Hawkesbury Independent IND 162 November 2023 | Page 40

Richmond Golf Club – Say no to domestic violence

with Matt “ Duck Man ” Austin
Out in the Hawkesbury the locals like to stick with tradition , and at Richmond Golf Club they have a tradition of running a charity golf day to support the various amazing charities around the community that give back to people in need .
Ian Jordan from the club has been a member for 47 years . He was the MC at the very first charity golf day which was a concept raised by the Arch Diocese of Parramatta 37 years ago .
The first golf event was held after Diocese decided they wanted something a little more informal to engage with the community , schools and former students of the 88 schools under their
The club ’ s charity golf day . management .
Ian is on the Golf Club Management committee and is also the chair of the charity golf day .
The inaugural charity golf event raised over $ 3000 . Over the 37 years they have managed to raise $ 550,000 for a whole range of charities that help and benefit the community .
In recent years they have raised money for the Victims of Homicide support group to go to Grace ’ s Place which is named after Grace Lynch who was Anita Cobby ’ s mother . That helped Grace ’ s Place support children traumatised by certain events .
This year the charity focused on San Miguel who support victims of domestic violence and provides emergency housing to the mothers and children with no judgement or bias . They help get the mothers and children into safe , three-bedroom bungalows to start over again . They also support them to become self-sufficient , be able to return to the workforce and live a normal , independent life .
There are a large number of local companies who get involved with the charity golf day , including Richmond Fruit Market , who always help with fruit and veg trays which everyone loves . The Lindt Chocolate factory at Marsden Park , Parravans Caravans at Windsor and A Vans at St Marys all support the day .
Richmond Golf Club 37th Charity Golf Day winners .
Other local businesses who support the charity golf day include Odessa Home Improvements , Hawkesbury Accident Repair Centre and Drummond Golf at Penrith . The event wouldn ’ t happen without the continued ongoing support of Club Richmond , a supporter of many years .
The charity golf day is a big day on the sporting calendar . They have 37 teams and about 148 players and at the luncheon presentation the numbers swell to about 170 .
There are a range of prizes in play too , plus plenty of scope even for the average golfers . This year there was a $ 20,000 cash prize for a hole in one . There was a
lady this year who came 37cm away from hitting an ace .
This year Parravan Caravans made one of five hampers for the five hole in 1 prize ; sponsors insure the prizes - AON insurance insure the foreseeable risk of someone getting a hole in one .
Ian is trying to implement some succession planning to get people to keep running the event in the future as he steps back as he gets older .
Next year ’ s event date has already been booked with Tuesday 1st October 2024 pencilled in for the charity golf day .
You might just see me down there next year having a go myself !

Windsor Ten Pin Bowling – knocking ‘ em down

with Matt “ Duck Man ” Austin
Everyone remembers the good old days of starting high school and loading 150 kids and two teachers into a 46-seater bus to take you off to do social sports in Year 7 and 8 .
If you weren ’ t inclined to play grade sport for the school , you were going to try these social sports in Year 9 , 10 and 11 as well . You would pull up in the bus on a 35-degree day and see the bowling alley right there in front of you and you knew you were going to have a good day .
Funnily enough , the day I headed out to Windsor Tenpin Bowling for a chat , there was a Thursday afternoon school kids comp on at the same time . It had been a long while since I walked through
the doors of the bowling alley for the first time as a 17-year-old sheepish kid .
I met up with Paul , a manager at the centre for several years from the late nineties right through until recently . The centre has expanded considerably and now has eighteen lanes compared to the 12 that they used to service before its upgrade 20 years ago .
Paul has been around tenpin bowling since the sixties and has seen the evolution of the sport in western Sydney during this time .
The bowling alley was built in Windsor back in November 1985 and it ’ s part of the furniture these days . Most people have had a good night out there bowling with their friends and family . Today they don ’ t have the jukebox , but they do have a skill tester to take your money , an air hockey table , still have the pinball machine to play while you ’ re waiting for your chance to have a roll .
Martina is the current manager of the centre and has also been around tenpin bowling for a long time . She has been in the role for seven months and came down from the Central . Her previous experience was running centres in Gosford , Bateau Bay and
Campbelltown . Martina said that she meets different challenges here to the other locations , and mentioned the country feel . She told me that her highest score in a competition match was 289 , although she did roll a 300 in a warm up match which unfortunately doesn ’ t count in your records !
Paul ’ s highest score was 276 and regularly averages over 200 . He told me that there are a lot more synthetic lanes as opposed to timber lanes , and this along with the oil spray pattern which goes about three quarters of the way down the lane . When the ball hits the non-oiled part of the lane , that ’ s what really spins the ball .
Martina is hoping to engage the community more , particularly through liaising with local schools . They do get schools coming through playing social sport , but they would love to engage schools in some regular competitions to introduce people to the sport .
Windsor is the only centre in the local area ; the other centres are Penrith , Blacktown and Castle Hill which are all 25-30km away .
Paul and Martina believe that a TV campaign with adds and getting games back on TV like they were in the 1990s and the early 2000s would increase the interest at a community level .
It helps with the world number one Jason Belmonte , being an Aussie bowler
from Orange . With high profile Australian players competing in the professional leagues in the US , this will only help raise the exposure of the sport .
There are competitions running at Windsor every Tuesday , Wednesday and Thursday night and the centre is fully licenced . Martina is trying to build up a Friday night competition as well . You can have a good feed at the café and there is a big variety of food and drinks
Three games will only cost you about $ 30 - tremendous value for a night out .
40 ISSUE 162 // NOVEMBER 2023 theindependentmagazine . com . au THE HAWKESBURY INDEPENDENT