Opunake

Ōpunake Bowling Club player Ross Sinclair is the find of the Taranaki lawn bowls season.

Sinclair has been in such superb touch that he has played his way into the final stages of four different events, all of which scheduled to be finalised at the Stratford Avon club on April 26-27.

Sinclair’s latest success came at the weekend when he qualified for the semifinals of the triples and the pairs in the Suchy & Co champion-of-champions series.

He has previously made the junior singles final and is also in the last four of the open triples.

Cool and controlled, both in technique and temperament, the fit farmer should also have the endurance to handle such a tough programme on finals weekend. But it will be gruelling.

He comes from excellent Taranaki bowling stock. His late mother, Barbara, won nine Taranaki qualifying titles plus the 2000 New Zealand Intercentre. His father, Bob, the 1978 Christmas pairs winning skip, has had the satisfaction of watching Ross’ winning ways this season.

Ross Sinclair first got into bowls on a green located on the family property at Opua Rd and as a teenager in the mid-1980s when he joined his dad at Rahotu for three years.

Family and other sporting commitments then took precedence. He was a useful utility back for the Coastal senior rugby side before he returned to bowls, linking up with the Ōpunake club last season.

Levi Davis led in both the triples and the pairs over the weekend, with Paddy Deegan skipping the former. In both disciplines they posted wins over the highly decorated Anderson brothers from the Tower club.

Ōpunake will also feature in the women’s pairs, with Val Langton and Eileen Rothwell set to meet Melissa McEwen-Shepherd and Kristin Stampa (Stratford Avon).

Langton and Rothwell edged Althea Rowlands and Irene Taunt (Tower) 14-13 at New Plymouth on Sunday, while McEwen-Shepherd and Stampa beat Ella Smailes and Pauline Kennedy (Hawera Park) 17-12.

Grant Hassall

They just secured a whopping $7,000 grant to upgrade their bowling green mower! Not only will this new mower make their green look like a million bucks, but Club Secretary Carol Deegan says ”it’s also cordless and super quiet. No more tangled cords or waking up the whole neighborhood when we mow in the wee hours.”

The NZCT has awarded the Opunake Bowling Club a grant of $7,000 toward the cost of a new Greens mower.

“I’m old enough to remember planting all the trees along the Maui Gas Fields site at Oaonui as a fundraiser. Every time I drive past and see how big they are now, I’m reminded of our community effort on behalf of the Club.” says Patron – Val Coombe.

From small acorns, big oaks can certainly grow!

Club Secretary Carol Deegan adds –

We have a small number of dedicated members who work extremely hard to improve and maintain our bowling green. Our current mower is over twenty years old and no longer serving us well, so a new Protrim 760 silent greens mower will be an extremely valuable tool.

Taranaki is hosting a National tournament in February 2024 and Bowls Taranaki will need to use a number of local bowling greens for the tournament. Our Greenkeepers goal is to have the green up to standard so our club will be selected as one of the venues.

As a Committee, we want to support our Greenkeepers by replacing dilapidated equipment in a timely fashion. They currently use a 240-volt mower with a power cord, so the new mower will be of huge benefit from the safety aspect alone. The new mower will also be much quieter – a huge plus when early morning mowing is required before bowling events.

NZCT’s GM Grants, Marketing and Communications, Ben Hodges says “We’re delighted to help the club with this critical piece of equipment. We thank the Opunake Surf Inn for their help in raising responsible gaming funds that made this grant possible.”

Opunake Bowling Club was established in 1903. The Womens and Mens Bowling Club amalgamated in 1981-82, but held separate Committees until 2012.

We currently have about ninety members – this includes casual membership and prior to Christmas enjoyed our final evening of Twilight Bowls for the year, a community event where non-bowlers are encouraged to give Bowls a go. Our eight rinks were full every Friday evening with bowlers, including high school students teaming up with their parents and younger children watching as their parents enjoyed the experience of bowling – a very family orientated event.

We also have many older and more experienced full-time bowlers. Our ladies especially enjoy the mid-week competitions, as well as Club Day for all members on a Sunday.

We recently hosted a Mens Inter-Club final (Taranaki event) on December 23rd and a Te-Maunga Bowls event (Māori Bowls event) on January 6th 2024.

We are always looking to welcome new members.

Bowls is no longer just a game your grandparents might play and in the wider NZ Bowling Community it is the younger players who are making moves and challenging for National titles.

For more information, please contact Carol Deegan at bowlsopunake@xtra.co.nz, or call 06 761 8324.