Members to meet for approval of Club Narrabri, Narrabri Bowling Club amalgamation

Narrabri Bowling Club and Club Narrabri members will meet later this month to approve an amalgamation of the two bodies.

Bowling club members will be the first to meet to decide the outcome of the move. If approved, Club Narrabri members will then have their say.

The move to merge the two clubs was announced at the Club Narrabri annual general meeting in December last year.

Since then, the boards of both organisations have agreed on a memorandum of understanding which will be presented to the members of each club for ratification.

In the interim, Club Narrabri has been operating the bowling club under contract.

While the bowling club has been operating for three days a week under the agreement, Club Narrabri CEO Paul Gordon said it was hoped the bowling club would operate on a more permanent basis should the amalgamation be approved.

Club Narrabri has a proven track record in the running of a sporting club after it acquired the Narrabri Golf Club in 2017.

“We made a commitment to the golf club that we would do our best to improve the club and we have,” Mr Gordon told The Courier.

“The bowling club would be a similar process.”

Mr Gordon said Club Narrabri wanted to improve the facilities and the bowling club overall.

“Our intention is to run it as a club and improve it,” he said.

Should the members at the two meetings approve the amalgamation, the move will then go to the Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority for ratification as well as to ASIC.

If the authority approves the joining of the clubs, the bowling club will be liquidated and its license transferred to Club Narrabri.

This would effectively mean Club Narrabri would operate three venues in town.

Mr Gordon reassured the community that Club Narrabri maintained its focus on supporting Narrabri.

“We are not a private corporation. We are about building community assets and maintaining high standards,” he said.

“For us, this is an opportunity to operate and maintain a community asset.”

Narrabri Bowling Club president Colin Armstrong has encouraged members to attend the meeting and ensure the process to join the two clubs gets underway.

Following the announcement late last year about a possible Club Narrabri and Narrabri Bowling Club amalgamation, both organisations indicated there was strong support for the move.

Mr Armstrong said the mood among the bowling club members remains unchanged and there is broad support for the amalgamation process.

Mr Gordon was also optimistic this month’s meetings would prove successful.