Bowls: Havelock to mark 100 years

The Havelock North Bowling Club (pictured) is planning to make their centennial celebrations memorable.

The Havelock North Bowling Club is turning 100 years old in October and celebrations are in the pipeline to make it a memorable one.

"We're a vibrant family club and very much part of the community," says club publicity officer Ivan Hill before the club marks its centennial celebrations on Labour Day weekend of October 21 to 23.

"Anyone can come to our centenary celebrations," said Hill of the club that has 186 members, comprising about one-third who are female players.

He says the plan is to entice people from around the country and even overseas who may have had an affiliation with the club in any shape or form.

"They could have been people who have visited the club to take part in competitions or even known our members," he said.

The club is still in the process of trying to list dignitaries and details on what will be staged at its location in the heart of the village down Porter Drive.

It's humble beginnings is steeped in Hawke's Bay history.

The Havelock North Sports Association acquired eight acres (3.2ha) of Lucknow Estate land in 1909 initially as a recreational spot, according to research a club member, Robyn Phillips, conducted in 2010.

Alongside the priority of ploughing the prime property for rugby and cricket was setting aside a parcel of land for cultivating a decent bowling green.

"This did not eventuate and in 1916 the present site in Porter Drive was sold to the club by JH Joll at eight per cent interest," says Phillips in her research.

That purchase spawned a croquet, tennis and bowling club as well as the establishment of the first committee.

It was a labour of love with myriad grass types sown in the quest for an ideal surface and water was drawn from the Lucknow Rd Creek to help cultivate the greens. "Members used pitch forks to aerate as mechanical machines did not go deep enough," she says.

It wasn't until 1944 that the Havelock North Ladies Bowling Club was established.

Says Hill: "Uniform consisted of white frocks to be worn at a certain length and was measured regularly."

Jewellery was a no-no amid strict etiquette that also prevented females from playing with males.

Men were allowed to wear shorts at an AGM in 1963.

The club rooms were extended in 1972 and facilities upgraded.

A year later water was discovered near the greens and a well was sunk.

Havelock North was the first club in the province in 1986 to have Astroturf greens but a decade later it was replaced.

Today it has two world-class Dale carpet greens.

The men and women's clubs were amalgamated in 1999, giving rise to new uniforms.

The club has hosted the Astrograss National Winter Bowls and NZ Blind Bowls championships.

It lays claim to having the longest continuous playing record of all Havelock North sporting teams dating back to 1904.

Each February it open doors to 32 teams to compete in its business house competitions held over six weeks.