From the President:
The 2007/8 Bowling season will soon be getting under way and it promises to be one of the busiest and most interesting for many years.
The Match Committee have put together a very full program which will keep us all busy and in January, as you are all aware, we are co-hosting with Burnside and Bowls Papanui the World Bowls Championships. This will be a huge tournament and one not to be repeated in these parts for many years to come.
It will involve our greens being used exclusively by World Bowls from January 6th - 24th. Many members have volunteered to help in various capacities and this will also be a great opportunity for all members to enjoy the atmosphere and see the best players in the world in action.
The need for new and especially younger members remains high on our agenda and what better time to introduce them to the Club. A warm welcome awaits all interested.
On the home front, the Executive and various committees have been working steadily over the winter on various projects. It is very pleasing to see the amalgamation working well so far as the Executive is concerned with the women being very well represented on all committees and congratulations to Judy Walker for being elected Vice President and Diane Shepard for taking on the role as Secretary.
We have missed Barry Moore at the Executive meeting after such a long period as Secretary/ Manager but he has earned a well-deserved change. He is at present very busy in his role as Chief Umpire for the World Bowls Championship, together with quite a number of International Test Matches being played in Christchurch this year. Thank you Barry for your contributions.
Our greens are looking superb for this time of the year and the greens and grounds committee are working steadily to have them in top condition for Opening Day.
I would like to thank all our sponsors who have again agreed to support our club in this coming season and especially our major sponsor SBS Banking for their continuing generous support. Please endeavour to support these businesses - they are important to our club.
Also our thanks are due to Fulton Hogan Canterbury for their ongoing support in printing this newsletter and to Ray Hanna for his great help.
Finally, members will be interested to hear that our Club will feature in three finals at the Bowls New Zealand's Awards Dinner to be held in Auckland on 8 September. The Club, for the Club of the Year, Barry Moore for the Official of the Year and Ken Thickett (photo right) for the Greenkeeper of the Year. In each case there are three finalists - well done and well deserved.
Les Bennetts,
President.
