The Bangalow community are coming out in all their colour, uniforms, and fury this Saturday, 19 September from 2pm to raise their voice in protest at their treatment by Norths Collective who, they say, have not met the commitments they made to the Bangalow Bowlo, and the community, when they took over the club.
Formal approval of the Amalgamation Agreement and Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Norths and the members of the Bangalow Bowling Club took place on 15 June 2023 and set out a range of commitments from Norths to the members of the Bangalow Bowlo. This included multi-million dollar renovations and upgrades to the clubhouse and surrounds, both internally and externally, including the bowling greens. As well, very significant contractual promises were made to support all of the Bangalow sporting clubs with sponsorship packages, the Save Bangalow Bowlo Steering Committee (SBBSC) told The Echo.
Norths have not met their commitments
‘Despite all their contracted promises, they did nothing really to enhance the clubhouse at all,’ a spokesperson for SBBSC told The Echo.
Despite ongoing attempts by club members to follow up on the agreements Norths had made, they were constantly put off, until Norths quietly padlocked the front gates with no notice to staff or members in the early hours of 25 October 2025.
Norths said the business had lost over $900k in the first three years of trading, the buildings didn’t meet the Australian Building Code standards, and that the trading outlook was poor.
Ongoing attempts to negotiate a reasonable return of the multi-million dollar site to the community have failed.
‘Norths have pretended to want to “return The Bowlo to the Bangalow community”,’ said the SBBSC spokesperson, ‘but it has been one false dawn after another, one fairytale after another, one failed proposal after another, never anything in writing.’
Norths recently conducted an Expression of Interest (EOI) process via Clubs NSW with a two-week deadline which local community members say was designed to fail.
Sale of site
‘We believe that Norths are gearing up for a sale of the property. They are required by the Registered Clubs Act and their own Club Constitution to provide notice to members of an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM), wherein the lone agenda item will be to reclassify the Bangalow Bowlo from “core property” to “non-core property” and once the property is reclassified “non-core”, Norths are then allowed to sell it off without any further reference to members,’ they explained.
In the meantime Bangalow and Byron Bay members of Norths have found that their membership can’t be renewed as previously reported in The Echo.
Bangalow members excluded
They appear to be changing member numbers without notice, thereby denying members access to the member portal, refusing to renew memberships, and some members believe they will likely to transfer the Bangalow Bowlo members into a non-voting block for the upcoming EGM.
‘If that is the case, and they are generally oppressing Bangalow Bowlo members’ rights and privileges, it is in contravention of their own club constitution, and the registered clubs act itself,’ said SBBSC.
Join the Bangalow community this Saturday for a full update on how the community plans to fight for its club, help raise money for the fund to bring the Bowlo back into community hands and enjoy an afternoon of live music and DJs, kids’ fun and games, ice cream, BBQ, bar, raffle and more at the Bangalow Lions Kiosk at the Bangalow Showgrounds.
♦ Norths Collective have not responded to requests for comment
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