• Maureen Taylor.
  • Millie Nathan.

Oscars-like ceremony for bowls awards

A momentous 2018-19 North Harbour bowls season deserved a fitting celebration and that was what was provided at the recent awards day held at the Milford club with an Oscars-like ceremony.

Major achievers paraded up a red carpet to receive their accolades against a background of a musical accompaniment provided by the band of Mairangi Bay member Keith Berman.

The occasion’s atmosphere was also enhanced by a comparatively new bowler, Takapuna’s Jan Calcott, acting as a highly professional MC, a reminder that in a past, earlier life Jan compered fashion shows.

Her feminine touch was appropriate as the recent awards were dominated by the Harbour centre’s women’s players. On the non-playing side two stalwarts, Mairangi Bay’s Jean Ashby and Orewa’s Maureen Taylor, received prestigious honours.

Ashby, whose distinguished service as an umpire to the game both nationally and at centre level was highlighted in last month’s Channel magazine, was given a life-time achievement award. And Taylor, for her work in many roles but especially on the match committee, won the President’s Cup which was a nice coincidence, as earlier at the centre annual meeting she succeeded Birkenhead’s Gary Stephens as president for the upcoming 2019-20 season.

But the biggest prize of all went to Wendy Jensen, who was an absentee from the awards function but only because she was capping off what had been an outstanding playing season by representing New Zealand on the same weekend in Australia.

Her long list of achievements in the 2018-19 season saw her win not only the Harbour women’s player of the year title but also gain the supreme bowler award. Playing out of the Orewa club, she won a host of centre titles and secured her gold star.

Consistent form at the nationals meant her return after a long absence to the national squad, and with the Black Jacks in Australia for the Asia Pacific Games, she was in the gold medal winning four. It was a vintage season indeed for the Orewa club from which Jensen and Taylor were not the only distinguished members.

Other top-line performances by the likes of Elaine McClintock and Lisa Parlane, and the club’s dominance of pennants and other competitions, plus its establishment of modern facilities, made Orewa the club of the year.

The other playing awards went to Sean Mulholland (Browns Bay), as the best one-to-five years men’s bowler; Teresa Rogers (Mairangi), as the best one-to-five years women’s bowler; and as the young bowler of the year, Birkenhead’s highly promising Milika Nathan. Despite their inexperience all three of these players have excelled at senior level with centre titles already.

Non-playing awards went to Stuart Miller (Takapuna), who as a volunteer had raised many thousands of dollars for his club running corporate days; Terry Moverley (Birkenhead) as an industrious administrator; Norma Klaassen (Manly), a long serving centre official; Graham Dorreen (Takapuna), as coach of the year; and Sue Rossiter (Takapuna) as umpire.

Dorreen has won the coaching accolade a number of times but this year’s award was especially appropriate, for he has stepped down as centre board chairman, and the awards ceremony, which he has overseen for some time, was his last act in that capacity. However, he has not been lost to bowls as he will concentrate now as a coach on the centre’s and Bowls New Zealand’s high performance programmes and he has also become chairman of the Takapuna club board.


Issue 102 September 2019