Updated 2023-04-05, recording the introduction of croquet in 2021.
 
The Oak Bay Lawn Bowling Club was established in 1957, and is located in the northeast corner of Carnarvon Park, Oak Bay, Victoria, British Columbia. Our club is one of 11 outdoor bowling clubs in southern Vancouver Island, and is affiliated with Bowls BC and Bowls Canada.

Club History

The Oak Bay Lawn Bowling Club’s first Constitution and Bylaws were signed on May 21, 1957, but the first green was excavated in 1954 by a group of Oak Bay residents. Initially, the club comprised of one green and a small clubhouse. Later, the West Green was added and the original clubhouse was expanded. A second clubhouse, Carnarvon House was erected in 1986. In 1999 the original clubhouse was renovated and named Anderson House in honour of the late John Anderson, a bowler and club benefactor. Carnarvon House was expanded in 2007, financed by the provincial government Olympic/Paralympics Live Sites Program, Oak Bay Municipality, generous donations of our members and various fundraising projects. Anderson House was further updated and expanded in 2018.

In 2021 we introduced the game of croquet to give our members an alternative outside activity. 

Membership

Of our 200 or so members, about 80% are Full Members, meaning they are active lawn bowlers/croquet players outdoors in summer and short mat bowlers indoors in winter and can participate in any social activities of the club. There is never a day when there is not an organized bowling game for members, unless we get rained out.

Some of our members come from other local bowls clubs and take out half-price memberships in Oak Bay LBC which allow for either outdoor lawn bowling in summer or indoor short mat bowling in winter, but not both.

The balance of the membership are Social Members who are content to just participate in the social activities of the club but do not bowl or play croquet. They may join just for the twice-weekly bridge games, or darts, scrabble, canasta, etc. Whatever the reason, it is nice to belong to a club that is open 365 days a year and where there are organized activities almost every day.

Club Features

Special features of our club:

• Two greens, offering 16 rinks that enable us to host tournaments for up to 128 players. We can also offer bowling and croquet simultaneously;
• Two short mat rinks, permanently in place from October through March, allowing for play at any time;
• Organized friendly bowling games outdoors every day in summer, and indoors every day in winter;
• Organized croquet games five times a week in summer;
• No need to wear “whites” except in some tournaments;
• Two club houses that are open every day of the year;
• Large pavilion for social activities, with a licensed bar; and
• Social activities happening every day such as bridge, table tennis, darts, scrabble, canasta, and cribbage, some year-round and others in fall and winter only

For more details about the club see Location, Contacts, Premises, Membership, Volunteering, Administration