Published on Monday, 4 April 2022 at 4:12:06 PM

The Shire had a chance to catch up with Bruce Pendlebury, President of the Bridgetown Golf Club, following the bushfire that irreparably damaged the main golf club building. He recounted the events of that fateful day, the outcomes of the fire, and how firefighters, the Shire and the Club worked together to preserve the greens.

Bruce and other club members teed off on 5 February just like they would most Saturdays. To avoid the heat of the day, the group started at 8 AM. No one could have expected that their normal game of Saturday golf would end in spotting a large plume of smoke billowing from the horizon. A mere 5 minutes after seeing the smoke, they got a call from fire and rescue that said to evacuate immediately.

 Sadly, the bushfire took the club building, the caretakers' cottage, and one of the sheds that held two mowers and their firefighting unit/water trailer. The fires also badly damaged the reticulation. To save what was left of the greens, Will Stock organised a roster where club members hand watered the greens, often late into the day. When Lyndon Pearce, the Shire's Community Emergency Services Manager learned that they were manually watering the golf course, he offered a solution.

 We cannot thank the Shire and firefighters enough. They lent us their 12.2m³ water truck to aid in the watering of our grounds. Before they shared their truck with us, club members were taking turns to hand water the greens - we were here until 5:30 in the evening. With the truck, we were wrapping up around noon. I also wanted to give a shout out to Shane Apps who organised all of the materials for the retic and configured the retic system. - Bruce Pendlebury

 Bruce is grateful for all of the support from both the Club and the community. We hope to post news of their future recovery efforts. Thank you to Bruce for sharing!

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