Nick finds his star really shines at Gerringong

JOEL RITCHIE

A RHETORICAL question first asked six months go has been answered " yes, Nick Condell was happier managing a quaint country bowling club than he was grappling with the helter-skelter demands at Sydney's Star City Casino.

Nick, who recently started as secretary-manager of Gerringong Bowling and Recreation Club, was driving past his future workplace in January when he asked fiancée Alison Downes, "do you think I'd be happier working at a community club than at Star City?".

Five months later, the secretary-manager's post at the Pacific Avenue club was available and Nick, then an operations manger at Star City, applied for the job.

So why swap the bright lights and big city for a job at a cosy club on the South Coast?

"We're doing up an old house on the farm and Alison is helping her parents (well-known Jamberoo dairy farmers Geoff and Beth Downes) with the work and I couldn't keep travelling to Sydney for work," Nick said.

"I have always enjoyed clubs more because of the feeling that I get from working in the community and the work/life balance.

"We love the lifestyle " Alison and her parents work harder than anyone I have ever seen, though.

"Working at a club, you are a part of the community and feel like you are doing something good for it.

"In the two weeks I have been here I have been made to feel so welcome it's been amazing."

In the future he plans a refit of the main area of the Gerringong club and the opening of a new outdoor balcony for smokers.