Buildings volunteers maintain the structure of the two club houses and the outbuildings. A recent example of a large building task was the erection of the pre-fabricated garden shed. Smaller tasks might be occasional carpentry and electrical work. This is a year-round activity.

To volunteer to assist with buildings, e-mail David Anderson or phone (250) 595-7272.

The club encourages members to become lawn bowling coaches. Coaches are required to have a thorough knowledge of the game and to pass a one-day coaching course offered by Bowls South Island (BSI). Coaches are particularly involved in training newcomers to bowling, so May of each year is likely their busiest month.

Coaches can be very influential in the recruitment of new members. Here is the story of one such successful recruiting session, featuring an actual member-recruitment/training session at OBLBC.  More information. . .  OpenFeatured coach and players are Harnam Grewal (coach), Emrys Evans of Central Saanich LBC, Dick Battles whose niece was at one time an OBLBC championship player, Chris Slade, at the time a first-year member of our club and Andrew Harley who was persuaded to join OBLBC immediately after the session featured in the poem.

To volunteer to coach, e-mail Karen Evans or phone 250-589-1919.

We have a limited number of coaches and they need assistance when organizing training for new players. Coaches are particularly involved in training newcomers to bowling, so May of each year is likely to be the busiest month for coaches and coaching assistants, with sessions held Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings, afternoons and evenings.

Assistants are needed for all sessions, but you may sign up for as many or few as you can manage. This is an excellent way to transition into coaching.

To volunteer as a coaching assistant,  e-mail Karen Evans or phone 250-589-1919.

The catering arrangements for our four annual dinners are contracted out, but they have to be organized both before and after. There are also two tournament barbecues each year.

To volunteer to assist with dinner/social, contact any member of the Executive.

These days, there are more and more electronics activities at the club. By “electronics,” we mean the hardware part of our online environment. The local area network, computers, printers and the large screen projection TV need someone to look after them. This is a year-round activity, but the better the job you do, the less work there is!

To volunteer to assist with electronics, e-mail Garry Anderson or phone 250-220-5415.

Members of the Executive run the administrative affairs of the club. You can see their roles in our Contacts list and a description of their roles in the Constitution and By-Laws, pages 6-8.

Committee members meet about ten times a year and report at the Semi-Annual and Annual General Meetings. Workloads vary greatly, depending on roles.

Being a new member in no way disqualifies you from running for office in the election for the Executive that is held at the Annual General Meeting in October each year. If you enjoy committee work and helping an organization run smoothly, you are welcome to stand for election to the Executive.

To find out more about standing for election or to volunteer to assist in any of the duties of members of the Club Executive, e-mail Lorne Cowley or phone 250-896-7042.

Come and learn how to help with tournaments, set up rinks, and be a draw master—a great way to expand your knowledge of bowling, and to see what happens behind the scenes. This is a spring and summer activity.

To volunteer to assist with games, e-mail Karen Evans or phone 250-721-1408.

Maybe you will be lucky enough to organize a tournament as dramatic as the one portrayed in "David on the Mat."

Our beautiful flowering gardens do not grow weed-free each year without some human encouragement. Typical duties involve being a member of a working party once a week for a couple of hours. You may be given your very own flower bed to maintain, if the times of the work parties do not suit you.

This is a warm weather activity; there is not much to do in the winter.

To volunteer to assist with gardens, e-mail Diane McMorran phone 250-598-8561

Maybe Rudyard Kipling’s The Glory of the Garden, a paean of praise for gardeners, will persuade you to volunteer. Kipling thought that  “Amongst all the beautiful places in the world, and I think I have seen the most beautiful of them, Victoria ranks the highest.” (He didn’t actually mention the Oak Bay Lawn Bowling Club, but surely he would have done so, if he had lived long enough to see it. 🙂 )

The club has benefitted in the past from various grants from government bodies, typically for capital projects, but also for ongoing maintenance. These grants have to be identified and proposals must be prepared to justify the awarding of a grant to the club. If you have any experience in fund raising and/or proposal writing, Grant Coordination is a volunteering activity where you can really contribute to the success of the club.

Remember. . . Money makes the bowls (and the world) go around.

Coffee and goodies miraculously appear to feed hungry tournament players. When the bar is open, it has to be staffed (by people with Serving It Right qualifications.)  The Kitchen volunteers organize and provide these services.

This is a year-round activity, but there is more in the outdoor season than at other times.

Responsibilities for Kitchen activities rotates from month to month. To volunteer to assist with kitchen activities, look at the table 2024 List of Executive Responsibilities under the Executive Portrait Gallery on the Contacts page; scroll down to the Kitchen heading and see who is currently in charge and contact them.

When new members join the club there is a lot to learn. It can be helpful to have someone who is your designated “Mentor”.  To volunteer for this activity you should be familiar with both the outdoor and the short mat game, and have some knowledge of the winter social activities. It would also be helpful if you know how to find information about the club on the website.

Short Mat administrative duties are fully described on the Short Mat Administration page. There are both administrative and technical duties involved. If anyone has a knowledge of Excel, please volunteer; our league scheduling depends on that. This is a fall and winter activity.

To volunteer to assist with short mat activities, e-mail Andrew Harley phone 250-598-2281.

(This category of volunteers was formerly known as “Greens and Grounds”.)

Hedging, ditching, mowing and painting are the main duties of a Verges volunteer. We contract out the maintenance of the actual greens (although we do “polish” them ourselves.) Every other part of the verges, including the plinth and ditches that surround the green, have to be maintained by club volunteers. Typical involvement is a couple of hours a week in the summer.

To volunteer to assist with verges, e-mail Barrie Bolton or phone 250-383-5127.

If you read Using this Website you will have a good idea of what is required to keep our site running smoothly.

Our professionally-designed, upgraded website has been operational since March 2014. Our main objectives now are to keep our website up-to-date, coherent and relevant to the membership and to attract prospective members.

Website volunteers meet every month to discuss any improvements we need to make. Duties are parceled out so that different people maintain different parts of the website.

You do NOT have to be a “techie” to be useful to the website. Anyone who enjoys writing and graphics can create a webpage with the minimum amount of help. However, if you have any exposure at all to WordPress and/or HTML, you really should volunteer for this activity.

This is a year-round activity into which you can put as much, or as little, effort as you wish.

To volunteer to assist with the website, e-mail Ron Harmer or phone 250-370-1582