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100-year-old lawn bowling club features state-of-the-art green

The Ladner Lawn Bowling Club reached the century mark this year and held a Centennial Celebration earlier this month to commemorate the milestone.

The Ladner Lawn Bowling Club reached the century mark this year and held a Centennial Celebration earlier this month to commemorate the milestone.

While the club has 100 years of history behind it, one important point in its history came only a few years ago with the change to a new all-season bowling green in 2012.

"It's artificial so we can play on it all year round," says club member Alan Otter, who put together a brief history on the group, which formed as the Ladner Lawn Bowling Association at a March 5, 1917 meeting and had club fees originally set at $3 for men and $1 for women.

He notes members spent a decade fundraising the nearly $500,000 for the regulation size green project.

Otter has been a member for close to 20 years and says the group is a very social one.

President Garry Parenteau concurs, noting the club puts on many events for members and guests, including salmon barbecues, fall corn roasts and trivia nights.

The club would like to see more young people get involved in the sport.

"We're so much trying to just change the image because it's so much misunderstood. In other parts of the world it's for all ages," he says.

"It has a cache in North America of being an old people's sport and it's really hard to break through that."

He notes organizations like Bowls B.C. and Bowls Canada are working hard trying to promote youth leagues.

"That's really a big focus and a big push for a lot of the clubs right now, to try and reach out to younger age groups and get more people involved," he says.

The club, which has a membership of about 80, hosted the Blind Bowls Association Canadian National Championships last year.

The club, located at 5128-47th Ave., has a website that can be found at http://llbc.ca.