President Trevor, Horowhenua District Mayor Brendan Duffy, President Pat of Kapiti Coast Bowls, Patron Ian, Life Members, members and guests of the Levin Bowling Club.
What a magnificent achievement it is for any bowling club in New Zealand to be selected as the TOWER Insurance Club of the Year. And what a delight it is for me to be here today in my first official engagement as President of Bowls New Zealand to present that award to the Levin Bowling Club. TOWER Insurance could not have a representative here today, so have tendered an apology and best wishes to the club.
Your club’s march to the TOWER Club of the Year Award probably began when you joined the Bowls NZ Partner Club Programme. That programme was developed several years ago as a response to the declining memberships in clubs around the country (I must emphasise, though, that declining membership is not just a ‘bowls’ thing; it is true of all clubs be they sporting, social or organizational). Our partner club programme was born from the vision to have ‘strong and sustainable’ clubs – clubs that agree to deliver initiatives, programmes and/or services in partnership with Bowls NZ. We now have 107 partner clubs of which 30 have achieved gold certification – the top attainment milestone within the programme and which your club achieved in 2014. Achievement of that milestone was a large step towards this national award.
Our national awards are not made lightly, they must be earned. Nominees for the TOWER Club of the Year Award are required to provide evidence of having achieved a number of criteria:
- They must have current and active strategic and operations plans;
- Sound financial strategies must be in place and they must be implemented effectively;
- They must be growing participation – and participation is one of the two key outcomes of Bowls NZ’s new 2015-2020 strategic plan. Participation is also a key deliverable in Sport New Zealand’s recently updated Community Sport Strategy;
- They must be cultivating umpires and coaches;
- They must be growing the game; and
- they must demonstrate effective use of Bowls NZ brands, values and programmes.
I emphasise that all those criteria include the word MUST – to be nominated a club must provide evidence that it has achieved all those criteria; not some of them, not most of them, but all of them. And that’s just to be nominated.
When I looked over your nomination for the TOWER Club of the Year Award there was a number of achievements that leapt out at me. Your playing membership is growing with an almost 20% increase over three years and about 25% of your members are Juniors, in other words new bowlers. You embraced casual membership by welcoming your casual players both socially and at club roll ups. You adopted new playing formats. You invested heavily in your playing surfaces which is a key because your greens are the heart of any club, and I know from first hand experience just what it costs to install a Dales Pro-Green Plus carpet. And when the greens were done you turned your attention to renovations. All these initiatives are concrete signs of a club in good heart, a club that’s well led, and a club with supportive members that plays its part in the local community. I know that Mayor Duffy appreciates the support that the club provides to the Levin and Horowhenua communities as is evidenced by his letter of support for your nomination. In short, the Levin Bowling Club is deservedly the TOWER Insurance Club of the Year.
When presenting awards such as this it is always dangerous to single out individuals because the achievement is properly a club achievement. However, there are some individuals whose contributions to this award were significant. Our Central Region Community Development Officer, Keith Slight, has been a major part of the process – coaxing, coaching, steering and auditing the clubs processes through the partnership path. Well done Keith, and thank you. Past President Hazel Rose has been a key participant over the past couple of years as has President Trevor. Only with the commitment of the club leadership can the benefits of the club partnership be properly realized, so well done Hazel and Trevor. Club stalwart Neville Turnbull was also a key figure. It was great to see Neville at the Bowls NZ AGM in Auckland for the formal Awards announcements to receive and bring back the plaque for presentation today. Neville’s regular newsletters provide a great connection between the club and its members and are well worth reading. And of course, any effective organisation must have a good secretary and Shoota Ballinger has certainly been that as well as looking after your website which I must say is extremely well done, current and informative.
So well done to those members, and to the many others behind the scenes whose support was and is so much part of this journey. I’d like the members to join me in an expression of thanks for everyone involved in getting the club to this point.
And now on behalf of TOWER Insurance and Bowls New Zealand, and with my heartiest congratulations, I have the privilege of presenting to President Trevor this plaque acknowledging the Levin Bowling Club as the TOWER Insurance Club of the Year 2014-2015.
Levin Bowling Club President Trevor Turnbull accepting the BowlsNZ Tower “Club of the Year” award from BowlsNZ President Mike Spring