully competed in the events of the sport’s Governing Body, the Eastern Suburbs Group (ESIBBA) , including as runner up in the Champion of Champions Singles in 2009/10.”

He was awarded Life Membership of this Association in 1995.

He began bowling at age 35 and bowled several times a week for 40 years. His wife Pat went back to work to buy him his first set of bowls and in the consequence she became a bowls widow. They celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary last year.

He was community minded being on several committees which involved his Parish Church and the school. He was also a co-worker at Mother Teresa’s Missionary’s of Charity soup kitchen.

He was a quiet, steady, respectful, determined  and reliable man who lived a long and happy life.   July 5 th 1934 – December 27 th 2021.

VALE  JOHN.