10/06/2026
Over the past 6 months, the Save Bangalow Bowlo Steering Committee has strived for clear community-wide engagement and answers about the sudden closure of the Bangalow Bowlo.
Save Bangalow Bowlo Steering Committee was created swiftly following the sudden closure of the club. Its aim has always been to act as a central source of information for ALL community members.
Parallel to this, The Bangalow Advisory Committee (BAC), approved by Norths and operating as part of the MOU, are North’s nominated negotiators tasked with representing the members of the now dissolved Bangalow Bowling Club in negotiations.
The BAC are/were also members of the Save Bangalow Bowlo Steering Committee which at times presented a conflict, as they remain bound by both the terms of the MOU and non-disclosure agreements signed with Norths.
Despite the shameful reception received at the Norths AGM, the BAC continues to negotiate with Norths.
In the nearly 7 months since the club closed, the BAC, despite hours of negotiating, have not formalised a written agreement with Norths on the return of the club.
In that time, the Steering Committee has:
• Organised and chaired four large public meetings to present ideas to the community about options
• Created a GoFundMe campaign that raised $120k ($100k in just 5 days)
• Contacted all donors and refunded all money as promised, as the original goal of the club returning to the community was not achieved
• Created a page to share community updates to over 800 interested people
• Managed questions and comments from all community members via the page and email
• Developed and analysed a community-wide stakeholder survey to gather feedback from 240 concerned former club members and non-members - including a 28 page report on the findings
• Prepared 1000s of words for press releases and participated in radio, print and online media opportunities
• Researched and presented a Heritage Listing supporting submission to Council
• Engaged a legal team to advise and represent challenges to the MOU with Norths
In recent weeks, two differing goals have emerged
1) to get the club open at any cost – currently favoured by the BAC who are working with a local real estate agent to do a deal with Norths, and who been lobbying Bangalow sports clubs in support of this approach
OR
2) to challenge the legitimacy of the Norths takeover and MOU that brought the community to this point in the first place – the final step in a staged campaign by the Steering Committee - as leverage for its return to the community
Both of these avenues cost money, and each has its own ethical considerations.
We believe the community has the right to support the approach that best aligns with their values.
We encourage questions and will do our best to provide answers.
