PENFIELD RECREATION PRECINCT

Mrs VLAHOS (Taylor) (15:16): I rise today to speak about the Penfield recreation precinct within my electorate. I particularly wish to mention two clubs in my area, the Penfield Bowling Club and the Penfield Model Engineers Society. On Sunday 27 March, my family and I joined both these clubs on celebration and outdoor recreation days that they held.

First, we visited the Penfield Bowling Club to partake in the 50^th year celebration luncheon. Joining us at the lunch was the Mayor of Salisbury, the effervescent Gillian Aldridge; the manager of the local community CPS credit union, Mr Dale Arnfield, who kindly sponsors the club; Mrs Ivy Kluske, the President of Bowls SA; and Mr John Hill, the Region 9 Bowls SA representative. A special guest at the club was the longest-serving member, Esme Delvin, who joined the club in 1964 when the joining fee was the equivalent of around $2.

The club was formed in 1960 but was not registered with Bowls SA, or its preceding incorporated association, until 1961. It was built by the then Weapons Research Institute, which was originally a men's-only club, and membership was restricted to workers at the institute. The clubhouse was rebuilt around 1974-75 and in 1978-79 the club was renamed to the Defence Research Bowling Club before being handed over to the local community in 1988, when it became the Penfield Bowling Club, the name it retains today. More recently, the club has benefited from several sports and recreation grants that have renewed and improved the lawns, lighting, cooling within the building and carpet bowls during poor weather.

I praise and thank the following Penfield bowls officials and club members for their hard work, friendly advice and happy chiacking on the greens as they have initiated me into the bowls fraternity and quietly served their club. They are club president, the effective but happy Tony Brown, Vice President Jane Peters, the gentle John Elvin, Brenda, Brian, Peter, Murray, Joe, Darryl and Ellen, and the many other merry members at that club who make my family and me welcome there every time we visit.

The second club on the site that I visited on that day, much to my children's delight, was the Penfield Model Engineers Society. This group of happy hobbyists, which include Ray Hall (their president), Peter Henley, Lyn Venning, Terry Kenyon, Barry Grieger and Mike Carmody, are involved in the making and the running of miniature trains. Also, many of the club members are involved in radio-controlled quarter scale race cars and radio-controlled speed boats, and children can ride these various devices and participate in the sailing of the boats and the operation of the miniature cars during their open days, which occur once a month.

The society was formed in 1969 by a group of live steam model makers and enthusiasts, and the first 1.5 kilometres of 7¼ inch and 5 inch rail track at ground level and 250 metres of siding and various other equipment was used in the early Defence Institute's Christmas parties. There is also a 3,000 cubic metre boat pond at the institute which people used in the early days and which is still there today, and, apart from the ducks in the local area, the children enjoy using the boats there, both sail and mechanical. There is also an elevated railway and some quarter-scale dune buggies which are often built upon and which are used by the local community.

I wish to place on the record my thanks to club members for opening their rooms to the general public each month for children to attend and hold parties, to ride the model trains and to recreate in the lovely gardens the club maintains. I wish them well for their future conferences, which they are looking forward to hosting at the site for Australia.