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Founded in 1976, the Morley Bowling Club provides the Morley/Noranda community with top-class facilities to learn and enjoy the sport of bowls. With three greens (two of which are under lights), including a fabulous state of art synthetic green, the club hosts bowls events all year round, from summer pennants competitions, community social bowls and social winter pairs on Thursday and Saturday afternoons and winter scroungers on Tuesday mornings.
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The facilities at the newly renovated Morley/Noranda Recreation Club include a fully licensed bar and TAB facilities, plus an in-club restaurant/cafe providing Friday night meals. This gives all Rec Club sporting and social members the opportunity to participate in a fun and friendly club atmosphere.
The idea of forming a Morley Bowling Club was first raised some 10 years before its founding. Over a few beers, four bowlers, living in Morley but bowling at the Bassendean Bowling Club at the time, began discussing the possibility of forming a bowls club closer to home where Morley residents could enjoy a game of bowls and a social beer. Over the next several years, the Morley Park Hotel (now a Dan Murphy's bottle shop) hosted numerous informal discussions between an increasingly large group of bowlers interested in the Morley Bowling Club idea.
The years of informal discussion eventually led to a Shire of Bayswater public meeting on the 29th of July, 1976, where the Recreation Officer of the Shire of Bayswater, three Local Councillors, and 31 attendees unanimously resolved to form a sporting and recreation club in the Morley area under an initial Bowling Club annexe. At a subsequent meeting held during September, 1976, it was decided that the new club be called the Morley Districts Recreational Club (now the Morley/Noranda Recreation Club), and that the Club's bowling division be called the Morley Bowling Club. Around the same time, the Shire of Bayswater offered a number of sites for consideration as the home of the new Club, with the Club's present site being chosen.
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Prior to the 1977/1978 Royal Western Australian Bowling Association Pennant Competition, both the Morley Bowling Club and the Morley Ladies Bowling Club were registered as competing clubs. Both the Men's and Women's Sections of the Club have competed in Bowls WA Pennant Competition in every season since. While both Clubs began competition in the 1977/1978 season, the greens at Morley weren't ready until the 1979/1980 season; therefore, the Clubs played home games at Bassendean during the first two seasons.
Work on two greens (the present-day A and D Greens) at the Morley Bowling Club began in mid-January 1978, with all works being carried out by volunteers. The greens were officially opened with a social mixed gender game near the end of the 1978/1979 season. With the greens passing the test, they were used in Pennant Competition beginning in 1979/1980, and have been in use ever since. During the next few years, two more greens (the present-day B and C Greens) were established to bring the Club up to its current four green configuration.
Around the same time, another group of volunteers was arranging to build the original bar and clubrooms. The original clubroom building was known as the 'Little House on the Prairie' because it was a low, flat-roofed building built in the middle of an open recreation space. Construction of the House was finished in 1979, but by August 1981 the Club had contracted the construction of a new, larger facility. This facility, which remains in use as the main Club facility today, was formally opened by Shire President Cr. N.E. Davis on Sunday 30th January 1983, with joint funding for its construction provided by the Bayswater Shire Council and the Morley Progress Association (Inc.).
Since that time, numerous renovations to the Club and surrounds have occurred, expanding and improving the Club facilities to continue providing members with a top-class Recreation Club in the Morley/Noranda area. It is worth noting that, apart from the bar staff and greenkeepers, all staff at the Morley Bowling Club and the Morley/Noranda Recreation Club offer their time and effort on a volunteer basis. Administration of the Bowling Club and maintenance of the surrounds are carried out by Club volunteers. The Morley Bowling Club is also greatly appreciative of the past and continued support of the City of Bayswater and the local councillors of the Shire of Bayswater. With this ongoing support and the continued hard work of our volunteers, we hope to continue growing and developing the club for another 40 years.
