Sumner Bowling Club

FROM THE WEB MASTER

PRESIDENTS REPORT FOR 2022-2023 SEASON

To all members.

I am pleased to present my report for the 111 th AGM.

It is with regret that I acknowledge the passing of Colin Thompson, and Bryan Pearce. Colin was a life member of the Club and had served on the committee/board of the Club for many years. To those of us who joined in the administration of the Club, he was the font of all knowledge. He could always put his finger on any old documentation that was required to handle all sorts of enquiries. Bryan was very active in the organising of our social events and a very willing volunteer when we needed assistance with many other tasks around the Club.

At last we have had a year without the negative effects that Covid-19 forced upon us for the past 2 years. The government mandates have gone. Once again we have had an influx of new non-playing members as well as a number of new playing members. The continuation of the coaching program this year was well received by some of our new members and we expect some of them to join up as full playing members this coming season. The green has been a pleasure to play on this year and was very favourably received by visiting players who played on our green during interclub games, Bowls Canterbury centre events and our Club tournaments.

The Club facilities are providing the Club with another revenue stream and your Board would like to see more revenue earning use made of the Club facilities while still being selective in which requests we agree to. John Hampton, who was co-opted onto the Board earlier this year, has taken on the role of “Events Coordinator” and is now handling the hire requests we receive. The website has been updated so that people can see our conditions of hire and the charges. John has also informed the Sumner Hub that our facilities are available for hire.

Governance This topic is somewhat of a problem for the Club. It appears that voting members of the Club are reluctant to step forward and take up some of the administrative roles in the Club. The Club’s Board is comprised of the 4 officers (President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer) and up to 7 other persons. At the time of writing this report we have nominations for President, Vice President and Treasurer but we have no nomination for the position of Secretary and do not have enough nominations to fill the 7 other persons on the Board. I am hoping that we will get nominations to fill these positions before the AGM. All nominations must be signed by the nominee and the nominators. The Secretary vacancy has arisen through the resignation of Sue Brewer from the position, which she has held since being elected in 2019. Sue has done a great job in the role, along with assisting Gary Thomson in the Treasurer role, and has spent many hours working for the benefit of the Club.

Bowls News NZ Representatives I would like to congratulate John Lavell and Elaine Taylor on their selection as members of the NZ Deaf Bowls team who will be travelling to Scotland later this year for the World Deaf Bowls Championships. We wish them every success in this competition.

Interclub Competitions The Club was well represented in the Bowls Canterbury Saturday and mid-week competitions, both women’s and men’s. All teams performed well, tried hard, but success was elusive. Our Under-5’s players have performed well, in interclub and in various tournaments. The Club was well represented in the mid-week friendlies competition and did play in the finals. Thanks to all the selectors, interclub and mid-week, for their hard work in putting the teams together each week.

Club Championships Congratulations to all the winners of our club championships. There were some great games to watch from our fantastic viewing platform. All our representatives in the Champion of Champion events were unsuccessful in their endeavours. The one plea from our Match committee is for players to get their games played by the dates specified. Another suggestion that may be implemented next season is to have drawn teams in the Triples championships.

Tournaments Our monthly triples tournaments were held through the season. They were well supported and well organised by John MacDougall with assistance from Lester Kerr and others when required. The tournaments were once again generously sponsored by Ray White Property management and Graeme Pillidge. Also, thanks to Sandra Cody for the afternoon teas. We also only held the Ladies Invitation tournament, which was a triples event held before Christmas. The ladies, ably led by Jude Taylor, did a great job in organising the event. Once again all the visiting teams were very enthusiastic and they all seemed very keen to be along for a repeat next season. Thanks to Jim Rouse who was the major sponsor for the event. The men’s invitation fours tournament was held in March and proved to be a great success. One suggestion from some of our visitors was to run a mixed fours tournament next season. This is an idea that can be considered by the incoming Board. Sponsors The club needs to recognise and support all our generous sponsors. Most of the sponsors shown on our scoreboards have renewed their sponsorship ($500 per year) and we have picked up some new firms as well. Once again the Club has received great support from Sumner Supervalue. Also, Jim Rouse has already committed to supporting the Ladies Invitation tournament next season.

Green maintenance Thanks to all the helpers who have assisted with the green maintenance this past year. Alan has done a great job on the green this year and we look forward to it continuing.

Coaching Harriette and Thys Jansen, and Kevin Rowlands ran the coaching sessions this season. The sessions were well supported and have resulted in some firm commitments from the attendees that they will become full playing members next season. The combined effort with Redcliffs to engage with the local primary schools to promote bowls was not supported by the Sumner schools last season, resulting in no teams from Sumner competing. However, next season we may have a member who is able to organise the involvement of Sumner schools in next seasons event.

General Thanks again to Kevin Jones for his work in maintaining the website (sumnerbowls.co.nz) and also for his work on the club honours “board” sheets that are now completed. Any members who have photos or news and ideas that they think could be displayed on the website, then please contact Kevin. For another year the Club owes Sue and Grant Brewer a huge “thank you” for all their work in looking after the Secretary and the Bar convenor roles. These two roles are undoubtedly the most onerous and time consuming administrative roles. Once again, Cyril Phillips continues to provide great assistance around the Club and also in looking after the management of the Clubrooms and Greenkeepers shed/Soil shed. Another to mention is our gardener, Lloyd Smith, we had many comments from visitors about the Green surrounds. Thanks also to all the Board members for your service during the past year. Thank you to all the other members who have assisted in non-executive roles for your service to the Club, along with others who have assisted around the green and in the clubrooms. Especially the ladies for all the catering work for the tournaments and the Friday evening snacks.

Gary Marshall President

Kevin Jones

Web Master