Update: The article and photographs about the Bowling Night which we produced (Thanks to Jenni, Thom and Stuart) have now been published, in TAN Issue #48, which the club now has available for sale.

Update: A total of 53 adults (and no children) attended the Bowling Night, comprising 35 Males and 18 Females, for a 66% M/F Ratio, which was in line with expectations. 35 people who registered failed to attend, including 5 who had prepaid. If they had attended, the night would have been a huge success, but even so we did cover costs, with a modest profit which will be used to help fund future events. The high percentage of no-shows does make it unlikely that future events will be any cheaper however, as the risk of a shortfall is too great.

Healthways had a large industrial gas burner going all day to heat up the bowling alley upstairs, and also turned up the temperature in the pool. The foyer was somewhat chilly, as it opens directly onto the street, however both of the areas we we using were quite comfortable, and everyone had a good night. We even got to try out the new glow-in-the-dark lanes under blacklight. One person in particular made quite the fashion statement with some socks which were extremely "illuminating" once the lights went out.

There were a couple of minor spanners in the works, among them a last minute call from our official photographer, who sounded like he was on his deathbed. Although we did get a replacement, there was no time to properly cover all the details, and a few errors were made. Still, as they say in Hollywood, "We'll fix it in Post [-production]".

We are somewhat curious about the guy who went home barefoot. Or maybe he's still wearing bowling shoes? Either way, if you are the one who left your shoes behind, do drop us a line, and/or turn up to our next swim night, and we'll get you re-shod.

Update: The owner of the shoes has been identified as a rather high-profile individual (we won't reveal his identity in case we ever need to blackmail a favour from him in the future). Apparently the bowling shoes were so comfy that it was only when they wouldn't slip off easily that he noticed!

The night was successful enough that it will probably happen again, although probably at a warmer time of year. We've learned a great deal from this event, and future efforts should be a lot smoother sailing for everyone concerned.

We did ask everyone for feedback on the pool. It is a smallish salt-water pool, at 18 metres and 1.2 metres deep, and we were a little concerned when we first saw it. However, it proved more than adequate for both laps and lounging about chatting (especially around the water inlets). The temperature was over 32 degrees, and everyone who used it gave it a thumbs-up. There was enough room on the pool deck for two masseurs to operate comfortably, and the windows weren't a big problem to cover up (the only toilets are in the changerooms, and we had to share the building with textiles in the gym until 9pm, so we didn't want to cause offense).

Thanks to the favourable response, we are going to try this venue for an Open Day in August. As you are probably already aware, there is a 3 month gap between our July and October Open Days, and we have been looking at alternatives. Sadly, neither Fridays nor Sundays are available to us at Maribyrnong, and we can't rob our members of a regular Saturday night. Therefore we have been searching for an alternate venue, and it looks like we may have found it.

As always, we will post a notice here as soon as we have a confirmed date. As with all our Open Days, everyone will be welcome, and the cost will be $10 per adult (children free). We will also have at least one masseur, and probably two, as we do not have the same insurance requirements that we do at Maribyrnong.