Introduction

Following our AGM and 75th Anniversary Dinner in June we are getting ready for the 76th season of bowling at Wilton, and a very good season it promises to be. New members of the Board elected at the AGM are bringing new ideas and enthusiasm for the running and development of our organisation.

We are a bowling club, and a community hub for social activities. Membership subscriptions do not cover the running costs of the club so we need to maximise the use of our assets to generate revenue in other ways. Fee paying users of our clubhouse and green facilities, and patrons of the bar generate a lot of our income. Sponsorship which is contingent on us being a thriving sports club, is another source of financial support we are looking to develop further.

75 years of bowling and developments by club members provides a great foundation for us to build on, to ensure the Wilton Bowling Club thrives for another 25 years and reaches its’ centenary.

Cotula Greens At Wilton

At the 75th Anniversary Dinner interesting talks were given by Barry Jordan and Howard Ivory about the development of our bowling Greens. The City Council generously carried out the initial earthworks to set up the greens, not something we could expect today. The main plant species covering our greens is Leptinella maniototo which before 1987 was known as Cotula maniototo -hence “cotula greens” which are unique to our country.

 Shaun Coates our greenkeeper advised me there are three native NZ plants growing on Wilton green:

Leptinella dioica – endemic in open wet coastal areas throughout NZ

Leptinella maniototo – grows in ephemeral wet lands, tarns and seeps, east of the main divide in the South Island, mainly in Otago and South Canterbury.

Plantago triandra – also known as starweed, is a widespread native plantain or flat weed occurring naturally in swamps, coastal turf, and herbfields. It spreads by wind borne seed or on bowlers’ shoes and tends to colonise bare high wear areas of the green.

Leptinella plants with laterally spreading rhizomes or stolons, form a dense mat which tolerates close mowing (<5mm), and resists wear. It provides a faster and firmer playing surface than grass.

Historical records show Leptinella dioica first appeared on the Caledonian Bowling Green in Dunedin in 1913 as a weed. An attempt was made to remove it by scarification, but this resulted in spread throughout the green as cutting into the plants stimulates new growth and rhizome fragments were likely implanted widely throughout the green. Bowlers found the resulting surface an improvement on grass, and by 1932 cotula (leptinella) species were being used to establish new greens.

Initially this was by vegetative propagation, taking plugs from existing cotula greens and implanting these into new greens or existing grass greens and eventually spraying the grass out. The leptinella plants produce winter bulbils and wind dispersed seeds, which may also be used to establish new greens.

Because these plants propagate vegetatively quite easily, with regular Autumn maintenance in late March/early April (grooving or coring and scarification to remove thatch), the plants will regrow the surface over the 6 to 8 weeks before winter cold sets in. If other aspects of the growing environment remain stable these greens can last for several decades, without requiring re-establishment. 

This subject was researched using Chat GPT- an easy place to look for more information if you are interested.

 Leptinella maniototo (NZPCN photo)               Shaun keeping the green

Bowls Wellington Centre News

Keith Palmer, our Centre Delegate reports;

·  The Centre Handbook will be available in digital form on the website to reduce costs. On request a PDF version can be sent to members to print themselves.

·  Qualifying rounds of Centre events, will require a recorder appointed by the hosting club, rather than an umpire. The recorder welcomes participants, conducts a briefing, completes scorecards before play, then collects these after each round, completes charts and phones results to the Tournament Manager. 

·  BowlsHub is a centralised system supporting online membership and competition management for lawn bowls centres, clubs and players. It can be used to pay subs, enter competitions, see draws and view results. Results are fed into Bowls+ which gives you a performance ranking. All playing members are advised to log in and join at BowlsHub Aotearoa.

·  Following the Tournament Review and voting by the delegates, decisions of note are:  

Men’s Pennants remains as separate Wellington and Hutt competitions.

Bowls 3Five competition to include casual (social and MIB) players.

Easter Pairs format changed to 2 bowl pairs and 6 ends, with one casual player allowed, as it will no longer be an Open Event.

Upcoming Events

Wellington Irish Society: The Wellington Irish Society are now social members of the club and have started using the clubrooms for their activities. During the year they will organise some social events which bowling club members will be welcome to attend. Updates will be sent to club members informing everyone about these events.

Season Opening Day: Sunday 27th September at 1.30pm. All full playing members are encouraged to attend and wear club colours if you have them.

Public Open Day: Sunday 4th October at 1pm. This is an opportunity for members of the public to try out lawn bowls and view the bowling club facilities to see if they would like to join. Instructional videos will be shown followed by supervised bowling on the Thorndon green; afternoon tea then drinks at the bar. Club members are encouraged to be there, mix and mingle and create a friendly welcoming environment to tempt people to join up.

Coaching: After the Open day we plan to run coaching sessions over four weeks for people who are new to bowling and have just joined or are interested in joining the club.

Winter Fours   

Wilton entered 2 teams:

·  Wilton Tui – Evan, Mike, Terry, Brenda and Clint

·  Wilton Kereru – Keith, Bill, Trish, Tim and Allan

After 11 rounds:

·  Team Tui played in the Division 4 semifinal losing a very close game to the eventual Division winners Johnsonville Cougars.

·  Team Kereru played in the Division 8 semifinal losing by 1 point to the eventual Division winners Khandallah Killed Enders.

  Tim, Bill, Trish and Keith                            Brenda, Evan, Mike and Terry

Evan reported that the event was well run, and the Naenae Indoor facilities are an excellent venue for winter bowls. All players are looking forward to playing again and hoping to do even better next winter.

Sadly Clint Teague (Tui Team) died in hospital on 3/7/26. He was a very affable and likeable member of the club who we all miss.