Bridgetown Club's 75th Year

Quite a milestone for a quiet achiever. Even in its 75th year the club’s membership continues to grow, it now caters for 160 members opens 7 nights a week from 5pm till the numbers at the club drop off, so they can send those few remaining patrons home.

The Bridgetown Club’s building is listed as a Heritage Building of Bridgetown.

The building was originally a family home, ‘Fort Belvedere’ and was the retirement home for Edward Godfrey Hester and his wife Mary (nee Sweeting). The house was built in 1935 by the Bazzo Brothers for a time when Edward and Mary left their farm ‘Lillydale’ to move into town. They lived there happily until their deaths in 1945.

Soon after, their three surviving sons Evelyn, Reg and Goff decided it would be a good place to have a Men’s Club and so the Bridgetown Club was born.

There have been many and various alterations since then, but, except for the removal of the garage on the right-hand side of the house, the front looks much the same as the original.

Charlie Williams has been a club member since 1973, he has served as the club’s president, and has held different positions as a committee member. Charlie was nominated to talk about the club because of his long association with it.

“Our membership has never been as strong as it is now, we are benefiting from the new people coming to town, who seem mostly to be of the semi-retired cohort.

“They enjoy our ‘English Pub’ style atmosphere. We have Kilkenny Draught and Guinness on tap with Hann Light and Swan Draught.

“The club is welcoming and friendly, the membership at the moment is 50/50 males and females, which makes for a pleasant ambiance.

“One of the reasons the club is successful is the effort which gets put into our social nights. The club holds Theme Night meals every second month, all the usual special days, St Pat’s Day, Christmas in July, Melbourne Cup and Christmas of course.

“Other members are thinking of new ideas to keep the club an interesting place to be. Mahjong is played on the second Tuesday of each month, Bolivia card game is played every Wednesday with tables of six. We are hoping to get a pool competition happening again between the various venues going in town.

“The snooker table has its regular players. Eddie Charlton, a wonderful Australian and the world champion snooker and billiard player, help set up our table and played a demonstration game in the 1970s.

“In my time with the club I have certainly seen changes. One change which had a huge impact was the drink driving laws. These laws have certainly moderated the drinking habits of the members and for a while reduced the membership.

“It stopped being a men’s club in the ‘70s, and has since benefited from the mixed company.

“Darts, Pool and Snooker were always a major draw card back then, the club ran several competitive teams with each game running male and female teams.

“The committee is now considering expanding the club premises. As the membership grows, we need more space and there is also a need for a larger function area. The building is shire heritage listed, but we are considering extending out the side keeping the front façade the same.

The bar staff work six days a week with member volunteers working the bar on Saturdays.

The club is a member’s only club, the joining fee is $100 a year. The club is a social club, if you are new to town, it’s a pleasant place to meet people.

“So you may come down and be signed in by a member for a night visit and see what the club has to offer.”