This report from the issue of May 28 is typical: "Our new clubhouse is now really taking shape and within the next few months we hope to have a building that the bowling community, and the people of Walcha will be proud of."

An "Opening Social and High Tea" held on October 9 attracted one of the largest crowds ever to attend a club function at Walcha and provided the first opportunity for many members, guests and visitors to inspect the new premises.

The new clubhouse was officially opened on Sunday, November 24, 1970 with its predecessor remaining in place for the next six months before being sold for £700 to the newly formed Walcha Pre-School and Kindergarten.

Tricia McCormack wrote in her story of the founding of the pre-school: "The old clubhouse was transported through the main streets of Walcha to its new home on the Uralla Road with some drama. Workers from the New England County Council had to precede the truck to raise the power lines along the route.

The building went through its third "official" opening on April 14, 1972, when John Waddy MP, Minister for Children and Social Welfare, performed that ceremony at the Pre-School site.

Despite having been converted into a schoolhouse the building was for many years easily recognised as the one-time Walcha Bowling and Recreation Club premises, but upgrades to the pre-school in the recent past have seen it completely demolished after 80 years of a useful and varied life.

Prior to the construction of the Apsley River levee banks in the 1970s vehicle access to the bowling club was by way of a gravel road that made its way around the south-eastern boundary of the Captain Cook Park sports oval.

The flood mitigation work required that the whole of the oval be moved some 30 feet to the south east, which in turn obliterated the bowling club access road. Croudace Street was then extended towards the river to provide the new means of vehicle access.

Bob Walsh 1st April 2019