Daughters of Mavis and Alma, with Julie Clarke, President of Junee Ladies Bowls.
On Sunday the 29th of October, the Junee ExServices Memorial Club (JEMC) opened their new bowling greens in dedication to ladies bowling legends, Mavis Reinhardt and Alma Breust.
Both received a plaque for their tireless efforts in promoting not only the JEMC during their tenure but also their long standing voluntary work with Women’s Lawn Bowls in the district. They were unveiled on the day along with the greens themselves which have been getting extensive repair work. It was a family friendly open day with a kid’s jumping castle, indoor carpet bowls, a sausage sizzle, as well as social lawn bowls being held on the new green, plus live entertainment from solo artist, Jez Swan. Phylis McLaren, Secretary of the Junee Ladies Bowls, said JEMC had done a terrific job with the opening.
“It was badly in need of renovating so we had Paul Armour and Kenny Shields do work. They’ve done a wonderful job upgrading it and getting back to a better playing field. We’re having our annual tournament today so that was the main reason they were trying to get it open,” she said.
“We had an unveiling of those longtime members who passed away. We had big roll up, it was a lovely day and people got out and played barefoot bowls. The RSL Sub Branch did the sausage sizzle, it was quite a good day.” Mavis Reinhardt and Alma Breust were prominent figures within the ladies’ bowls scene in Junee and hold a special place within the heart of the community which is why the Club decided to immortalise them.
Phylis said, “Mavis was a founding member, who became a long time member, that passed away in April last year. Her daughter unveiled that plaque. The other was Alma who was also a long term member who had two of her daughters there who unveiled her plaque.”
“They had been members since it started and they passed away last year.” The day saw around 70- 80 people come and enjoy the event. Phylis wanted to thank Paul Armour and Ken Shields who did the work on the green and Deborah Grogan who also helped a lot.
“The Club did a fantastic job. Peter Hayes did a wonderful job organising that and putting on a morning tea for us. Mayor Bob Callow came along, people from other Clubs came along too for the day.”
Jack Murray
