Team update at Bowls Auckland

Thank you & farewell Lauren Cross

After over three years as Admin and Events Manager at Bowls Auckland, we bid farewell to Lauren. She has been integral to the delivery of bowls within our community, seeing us through Covid disruptions, adopting new technology (Bowls Hub), leading team entries and payments for Centre Events, and supporting clubs through the application process for Blue Waters (among many more tasks!).

Lauren’s last day with us is Friday, 21 April, before she takes some time out with a pending move to Australia on the horizon.

In the interim, and to ensure we don’t miss a beat our team will pick up additional tasks until a more permanent solution is sorted.

I am sure you will join us in thanking Lauren for her awesome contribution to bowls and wish her the very best in her future endeavours!

Les Smith stepping in as Convenor

Les Smith who is known by most around the scenes for his umpiring, will be taking on the Tournament Convenor role for the upcoming Champ of Champs events. This is an interim position as Weng Lim recovers from a medical procedure.

We wish Weng all the best in his recovery and welcome Les to the team!  

Blockhouse Bay Bowling Club hosted the inaugural Oceania Challenge over 14-17 April. The event was dreamt up by World Bowls through Oceania Regional Director Brett O’Riley and was co-delivered by Bowls New Zealand, Oceania Bowls, Bowls Auckland, and of course the host club.

The event was a huge undertaking with 19 teams throughout the region taking to the greens over a four-day period. Countries represented included NZ Under-26, Aotearoa Māori, Norfolk Island, Tonga, Fiji, Niue, Samoa, Tokelau and the Cook Islands.

We were honoured to be involved and to have the chance to host the inaugural event here in Tāmaki Makarau. It was extremely special to see the nations and players come together to play, celebrate, and create friendships and memories that we hope will last a lifetime. It is what is so unique about bowls, and we look forward to embedding the event in the calendar and continuing to explore ways to engage with all communities and people in our city.

 A huge thanks to Blockhouse Bay and their army of volunteers, they did everyone proud and represented the bowling community in Auckland extremely well. We acknowledge Bowls New Zealand and World Bowls for their leadership and thank Blue Waters Community Trust for their continued support which helps turn these dreams into reality.

For a full wrap of the event - read Bowls NZ article here...

-- Dean Bartlett

How the battle was won!

This Battle of the Manukau tournament is for 1-5 Year rep squads between Auckland and Counties Manukau.

Each Centre lined up squads of 12 men and 12 women to do battle on the greens in Fours, Triples, and then Pairs.  A random draw is done prior to the commencement of each discipline.

Looking across at the scoreboards after two-thirds of the games in each discipline were played, the honours were evenly spread; however, Counties Manukau players would then lose focus and drop a silly four or even five, thus giving Auckland hope.  Fair credit to the Auckland teams, they never gave up and that was reflected in the final score.

Read the full story here...

Interclub 7s showdown

In a last bowl thriller, Tauranga has taken out the 2023 National Women's Interclub Sevens, while Gore has convincingly shone through to secure the men's accolade opposite Stoke.

Held at the Naenae Bowling Club, with supporting greens throughout Wellington, 25 centres descended on the capital to battle it out for interclub supremacy. Following five rounds of qualifying, the top two from each of the four sections comprised the quarter-finalists, with teams then requiring two out of three wins each round to progress to the grand finale.

Pt Chev team wins Final

Whakamihi to Chur Bowls from Pt Chevalier Bowls, this year’s Auckland Social Bowls Final winners!  Chur Bowls pipped another Pt Chev club, The Natives, on ends won and were presented with the trophy by Bowls Auckland, President Greame Scott.

Thanks to all the clubs that participated, Bowls Auckland for the hot drinks this morning, and to the RNB members who set up and officiated- in particular Match Director, Chris Dewar.

See you at Pt Chevalier next April!

-- Steve King

Tom Jamieson Ukraine Afternoon

Thursday 20 April 2023

The piano was tuned and the national flag was flying - not the usual prep for a Triples tournament! The Executive of the Remuera Bowling Club hosted a fantastic club day of sport and culture to celebrate the new surface and upgrade of the covered green and to formally acknowledge the funders: RBC past members Tom Jamieson and Maurice Paykel (through bequests), Bowls Auckland's Rawhiti Fund and the Blue Waters Community Trust. 

Traditionally this annual tournament is a fundraiser for the Heart Foundation. This year Heather Woods, Tom Jamieson’s daughter, asked that humanitarian relief in Ukraine be supported. Over $5,000 will be contributed from this effort. 

The programme started with a 90-minute Triples event - each team had a first-year bowler as the lead. Then beverages and an opera performance led to the donor plaque unveiling, prize giving and drinks and afternoon tea. 

An opera enthusiast, Heather sponsored a performance from baritone Arthur Adams Close, tenor Nick Curry, and pianist Camila Oliverira. They regaled the audience with opera arias, duets and a selection of musicals - beginning with the state anthem of Ukraine, Ukraine Has Not Yet Perished, and ending with Some Enchanted Evening from South Pacific, before heading out to have-a-go on the new green themselves!

Please contact Club President Peter Bennett or email if you would like to make a donation: 

-- Cynthia Morris 

Opera performers baritone Arthur Adams Close, tenor Nick Curry, and pianist Camila Oliverira

The non-musical trio that won the day: Margaret Dudman (lead), Alan Dean and Don Currey (skip) with Murray Lander