The Club

In about 1972 the Pointe-Claire Curling Club purchased a property, to the West of its club, at the corner of Lanthier and Lourdes. By 1977 the then mayor of Pointe-Claire, Dave Beck, was interested in introducing lawn bowling to his city and with that objective in mind; the City purchased that property from the curling club. The curling club was interested in selling the property, as it improved its financial position; it also agreed to rent part of its club building to such a lawn bowling club during the summer season, and thus obtain additional revenue.

 

In April 1978, Councillor Malcolm Knox, later to become mayor, called a meeting of interested people with the objective of establishing a new club whose prime interest would be lawn bowling. This resulted in Allan Berry, an administrator, Marcel Legault, businessman, and Shirley Silverson, house wife, applying to the Ministère des Consommateurs, Coopératives et Institutions Financières of the Government of Québec for letters patent or a charter.
 

Under the date of August 16, 1978, letters patent in the French language were then issued to them. These three individuals then became the first directors of the club. The name of the club at that time was: "Club de Boulingrin de Pointe-Claire" and the translation was "Pointe-Claire Bowling Green Club".

The stated objective of this new club was to promote and maintain the interests of sports in general and particularly the sport of Lawn Bowling.

 

Official Club Opening

The exact date of the club opening is elusive but the ceremony was performed by Mayor Beck, probably in late July or early August of 1978, and was reported under the name "Pointe-Claire Lawn Bowling Club", which name is in common usage until the present day.

 

The Clubhouse

The Club started its operations from the basement of the curling club and it was soon apparent that it required larger premises of its own with a kitchen, washrooms, etc. The City was most cooperative and a clubhouse was built and officially opened in June, 1981. The membership and activities continued to increase so that by the summer of 1983 the original building was enlarged to what exists today. Financing for that extension was arranged with the City and the facilities and equipment that we have today are in large part due to grants received from the Federal New Horizons Program.

 

Social Activities

Our club has always encouraged social activity. Its first annual dinner was held at the Point-Claire Curling Club, then it was held at the St. Lawrence Yacht Club for the next four years; the cost of the dinner in 1984 is recorded as $14 per person. It then returned to the Curling Club and, in 1993, it was back at the Yacht Club. Since that time, it has been held at the Le Bifthèque, the Pointe-Claire Holiday Inn, and back to the Curling Club.

 

Early reports record monthly luncheons and the introduction of social functions for St-Jean-Baptiste Day (La Fête Nationale), Canada Day, a party in mid-August, followed by one for Labour Day, and then the Annual Dinner in October. Between January and May there were one or two nights devoted to a Military Whist.

 

The year 1983 reports bus trips to Burlington and Stowe, Vermont. The following year there was a bus trip to the tulip festival in Ottawa.