News
July 2021:
A Hive Of Action
There’s a lot going on at the moment with the present artificial outdoor bowling mat (laid in 2008) being replaced by specialists from Australia who have been braving the recent frosts. I tell you - these guys are tough men who have dressed like they are in Queensland - shorts and tops every day - starting as early as 6.30am and working under lights until after 7.00pm.
When about 60-70 members arrived at the Wanaka Bowling Club on Saturday 10 July to play in, or watch at the Club’s Bowling Stadium for the on-going inter-suburb series for the Neil Studholme Trophy, they found a carpark with utes, front end loaders, piles of gravel and the old mat stacked in rolls. There were also very large boxes of technical equipment containing things like a theodolite used to level the surface to a maximum tolerance of 3mm.
Studholme Trophy
In 2007 the Neil Studholme Memorial Trophy, devised by Ray Newall, was first contested byWanaka ‘suburbs’ and continues to be one of the most important, and popular events on theClub’s Stadium Programme.
This year’s series commenced on Saturday 12 June at 1.15pm. The crowds attending resemble more like the Saturdays of past years, so this is so very, very pleasing and creates such amazing camaraderie.. Many ‘an old hand’ commented on the high standard of bowls being played. It’s a big ask to put your bowl right on the spot where the skip has indicated they want the bowl and most players did very well. On many ‘ends’ the lead changed hands due to skilful play. In some respects it is like ‘chess’ where you plan your moves well ahead. In some cases the result of the game changed with the last bowl !
The competition is still wide open, so Saturday afternoon’s going forward into August will continue to provide lots of excitement.
Quiz Night
Winter social gathering on
Sunday 27 June starting at 4.30 pm with drinks and nibbles was a hugely successful. It was not only just a Quiz night but a winter social get together for members which was aimed at having a lot of fun and was exactly that. It was great to see two teams from Hawea who were having a side competition to beat each other.
Well known Quiz Master George Smyth led 9 teams (8 in a team) through a myriad of questions which was both entertaining and enlightening. George did a great job to shape the questions to fit our age group, and we all had fun .Sometimes the majority vote of a team was way off the mark leaving the dissenters very smug - or vice versa ! Mel managed to confound everyone by being the last person standing. Must that cheery smile ?
Over $1000 was raised to go towards the bar refurbishment which put a grin on the Bar Manager’s face. Included in this was $80 for the purchase of answers - some not so bright after all ?
Winter Coaching
Club coaches Peter Herbert (Ph 443 4480), Ewan Miller (Ph 265 3010), Tom Malcolm (443 5266) and Geoff Thomas (443 2892) have been offering coaching sessions since June 2021 on Monday afternoons at 1.15pm in the bowling club stadium and these have attracted good numbers and have been very successfull. You don't have to be a member so if you are interested just come along or ring one of our coaches for more information.
