Peter Lawford and Kim Mundie are repeating history with the expansion of their Ramsay St business to include one of the world’s most sought after lawn bowls accessories.
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It was more than half a century ago that the lounge room of Peter’s parents, Jim and Barbara, was a makeshift laboratory for the forward-thinking engineer’s prototype products for the sport.
Peter’s parents were Rochester club champions, but neither he nor co-director Kim have a penchant for playing bowls.
There is even a third-generation connection to Rochester’s lawn bowls history: Peter’s grandfather George Clayton was a club champion in the 1940s.
It was, however, Jim Lawford who became a renowned innovator in the production of lawn bowls equipment — particularly in the space of greenside ditches and plinths.
Jim died five years ago, but the couple that now head up the engineering business have just expanded their operation — purchasing the rights to Bendigo-based product The Bowling Arm.
Jim even had a connection to the purchase — the son of Jim’s former lawn bowls sparring partner and fellow entrepreneur Greg Sharman selling the business to the modern representation of Lawford Engineering.
Greg and Anne Sherman have operated the Bendigo-based Drake’s Pride bowls and accessories business as second-generation owners, inheriting a passion for the industry from Don Sherman.
Don was a close friend of Jim, a connection that Peter and Kim didn’t make until early in the negotiations for the sale of The Bowling Arm.
Don created history at the 1982 Brisbane Commonwealth Games, as part of Australia’s first ever lawn bowls gold medal-winning four.
“Greg is a fair player as well,’’ Peter said.
“Greg and Don Jr started a bowls shop in Bendigo. Part of that business was the development of The Bowling Arm,” he said.
The product, which will now be produced in Rochester, has come a long way in the 30 years of its development, and is the latest addition to the Lawford Engineering stable of products.
Jim started the business his son now operates in 1962, but his second great love was lawn bowls.
“He started as an administrator and was a Campaspe regional councillor. He was also recognised by Bowls Australia for his work,” Peter said.
Jim was the first to react to regulation changes in the sport that were made to prevent dangerous rebounds of lawn bowls.
“The administrators decided that concrete ditches needed to have a slope, so the bowls didn’t rebound back on to the green,” Peter said.
“Dad then designed a pressed metal attachment to the concrete and later designed a stand alone metal ditch, which has lasted 30 years.”
The product was installed on greens throughout Australia and New Zealand, and while never officially named, became widely known as the Lawford Ditch.
During the 1980s Jim moved full time into the bowls business, taking the company forward using both the boiler maker skills he learned in a Nathalia garage and his imagination for the sport’s development.
The company is in the same shed where Jim started the business, although for a long stint it was located on Echuca Rd.
Jim’s pre-cast concrete ditches and the galvanised steel products that followed paved the way for 80 products that are now available to clubs through the company website.
Jim’s steel plinth product remains one of the most sought after products, the original design replacing the products that were formerly a mixture of cement sheet, asbestos and wood.
“Dad created the steel plinth, which is a more practical, cheaper and easier alternative to what was used before,” Peter said.
The Lawford plinth is among a range of products, including synthetic carpet-covered ditches and greenside bordering and, more recently, scoreboards, rink numbers and other greenside products.
Kim’s son, Leigh, is the company’s senior engineer and is in charge of The Bowling Arm’s on-site development.
A day after the equipment had been delivered to the factory he and his team were busily back-filling orders that had been placed with the Shermans’ company.
“We are a little behind to start with, so there was a sense of urgency to get production under way,” Kim said.
The Rochester team is filling both Australian and international orders for the product, which comes in four sizes and 10 colours.
Featuring either a palm or thumb release, The Bowling Arm comes in long, medium, short and extra short — the extra-short version originally designed for use by wheelchair participants in the sport but now an attractive option for high-level bowlers looking for an edge.
Bowling arms are rising in popularity, providing an option for not-as-nimble participants to deliver bowls in a more accurate fashion.
“The Bowling Arm actually improves your bowls. We’re very excited about taking it on,” Peter said.
While the Bendigo-based founder of the product was selling between 1200 and 1500 of the $285 (retail value) products on an annual basis, Lawford Engineering hopes to step that up to 2000.
“While we are starting from scratch with this product, we have a network of contacts in the industry and our intention is to get ahead of the game,” Kim said.
The product will continue to be promoted heavily to the domestic market, but there is the potential for expansion in the United Kingdom, Canada, United States and New Zealand.
There is also the potential for the product to be placed in retail outlets throughout the Campaspe region, maybe even in Rochester itself.
With the development is the opportunity for the business to expand its seven-strong staff, potentially by up to three, as the Bowls Australia-approved product battles with two other similar items for a share of the market.
“It’s a competitive marketplace, one other company is in the Hunter Valley and another is in Sydney,” Kim said.
The Lawford team, at least in the initial stages, is working 11 hours a day to “hit the ground running”.
Considering the complicated and exact nature of the product’s construction (there are about 12 elements to the arm) Peter and Kim hope to be making about 40 a week.
They do, however, have to balance that with the 10 greenside installations they currently have on their books throughout Victoria and NSW.
“Part of the purchase agreement was for Greg (Sherman) to help train the guys in production,” Peter said.
“It is a very fiddly product, there are a lot of aluminium castings.
“It is a very exciting time our company.”
Campaspe News