Willow Tree Bowling Club fire: Community shattered by loss of local bowling club and priceless memorabilia

As the village comes to terms with the loss of one of its main social outlets, the club’s board members have told of their devastation.

Priceless memorabilia perished as fire took hold of the venue, with firefighters unable to save it.

Still in shock from the news, board president Peter Wilkinson said volunteers had worked hard to boost the identity of the club, with patronage better than it had been in previous years.

“The structure itself has been basically completely destroyed, the whole club has pretty much been leveled out,” Mr Wilkinson said.

“It has been in existence for over 60 years, so all that history is gone – a lot of memorabilia too, which is very sad for the town.”

Mr Wilkinson said while the club had a handful of paid employees, it was run by volunteers and had recently begun to gain momentum on Friday nights for social outings and raffles.

“From what I’ve been told, a lot of people from the town and surrounding areas went there (on Tuesday night) because it was something they’ve had contact with over the years – I think there was a lot of tears shed.

“It really was a bowling club, a community club. We had bowls there, we had tennis courts there and a lot of gatherings. 

“We had been working really hard the last few years to encourage people to come to the club and we were making some good progress – at this point it’s come to a screaming halt.”

Mr Wilkinson said the club would now take time to establish when, or if, it could rebuild, but for now the community was still in shock.

However, he said he was confident the community would band together.

“Because we are such a small community, there’ll be a lot of offers to try and help make the reconstruction as easy as possible for us.

“That’s what Willow Tree is all about, it’s very much a community that helps each other in tough times.”