Bowls: Clubs get stay of execution

Three Dunedin bowling clubs that faced closure if their Dunedin City Council leases were not renewed have received a stay of execution.

Cr Paul Hudson told a public meeting of close to 100 people in the Opoho clubrooms last night that he would ask next Monday's DCC meeting to refer the decision on the bowling clubs back to the council's Community Development Committee for further consideration.

The council had been expected to rubberstamp a recommendation not to renew the leases on Dunedin City Council reserve land used by the Opoho, Leith and Caledonian bowling clubs when the leases expired.

Cr Hudson talked to the Leith club committee yesterday afternoon and spoke at the public meeting last night. ‘‘I am going to recommend to council that the matter be referred back to the committee,'' he said.

‘‘I hope you accept the challenge and find a way for the club to survive.'' Cr Michael Guest gave his support and told the meeting that eight members of the council wanted the issue given more study.

‘‘We will go back into the public consultation process,'' he said. ‘‘Please don't think that the issue is a fait accompli.''

He said the issue had not been properly explained, and public relations from the council needed to be improved.

The president of the Friends of the Botanic Garden, Jason Kelly, said there was no connection between the plans to redevelop the Botanic Garden and the bowling club matter.

‘‘We have no plans to move, alter or occupy the site of the bowling club,'' he said. ‘‘It is not our intention to take over the bowling club.''

The Opoho club has a membership of 27, and members of the local community also attended the meeting and signed a petition asking the city council to renew the lease for another five years and give the club a chance to increase its membership.

Opoho club president Michael Win told the meeting the club had no debts and did not need charity. Dunedin had 31 bowling clubs and nine had fewer members than Opoho, he said.

Several local residents who were not club members spoke in support of retaining the club.
Tonia Calverley said: ‘‘I am not a member of the bowling club but I want a bowling club to still be here when I choose to use the facility.''

David Galloway said the club and ground was a wonderful cultural space that needed preservation.

‘‘I would happily become an associate member of the club to have a stake in the preservation of this important community space.''

The president of Bowls Dunedin, Isobel Bell, rejected criticism that the centre had done nothing to back the clubs threatened with closure.

‘‘The centre will work together with the clubs and the city council and will offer you all the help we can,'' she said.

Win told the meeting the Opoho club was doing its community duty by holding weekly card afternoons for elderly residents of Opoho during winter.

Other speakers were Tania Cassidy (senior lecturer at University of Otago School of Physical Education), and Errol Chave (retired civil engineer).