Alocal bowls club has joined forces with a South East primary school to give students lessons on the sport, providing fun for all ages.

Compton Primary School Reception and Year 1, 5 and 6 students have been receiving hour long lessons on lawn bowls from Mount Gambier Bowls Club members every Monday for the past four weeks.

Compton Primary School Year 5/6 teacher Katie Gaffney said students are doing lawn bowls as a focal point for physical education this term and wanted to get out in the community.

“We have just been learning the skills of lawn bowls thanks to the amazing volunteers that have been teaching the kids the basic rules and the basic skills and just getting a sense for the game really because a lot of them have never played before,” she said.

“We’re very lucky they are volunteering their time to help.

“Even mixing with each other like the younger kids and the older kids and then again with people in the community and just meeting new people, it’s been fantastic for them.

“We are always looking to do things in the community so we’d love to keep bringing the kids in to do activities and getting them to mingle with other people.

“It’s good because sometimes they really appreciate … having another person teach them as well and share their expertise.”

Mount Gambier Bowls Club president John Reppin said the initiative has been fantastic and he hopes it becomes a regular occurrence for not only Compton but any interested local schools.

“I know the volunteers that are here have really loved it, I think they get a bigger kick out of it than the kids do, showing them all their skills,” he said.

“Mavis is the oldest club member at 94 years old so it’s quite both ends of the scales, I think you can see bowls is for young people and Mavis still bowls and bowls really well.

“It’s just giving people an idea of what bowls is like trying to get away from the stereotype that it’s the old fashioned, old fuddy duddy whereas it is actually not really, we are quite a young club and have lots of young members which is really good.

“A lot of our members here they have got their own grandkids that may not be here and they just love being around the kids and having a good time and showing them what they can do and passing that 
on.

“We are more than happy to be a part of the community with this sort of stuff and we think we should be.

“If other schools want to do the same thing then talk to us and we can get that organised.”