Yesterday veteran member Noel Larsen rang to tell me that one of our past great bowlers had passed away in Queensland age 102. He moved to Australia years ago and grew pineapples until his retirement.
R.E.(Ray) Mitchell was the most prolific winners of club championships in our history. A market gardener on McLeavey Road Ray won our men’s singles 14 times, including 7 times in succession from 1976 to 1982 and was Manawatu C-of-C singles winner three times. He also won the triples and fours a number of times and Noel thinks that he won the pairs about 16 times, with Noel leading for him on six occasions. The exact number of pairs titles is uncertain as one honours board was lost during a past clubhouse renovation.
Written by Ken