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A local couple have been contracted to manage the club and are running its clubrooms for the first time as a seven-day operation that’s open to the public, including visitors to the Gardens, as well as members.
Geoff Short, a former motorsport promoter, and his partner Kat Saric started playing after shifting to Queenstown from Hamilton after Covid, and also joined the board.
"We really enjoy the sport, we’ve got an amazing facility, and we saw someone needed to drive it to get some young members coming through," Short says.
"The club’s gone from having well over 100 members down to 40-odd, the average age is 70-plus.
"They didn’t want to hire a manager as such, and I said, ‘if there wants to be no risk for the club, we’ll take the risk, we’ll pay for the rights to be able to do that’."
Short says they’re now staffing the club and opening their new Cafe 1904 — the year the clubrooms opened — from 10am every day.
They’re also displaying a lot of history, like old minute books and photos, and even acquired a piano from Arrowtown that was coincidentally made in London in 1904.
"We’re doing lots of social events, whether it’s barefoot bowls, corporate bowls, we’ve got a big Melbourne Cup event coming."
Bookings for Christmas functions are also pouring in, Short says, while an international tournament’s being planned for next Easter.
To help make the business work, green hire’s risen from $10 to $20 an hour, "but what can you do in Queenstown for $20?"
Short says although they are saving committee members from doing a lot of voluntary work, the committee members are still keen to get involved, "so when we’ve got big groups coming through, they’ll come and help do the training".
Meanwhile, on Labour Day, October 27, they’re holding an open day in which anyone can play for free for an hour — bookings via bowlsqueenstown.co.nz
