Bowls: Fifty years has skipped by

Charlie Burrell still likes to win, but it is no longer his prime objective when he plays bowls.

Burrell (73), the former host at the Hotel Taieri, is in his 50th year with the Taieri Bowling Club.

"When I was young, winning was everything," he said.

"Now I enjoy winning friends, and winning at bowls doesn't matter. I enjoy the companionship. The mates you meet become friends for life."

Burrell was working in the hotel trade and was not able to play more energetic sports because Saturday was a busy day.

"Bowlers drank at our hotel and I'd had a few roll-ups with them before I started," he said.

"They invited me to join."

Burrell was 23 and in those days that was a young age to start playing bowls.

But they were friends at the hotel and he fitted in easily.

"There were not many people my age playing bowls then," Burrell said.

"It is different today. But I never felt out of place."

It was easy for Burrell to slip into the game because both his parents, Hector and Nellie, were members of the club.

"I have used Dad's old bowls since I started," he said.

"They have a wider arc than modern bowls. When I master these I might think about the new bowls."

The highlight of Burrell's long career was to win the New Zealand hoteliers' Bicardy Cup twice - in Wellington in 1973 and Gore this year.

He was skip of the Dunedin four that won in Gore.

The other team members were Dan O'Leary, Mike Bankier and Steve Pulley.

"It was my second win but the first for the others," he said.

"They were thrilled."

Burrell has come close but has not won any Bowls Dunedin titles.

He reached the semifinals of the triples twice and made his mark in the singles in the mid-1960s.

In post-section play, he beat Gordon Jolly, who had just returned from winning a World Bowls gold medal in Sydney.

In the next round he beat future New Zealand representative Neville Hill.

This impressed the Bowls Dunedin selectors that day.

"I was tapped on the shoulder by a Dunedin selector who told me I was to play for the centre against Central Otago," Burrell recalled.

"It was my only rep game for 20 years."

Bowls has become a family game for the Burrells, with wife Wilma playing socially and daughter Linda starting the sport at Woodville this year.

Burrell retired from the Hotel Taieri in 1982 and owns a 4ha lifestyle block on the Taieri.

He keeps himself fit by cycling and eating plenty of vegetables.

He plays bowls three days a week and intends to keep playing.