SOS from Castlecliff Bowling Club

Representative player Denice Taylor competing in the regional hexagonal tournament hosted at Castlecliff Bowling Club last November. The club is desperate for new members to help keep the doors open.

The Castlecliff Bowling Club will host one of the most crucial meetings in its 99 year history next Saturday.

Faced with dwindling membership numbers from changing demographics in the seaside suburb, Castlecliff BC's struggle to stay afloat has reached critical, prompting an online campaign by Ray White commercial sales consultant Russell Duggan to save the club.

Reduced to around 14 active members, Castlecliff set up a three-person trustee group, who contacted Duggan about the prospect of selling their Manuka St property.

As a member of the Bowls Wanganui Inc board as well as vice president of the Durie Hill club, Duggan felt it was a conflict of interest to oversee any sale.

He is helping Castlecliff by launching a Facebook campaign to attract both new members and fresh ideas about other community groups making use of the clubrooms, so they survive into their 2018 centennial year and beyond.

"History would have had them, 20 years ago, near enough to a couple of hundred [members]," said Duggan.

"They are in a position where we really need to have 30 as a stake in the ground, just to make it viable.

"I've already issued 16 membership forms, so if half of those people action it, we're in the 20's."

Duggan said the meeting will be a chance to "open the book" and have an honest talk about the future and ways Castlecliff can make use of their assets in the clubrooms and greens, including sharing with another entity or renting it out for special events and other sports.

"It's just getting it back to being a club where people can come along and participate."

While he has run the online campaign, it will be up to the club members to make their own decisions, he said.

Club member and trustee Bob Bristol said they hope to bring some proposals to the remaining membership, with the meeting open to the public for those interested in taking up bowls, just joining in a social capacity, or helping out in any way.

"We've gone into a recession, we're trying to see if we can survive.

"We've got a couple of options up our sleeve

"We don't want to go anywhere, because once we go, we won't get it back."

The little club has continued to be an important part of the sport locally - hosting sections of the regional hexagonal representative tournaments - while this past season Anne Loveridge was in the Whanganui composite team that came third in the Bowls NZ Women's Championship Fours, along with other members winning Premier 2 and Triples Champions titles.

"For the amount of numbers we have, we sort of pull our weight," said Bristol.

The meeting is set for next Saturday, August 26, at 10am at the clubrooms, 21a Manuka Street.