Thank you to Pharmacy 101 for sponsoring our club novice tournament today, and what a tournament it was. It was great to see so many first year bowlers enjoying their first taste of tournament play. Lots of fun and laughter and some excellent bowling as well. A huge congratulations to all the bowlers. Lots of great potential amongst them.
The teams played 3x8 end games. The winning team was Dale McMillan, Al Bell and Roy Martin with 3 wins and 29+2 points. Second was the team of Tom Bevan, Dave Thickson and Nancy Kirby with 2 wins and 24 points. Third was Anne Leahey, Curtis Stender and Vernon Moore with 2 wins and 18 points. The one game high prize was won by John Ledgerwood, Christine Thickson and Charles Funnell.
Just before the start of the novice tournament we held a short ceremony to recognise what the club has achieved through the OTF Resilent Communities Grant. We welcomed special guests MPP David Piccini and Town of Cobourg Mayor, John Henderson. Below is a short slide show of the event and the text of the media release is after that.
$16,800 OTF Grant Makes an Impact at Cobourg Lawn Bowling Club
Cobourg, ON: On Friday, local MPP David Piccini met with the team at the Cobourg Lawn Bowling Club to hear how a $16,800 Resilient Communities Fund grant it received in the spring from the Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF) has made a difference. The three-month grant, designed to help non-profits rebuild and recover from the impacts of the pandemic, was used to mount a multi-faceted publicity and recruitment campaign to attract more people to the sport of lawn bowling.
“Since 1907, the Cobourg Lawn Bowling Club has brought our community together; ensuring seniors in Cobourg remain social, active, and engaged,” said David Piccini, MPP for Northumberland-Peterborough South. “When we announced this funding in the middle of the winter, it was clear how much the Cobourg Lawn Bowling Club meant to its members. It’s fantastic to see that this OTF funding was used so well, keeping our community vibrant and healthy, and growing the Club’s membership.”
Club membership had declined from 114 members in 2019 to just 58 by May, 2022. Thanks to the OTF grant, the Club was able mount an effective advertising drive for new members on radio, in print publications and by sending flyers to households throughout Cobourg, Port Hope and Grafton. Respondents were offered three free lessons with one of the Club’s coaches as well. As a result, the Club now has 140 members!
"The impact of this Ontario Trillium Foundation grant cannot be overstated,” said Carol Dewey, President of the Cobourg Lawn Bowling Club. “The grant has allowed us to achieve recruitment levels even greater than our most optimistic goals outlined in our original grant proposal. An advertising campaign, such as the one the club mounted was beyond the club’s normal financial means. It is only through the grant that the club has been able to recover from the pandemic and bring the benefits of lawn bowling to more members of the community.”
For more information about the Cobourg Lawn Bowling Club and how you can get involved, please visit: www.cobourglawnbowling.ca
The Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF) mission is to build healthy and vibrant communities across Ontario. As an agency of the Government of Ontario, and one of Canada’s leading granting foundations, last year, OTF invested nearly $209M into 2,042 community projects and partnerships, which included funding for the Government of Ontario’s Community Building Fund. Since 2020, OTF has supported Ontario’s economic recovery by helping non-profit organizations rebuild and recover from the impacts of COVID-19. Visit otf.ca to learn more.
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Contact for Media Inquiries:
Bill Arthur, Director
Cobourg Lawn Bowling Club
289-829-0182 [email protected]
www.cobourglawnbowlingclub.ca