The Christchurch Bowling Club was founded in 1875 out of the backyard of inaugural president Henry Wynn-Williams, who had a private green. The club has been based at its current location on Worcester St since 1880.
Now, 150 years on, the club is alive and well.
Former president and life member Malcolm Pennack, who is organising the celebrations, said there would be a two-day triples tournament made up of past and present members.
“It’s just a get-together, a few laughs, a little bit of bowls, talk a bit of crap, that sort of stuff,” he said.
“Just enjoy yourselves.”
Teams will be drawn tomorrow night, with the tournament to run over Saturday and Sunday before a dinner at the Richmond Working Men’s Club on Sunday night.
“There'll be speeches, prizegivings, the mayor’s going to be there,” Pennack said.
“That’s pretty much the weekend.”
Christchurch was the third bowls club to be formed in New Zealand, after Auckland (1861) and Dunedin (1865). The latter has since closed.
Pennack expected 85-90 people at the dinner, with about 50 participants in the jubilee tournament.
He said the Christchurch club was in a positive place at the moment, with more than 64 members and its first female president, Debz Harpur, elected earlier this year.
Despite the widely-held belief bowls is an “old-person sport” Pennack said there was a number of younger people playing.
“The youngest is probably around 18 or 19,” he said.
“We get a lot of ex-rugby players and league players that are playing because they’ve still got that competitive nature, but they can’t take the hard hits anymore.
“Anybody can play the game, you can be a bit of a nerd who’s never played sport in your life . . . The future’s bright, very bright.”
The sesquicentennial celebrations at the Christchurch Bowling Club start on Saturday.
