There ‘s been activity of a different sort at Raglan Bowling Club these past couple of weeks with about a dozen keen volunteers swapping bowls for brushes to give the ageing clubrooms a timely lick of paint.
The fibrolite building is now almost dazzlingly white with blue trim – to match the players’ uniforms – while the wooden fence at the entranceway is a bold blue.
The clubrooms were in need of a “freshen-up”, club president Alan Price told the Chronicle of the facility, which is used frequently by local bowlers and also twice a month by the local Crop Swap group. “We wanted it to look like something the club and community could be proud of.”
Built sometime after 1921 when the bowling club was formed, the building has been looking a bit rundown and drab, Alan added.
So the committee suggested a spruce-up to the Raglan Club, of which it is an adjunct or member group.
“They (Raglan Club) provided the paint and materials,” said Alan, “and we (the bowling club) came up with the labour.”
Local builder Craig Wallace of CJW Build supplied mobile scaffolding which extended to five meters. “That made the job so much easier and saved money,” said committee member John Lenihan.
Crop Swap Raglan brought morning teas along for the dozen or so committee members and two casual players – Dermot and Bud, from Twilight Bowls – who all met up several times a week to get the work done within a fortnight.
Committee members agree the now freshened-up clubrooms are “a great way to promote the sport to the community”. While lots of bowling clubs struggle to attract members, they say, the Raglan club has the highest rate of growth among Waikato clubs.
That’s based on the high number of players who have joined in the last five years, thanks to its “extremely popular” Twillight Bowls sessions on Tuesday nights.
And those numbers reflect the future of the club, Alan insists, adding it’s also “a very convivial, welcoming club”.
Ross Turner is the club’s longest playing member, and has won almost 50 championships since 1978.
by Edith Symes
