Rahotu

If you’ve only been around a short while in the sport of bowls (and a ‘short while’ can mean anything less than 20 years in lawn bowls!), you’d be forgiven for never having heard of ‘Kittyhawks’ … or even having any idea what ‘Kittyhawks’ are … other than perhaps a fan club of a veteran World War 2 aircraft or fanciers of a special falcon bird.

The Kittyhawk Bowling Club is a very informal bowls grouping that sits outside the conventional Club-Centre-National bowls hierarchy … like the Eagles Golfing Society does in golf or the Queen Street Cricket Club does in cricket or the Barbarians Rugby Club does in rugby.

It was formed back in 1977/1978 to promote the game of bowls, particularly among young people, and to raise money for charitable causes (in particular the Halberg Trust).

It was, and is, an invitation-only club, limited to 120 members, who characteristically are well-known for having given much to the sport of bowls over the years …. and are shamelessly willing to squeeze the wallets and Apple Pays of the well-healed, at the same time zealously and passionately encouraging bowls in the younger.

They are ‘worthy’ people.  And ‘Kittyhawks’ may seem a secretive society, but it’s not.  At bowls gatherings, members may be called to pop up from their seats like whack-a-moles at a carnival arcade.  That may seem strange, but they are rarely feted.  So when it happens, please applaud them for their wonderful efforts.

Unfortunately, after many years of running the Kittyhawk Under 21 Singles (a breeding ground for our young Blackjacks) the tournament stopped in 2018.  For no particular reason … it became just like many other bowling tournaments that have waxed and waned over the years throughout the country …and the waxing was now replaced with waning.

Until 2024.

Brady Amer, the enthusiast behind youth bowls in the Wellington Centre, and a past participant in the Kittyhawks tourney from 2013 to 2017, decided that it was time for Kittyhawks to return.

“We approached the club about kickstarting the tournament, and they were of course thrilled.  So earlier this year, we held the tournament at Naenae with a field of 28 Under 21 bowlers … the youngest was 13 and the oldest scraped in under the 21 year old cut.”

“It was a great re-start,” adds Brady. “So good that we’re already planning the tournament again next year at Naenae … but probably moving it to Easter when it was traditionally held.”

The tournament will once again be ‘mixed’, which is the way it first started in 1992.  It was ‘separated’ in 2002, and separate boys’ and girls’ trophies handed out to the winners.  But in a nod to our trending genderless sport, the former boys’ trophy is now handed out to the overall winner, and the girl’s trophy given over to best girl.  It’s an acknowledgement of this transitional period of providing positive reinforcement to gender equality.

 “Girls are often intimidated by the boys,” observes Brady.  “I’m not saying ALL girls … I can think of some who that wouldn’t even begin to apply to … but we’ve found that most girls play more freely with other girls.”

“Back in the day, the tournament used to attract entries from 40 boys and 32 girls.  What’s more, the winners received $1,000 prize money, a set of bowls, and the opportunity to play with a Blackjack.  We want to get back to that sort of level of recognition.”

For this years’ winners : Camron Horo from Rahotu Bowling Club in Taranaki (overall winner) and Hannah Dawson from Pakuranga Bowling Club in Auckland (girls’ winner), the spoils were a little more modest : a trophy, a set of Taylor bowls and bowls bag, and of course, the prestige of winning.

And all participants enjoyed the food provided by Nulook Kapiti.

Who knows what could happen next year … particularly with a fired-up Brady Amer leading the charge.

Keep up the good work, Brady.  And of course, the Kittyhawk Bowling Club.

Courtesy of Bowls New Zealand.

A bumper weekend is planned for the Rahotu Bowling Club when it clocks up a century over the coming days.

Secretary Peter Charteris said the club had registered 28 teams of fours for the official tournament, which will take place on Saturday and Sunday. All the activities are at the club. Three games will be played on Saturday and two on Sunday, with teams rotating on and off.

Bowls NZ president Mark O’Connor will be in attendance on Sunday and so will most of the Rahotu community itself – with some 220 expected for the hangi.

Handing out the prizes on Sunday will be the three oldest members of the club and the three youngest – the latter all being current students at Opunake High.

A number of past members will naturally attend, including life members like John Morgan and Ron Bingham and past Taranaki president Peter Bennett. Veteran Kevin Mischefski, who at 90 is still winning club titles at his adopted Stratford-Avon, will be there, too. Mischefski grew up adjacent to the Rahotu club and won the club and western division junior title away back in 1947.

The club’s origins date back to February 1920 when a preliminary meeting was held and a committee was set up. Progress initially was slow at laying the original green. It was made up of four rinks and was located at the Rahotu Domain. Its official opening didn’t occur until February 1921 where the Rahotu hospitality was laid down for the first time. Arthur Chapman was the first president and his wife prepared the dainty afternoon tea at the official opening.

After eight years the club was donated land besides the Rahotu Tavern – its current site – by the then publican, Ted Whittle, father of Waimea’s favourite friend, Ken.

Whittle believed that having the club so close to the pub would be good for business – and so it proved. Charteris noted that hospitality and sociability remain integral parts of Rahotu. “We have 20 members and 15 of them drink beer!”

The Rahotu club has benefited greatly from the Lowry family, with descendants joining in the early 1920s.

A number of members of the family have performed with distinction on the green, including Taranaki gold star holder Des.

Chances are you’ve probably never heard of ‘Rahotu’.  Let alone been to Rahotu.  And let alone played bowls at Rahotu.

However, Rahotu is quietly famous for a number of reasons.  Five of them.

Firstly, Rahuto is the most westerly settlement in Taranaki.  That sounds about as west as it gets in the North Island of New Zealand, but the shape of Maui’s legendary catch means that the Far North of Kaitaia claims a more westerly place on the planet.

Secondly, it’s just a few kilometres down the road from Parihaka, site of one of the most talked-about land confiscations in New Zealand history.

Thirdly, it’s also just a few kilometres from the Cape Egmont Lighthouse … a ‘second hand’ cast-iron lighthouse that was originally built in London for Mana Island in Wellington Harbour, before being re-homed in Taranaki.

Fourthly, it was the home of the Rahotu Rugby Club where Beauden Barrett played his early game, before continuing to play for the Coastal Rugby Club, an amalgam of Rahotu, Opunake and Okato clubs.  Rahotu is the Barrett family’s backyard.

And fifthly, Rahotu is the home of Bowls Rahotu … a bowling club that will shortly celebrate its centenary.

“The club was formed back in 1920 by local cockies and townspeople” says Secretary/Treasurer Peter Charteris. “The council gave them a bit of land in the Rahotu Domain – enough for a 4-rink green and a small clubhouse. The club started with a membership of 33.”

Eight years later, the local publican of the Rahotu Hotel, Ted Whittle, spotting a way to increase liquor sales, donated land next door to the hotel which the club made its new home by constructing an 8-rink green.

“We’re still in the same place today,” adds Peter, “although ‘new’ clubrooms were built in 1991.”

Over the last hundred years, Rahotu has bowled way above it’s weight in the Taranaki Centre.

“The Pennington’s, David and Len, won numerous centre titles in the 50s and 60s,” recalls Peter, “Their dad, Harry, was a Rahotu club stalwart as well – he built the original clubrooms with the help of other club members.”

The Penningtons head a long list of Rahotu bowlers who have made a splash at centre events.  Names like Des, Eric and Ian Lowry; Gordon Mabey; Bill Mitchell; Gerald Dawson; Cliff Leatherbarrow and more.  “Trevor Wilde, Cor Hofmans, Ray Schultz and Peter Bennett won the HANZ North Island Tournament 4 times – in 1978, 1980, 1981 and 1987.”

Many of Rahotu’s stars now play at the West End Bowling Club in New Plymouth.  “A lot of our players end up retiring in town,” says Peter,” but they still retain a soft spot for Rahotu.”  So much so, that the challenge for the West End – Rahotu ‘Log of Wood’, created in 1987, has become a twice-a-year fixture between ‘the Townies and the Coast’.

As has competition for ‘the Horns’ – an annual fixture between the Waitara Bowling Club and Bowls Rahotu.  “One of our juniors, Ivan Harris, created the trophy when he moved to Waitara and went to work for Borthwicks in Waitara.  A huge steer from Pungarehu arrived at the works one day with near perfect horns, and Ian decided the preserved and mounted horns would make a great trophy between his new club at Waitara and his former club at Rahotu.”

“They’re just a couple of the tournaments that have become annual fixtures here,” says Peter.

“We have 4 days during the season when the whole community seems to turn up to play progressive bowls.  We’ve had ‘Barrett Days” over the past few years, where Smiley has got his kids released from rugby for the day, and got them along to play bowls.  The locals love the fact that the Barrett boys still enjoy coming home to where they grew up. And to where their 4 grandparents played bowls.  Three of them played at Rahotu while Ted Barrett played down the road at Warea and Oakura.”

It’s probably a Kiwi thing.  We like our heroes to stay humble and grounded.  It’s probably the egalitarianism many of us inherited from our ancestors who fled the class society of the home country.

It’s also what makes communities like Rahotu tick.

“We’re not just a bowling club,” observes Peter, “the local Lions Club uses our clubrooms, as does the local primary school.  In turn, we get fabulous support from the whole community – at last count, 34 local businesses sponsored Bowls Rahotu.”

At 100 years old, Bowls Rahotu is doing an amazing job.  All with just one cotula green, 20+ playing members and 10+ social members.

Congratulations Rahotu.

Bowls New Zealand
bowlsnewzealand.co.nz/club-news/rahotu-gets-the-queens-telegram/