User:Noddy Wright/sandbox

POVERTY POINT WHALE WATCHING AND PETANQUE SOCIETY

“Poverty Point” was a derogatory term used for the suburb of Clovelly in the early 1900’s according to Linda McIntosh(a local historian) in her Randwick City Council podcast in July 2022. A somewhat out-of-date description considering you don’t get much change from $4m for a 3 bedroom house there these days.

The Whale Watching & Petanque Society based its name on a 2008 book(made into a movie in 2018), “The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society” in which some curfew breakers during the German occupation of Guernsey concocted their Society to avoid arrest after being caught one evening, A similar situation to the tyrannical repression of all activities at Clovelly Bowling Club during the grim and murky times of the COVID restrictions in the early 2020’s.

Initiated as a conduit for a group of keen bowlers from several local Clubs to get together and compete on a casual basis it has grown and developed as somewhat of a “Travelling Bowlers Club” for 8 clubs once being excluded from activities down at Clovelly. We are a registered "Bowling Combination" with Bowls NSW and with the help of generous sponsorship now have fully BA approved playing polos.

We actively source tournaments from local clubs, rural & regional and even interstate and publicise them. Where there may not be enough players from one club to field a suitable team, we mix and match those from other clubs to fit the bill.

We also participate in many Charitable events with our founding charity being The Kids Cancer Project(TKCP) who receive a minimum 10% of any competition winnings.

Since being founded we have sent over $9,000 the way of TKCP, The Fred Hollows Foundation, Mission Australia, The Wayside Chapel as well as several flood affected bowling clubs.

From the humble beginnings of some 10 friends enjoying rolling up together the Society has just accepted it’s 50th member some 2 years sine inception.

We have an international representative in Pontus Palmkvist representing Sweden twice on 2023, past English National Senior Pairs Champion(2012) in Judith Staunton as well as several Zone and Club Champions in our ranks.

Our aim is to maintain goodwill and friendly competition between all clubs and maintain enjoying the game of lawn bowls and good company beside, not above, the desire to win.