So it was an emotional moment when the club president, standing alongside some of Willow Tree's oldest stalwarts, officially reopened the club at a ceremony on Saturday.

The bowling club's last surviving patron Cubby Howard, not quite 90, rolled the first bowl down the green. Another longstanding friend of the club, 93 year old Jill Walter, flew from Toronto to be there.

"It's probably hard to put in words (how much this place means to me," Mr Wilkinson said.

"When the fire happened it was quite a devastating time. Now it's a really exciting time."

The historic club, which opened in 1962, was wrecked by fire in 2017.

But even that horrible day it was clear how important the bowling club was to Willow Tree.

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"It was a devastating and very emotional time when the club burnt down because it had a lot of history," he said.

"So many people turned up the day and the night when the fire occurred. A lot of people shed a tear - it showed how much the club meant to them generally.

"It obviously was a very important piece of the community."

After not quite three years of hard work, fundraising and voluntary work, the club has finally reopened its doors for good. The repair cost over a million dollars, said Pete Wilkinson.

President Wilkinson paid particular credit to the ladies' bowls club, which won a grant to fix up the club green.

But lawn bowls is not as popular as it was in 1962. The new club now has the challenge of getting the community back through its doors.

"We've got to find a way to get people to come back. It won't be an easy process and it won't be a very short-term process but we're up for the challenge," he vowed.

Initial thoughts include social bowls, competition tennis and a darts championship among other tweaks to get people through the door.

They will also set aside Friday night as bistro night.

But with the club standing again, the committee can get to work building back an icon of Willow Tree.

The rebuilding was completed in December last year, and the club has been reopened intermittently since then. Saturday was the official reopening.