QT: So what is happening at the Queenstown Bowling Club?
Bev Terry: We have two beautiful artificial greens . . . We are very conscious we have a community facility, so it is available to the community. We don't have walls around it. It is open to the public.
QT: It's beautiful. People must appreciate it a lot.
BT: We are always saying to each other "smile, you're on candid camera" because someone is [always] taking a photo of us playing. We say it is the most scenic club in the world. It must be, with the [Queenstown] Gardens there and the Remarkables behind us.
We just had a plaque put in recently. The pavilion is 100 years old this year. The club turned 100 in 2004. The big thing we are doing at the moment is the business house bowls with 36 teams of three from businesses all around town. We give them some tips on the first night and off they go.
We also get a lot of tourists who have never seen bowls before come and play. They all love it. That's the way bowls is going - casual pay and play.
Of course, there will always be people who want to be members because it is cheaper and we have loads of young members. But that's the way New Zealand Bowls wants it to go.
We are getting a lot of firms using bowls for team-building exercises, too. Dinamics [Event Management] are bringing a conference here later this month. It is very popular for that sort of thing.
QT: Is that because it is something that gets difficult when you get into it but almost anyone can roll a bowl?
BT: That's it exactly. You've hit the nail on the head. When you try too hard, it becomes very difficult.
