Bowls: ‘Disgusted' club plans to fight on

A special general meeting of the Opoho Bowling Club last night felt the club has been unjustly singled out for closure by the Dunedin City Council, and it intends to fight for its survival. 

Time is pressing for the club, as its fate will be decided by a meeting of the DCC on February 18.

The club has called a public meeting of the Opoho community on Tuesday, February 12, and is asking for the support of sister bowling clubs in the Bowls Dunedin Centre.

All elected members of the DCC will be invited. The club expects the three city councillors in its ward - Paul Hudson, Teresa Stevenson and Michael Guest - to attend to hear the case for the survival of the club.

A panel of speakers at the meeting will include club members Michael Win (president and a Dunedin lawyer), Tania Cassidy (senior lecturer at University of Otago School of Physical Education) and Errol Chave (retired civil engineer).

Win told the 22-strong meeting at the Opoho clubrooms the club had had no formal correspondence from the DCC about the proposal to close the club. The information about the city council decision had come from the media.

‘‘I'm disgusted that we have had no formal report from the council,'' Win said. ‘‘l'm also disgusted about the total lack of support from Bowls Dunedin. They have been pathetic.''

Win said there had been a decline in numbers throughout the Bowls Dunedin Centre over the last two years since the DCC first voiced concern about the small number of members in the club.

An increase of seven in the past two years meant there were 27 financial members in the Opoho club. ‘‘This is an increase of 30%,'' Win said. ‘‘The reason why we haven't got more members is that the Sword of Damocles has been hung over us and people are now working longer before they retire.''

Chave said the club had bucked the trend of other clubs in the centre which had declining memberships. He wanted to know what the council meant when it said the club must be viable and increase its membership.

‘‘No figures have been given to us for a target,'' he said. ‘‘We have increased our membership and have no financial problems. Their reasons for closure are false.''

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