Berry Bowling Club Saved by Community Spirit

The bowlo was inundated by floodwater at 7am last Saturday, with a 1.2-metre-high wall of water crashing through retaining walls. The shocking scene was captured on the Club’s CCTV — Secretary Manager Garry Wilbraham said the damage was unbelievable. 

"The phone calls said ‘we've had a flood, it's not good’ but when I got there it looked like a tsunami had hit the place,” Garry said. 

“The damage was just horrendous; I’ve never seen anything like it. There were brick walls knocked over and all our bowls shade cloths were pulled down and dragged onto the greens with the concrete connected to them still.” 

The inside of the Club was mostly saved by the locked doors; however, the six-month-old carpet took a hit with an inch of water creeping in and leaving 10 millimetres of mud across the venue. But thanks to the dedicated members, it wasn't long before the clean-up kicked off. 

“The first guy came in to put a bet on the horses on Saturday morning and saw what had happened. He went home, got changed and came back down with a wheelbarrow and shovel, and off he went,” Garry said. Soon, others in town heard the news and within hours the carpet had been shovelled, “squeegeed” and — thanks to some wet vacs — was in much better condition. 

Simultaneously, another volunteer used a petrol pump to pump the water off the greens, revealing 50 millimetres of mud and debris.

Once the severity of the damage was revealed, locals took to social media to put a call out for extra helping hands on Sunday. The message attracted not only more Club members, but tourists camping at the showground and others from surrounding towns. You can see them all in action here. 

“At 9am on Sunday, there would have been 15 people starting to scrape the mud off with shovels and wheelbarrows. At 10am, there would have been 30 and by about 11am there would have been 60,” Garry said. 

“I asked some people ‘do you come to our restaurant’ and they said ‘no, we've never been here before we just saw on Facebook and thought we come down and offer some help!’ 

“It was really amazing.” 

One of the kind volunteers self-funded a barbeque for the others, another supplied a bunch of meat pies, and another member even came in with his excavator to the Club on Monday to clear some of the broken concrete and brick walls left behind, free of charge. 

Garry said that although they are not flood insured, thanks to the fast-acting volunteers, the damage is minor with the carpet being the only real concern. As for the greens, they have been cleared and hosed off, and depending on the weather and growing cycle, they will be out of action for at least six weeks. 

“We are just so thankful for the volunteers. It was just amazing to see the spirit,” Garry said.