It has been a special month for Smith with the birth of Walter, her second great-grandchild, to grandson All Black Ben Smith and his wife Katie.
Smith has been playing bowls for 11 years but has never won a Bowls Dunedin title. She was the lead bowler in the Forbury Park women’s fours team at Auckland this month.
"I never thought I’d do it at my age," Smith said.
"But we are a competitive family and Ben is special for me. I’m naturally very proud of Ben. But we don’t see much of each other these days because he is too busy."
The other members of the Forbury Park fours team were skip Gloria Munro (66), Eleanor Dickson (75), and Jill O’ Gorman (49).
Forbury Park did not expect to keep winning after reaching the post-section round.‘‘But we kept on winning and decided to see how far we could go,’’ Munro said.
"We put five other provinces out to get to the final."
The four was part of the Forbury Park sevens team which eventually finished runner-up. It was the first time the Forbury Park women had won the Bowls Dunedin play-offs to qualify for the national finals.
● It has been a successful month for the Forbury Park club. The men’s team of Ross Stevens, Tom Tamati and Brent McEwan beat Ken Walker’s Taieri team 24-4 to win the champion of champions triples. It was the first Dunedin title for Tamati and McEwan and the second for Stevens.
But the women’s triples team of Judy Robertson, Jean Young; Beth Brown put Taieri back in the limelight when it beat Forbury Park’s Carolyn West, Malia Tavite, and Lesley Dabinett 18-14. It was the 12th title for Brown, eighth for Robertson and sixth for Young.
Stephen Hughes won his first centre title with Wakari clubmate Peter Barron, beating experienced former internationals Jim and Terry Scott (North East Valley) 19-11 in the champion of champions pairs final. It was the seventh title for Barron.
Sue Hodges, a key member of the winning Tauranga South women’s fours team at the national club championships in Dunedin last week, was a member of the Outram and Taieri clubs when she won 18 Bowls Dunedin titles. She has won two Bay of Plenty titles since shifting to Tauranga two years ago.
Central Otago
Central Otago correspondent Bob Howitt finally found his best form since shifting south from Auckland when he beat Kelvin Jackson to win the Arrowtown club singles.
But that performance does not match the effort of Bill Munro, who won his first Central Otago title at the age of 90. Has any other 90-year-old won a centre title in New Zealand?
Howitt has penned a portrait of Munro’s remarkable effort.
Playing competitive bowls at the age of 90 is remarkable enough but winning a centre title as a nonagenarian is truly amazing. He may well be unique in New Zealand.
But that’s the achievement of Bill Munro, who was a member of the Bannockburn team that won the Central Otago champion of champion’s triples title at Naseby with Dave Stewart and Terry Collins.
After 30 years of competitive play it was Munro’s first centre title. His previous best effort was reaching the quarterfinal.
"It was a dream come true," says Munro, who lives in Cromwell.
"We knocked over the ‘Dream Team’ from Wanaka in the final, winning 20-10 with an end to spare."
Munro is wonderfully sprightly for a 90 year old, having played tennis (to representative level), rugby and indoor basketball in his youth.
His father owned the now defunct Cromwell Argus newspaper and young Bill’s first job was as a linotype operator at one pound a week.
He later became the Otago Daily Times Central Otago correspondent, reporting on everything from court news to sport. He later became a grocer in Lawrence for 21 years.
Munro switched clubs from Cromwell to Bannockburn four years ago after a hugely contentious issue involving a championship pairs game in which he had been involved.
So incensed was he at the committee’s decision that he walked out on the club he had served over many years as president, secretary and a committee man.
This may not be the last you will hear of the 90 year old. In one club championship pairs game at Bannockburn this season he had 12 touchers!
● Former Black Jack Shaun Scott made it two Central Otago centre titles in a month when he claimed the champions singles title in Alexandra, beating Ranfurly’s Pat McAuley 21-12 in the final.
Scott, who lives in Dunedin and plays for the North East Valley club, is a member of the illustrious Scott bowling dynasty. He retains an associate membership with Bannockburn.
Queenstown’s Margaret O’Connor claimed her 31st title when she downed Wanaka’s Pip Kiddey 21-15 in the women’s final.
The Central Otago men’s team contesting the national inter-centre championship in Wellington is a mix of veterans and up-and-comers with an age range of more than 50 years.
The youngest member is Clyde’s Conor Muir (23), while Wanaka veteran Tom Malcolm is on the other side of 70.
North Otago
Meadowbank skip Daphne Campbell won her 15th North Otago title and a second bar to her gold star when Val Lee’s Awamoa team was beaten 17-9 in the champion of champions fours. It was Campbell’s fourth title of the season.
It was the third title this season for Barbara Allan and Carol Read and the second for Joyce Smillie. Allan now has eight North Otago titles, Read seven and Smillie three.
The men’s final was won by skip John Smith’s Phoenix four when it beat Peter Wylie’s Meadowbank team 20-7. It was the ninth North Otago title for Smith, second for Neville Bowmar and first for Scott Greenland and Darryl Whitburn.Hugh Catto (Phoenix) beat Graeme Sangster (Meadowbank ) 21-17 in the veteran men’s singles final.
Brenda Hope (Phoenix) won the women’s singles.The development champion’s singles titles were won by Marilyn Velenski (Awamoa) and Graeme Fisher (Maheno).
Meadowbank A won the Mills Shield competition from Maheno A. Phoenix B won the Saturday afternoon Fives.South OtagoClinton’s Wynston McLachlan won his 32nd South Otago title in the champion of champion pairs final with Wayne Reeves when they beat Kaitangata’s Mark and Peter Twaddle 18-15. It was Reeves’ third title.
McLachlan is second on the South Otago men’s honours board behind the late Bill Barron who won 41 titles.
Dave Richan (Kaka Point) won his 10th title and a bar to his gold star when he outplayed McLachlan 21-4 in the champion singles.In the women’s champion pairs Marg Halder and Avis Rishworth (Clutha Valley) beat Wynette McLachlan and Nola Anderson (Clinton). Rishworth has won 15 South Otago titles and a second bar for her gold star and Halder 13 titles. They both added three titles this season.
Balclutha won the Saturday interclub on countback. Finegand beat Stirling on countback in the midweek competition.
Milton won the men’s Tuesday Sevens with 42 points from Balclutha 40 and Kaitangata 32. Kaka Point won the Tuesday fours on the countback when it finished with the same points as Milton and Balclutha.
