Ryan Wells Memorial set for Manilla Bowling Club

As the Manilla Bowling Club's operations manager, Duffey is charged with organising the Ryan Wells Memorial Bowls Carnival - an annual triples event that will be staged at the club on Saturday and Sunday, August 26-27.

Wells, who was a member of the club, tragically died in a car accident in 2016. He was 22 years old.

Duffey said the carnival honouring his memory was unlike any other event she oversaw. It was "just a different day", she said.

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"Even when you ring up and talk to people and say, 'It's the Ryan Wells carnival'. [They say] 'oh yes, we'll be there'.

"And they have all these, I guess, sad-happy memories to pull out of the bag. That's my thing from an outsider coming in. You can just feel it. I don't even know how to describe it.

"The rest of the club, I think they would say it's the most important event on our calendar."

The first Ryan Wells Memorial was staged almost five months after his death. Only COVID-19 restrictions prevented it from being staged every year since then.

Wells's father, Graham, and brother, Dylan, are members of the Manilla Bowling Club. Poignantly, they won the inaugural Ryan Wells Memorial along with Cameron Yates.

Duffey said that based on her conversions with Graham and Dylan, Wells was "just a lovely guy".

"Like a gentle giant-type figure," she said. "A talented bowler ... one of the good ones."

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