Cantabs know Redcliffs as one of Christchurch’s estuarine suburbs which punctuate the Port Hills from Ferry Road to Scarborough.

It’s aptly named for the red tephra rock which colours the volcanic cliffs of the area.  But probably more renowned for Te Ana o Hineraki (Moa Bone Point Cave) which shows off its spectacular, cavernous opening to the adjacent main road.

It’s also renowned as one of the many suburbs of Christchurch which suffered from the effects of the 2011 earthquake … crumbly weetbix-like cliffs don’t respond too well to ground tremors.

However, if anything positive came out of the resultant devastation, it was that it brought Redcliffs residents together .. determined to rebuild the community they had enjoyed pre-quake.

Powered by the locals’ love of their community, persistent lobbying lead to the building of a new Redcliffs School.

And more recently, lead to the reimagining of the Redcliffs Mt Pleasant Bowls Club … from a dedicated bowling club to a multi-user gathering place for all manner of community-based activities.  The club has been more generically renamed ‘Club Redcliffs’.

It’s the sort of reinvention which is taking place across bowling clubs in New Zealand … breathing new life into facilities which were once exclusively the domain of elderly white males dressed in whites playing a gentile game hidden behind 6 foot corrugated iron fences.

Bowling clubs are more and more finding that their future is in being a community club which plays bowls, rather than a bowling club which plays in the community.

And there aren’t many clubs which are doing it better than Club Redcliffs.  Which is why they have won the Bowls New Zealand Club of the Year in 2024.

“Back in 2021,” observes Canterbury Centre General Manager, Lorraine McLeod. “The club realised that to survive and prosper, they needed to become a community hub … there was no future in being just another bowling club in Christchurch.”

The club backed that realisation up with a complete upgrade of their facilities … a new outside seating area, a new bar doubling the size of the service area, and an upgraded functions area.  The club was determined to make Club Redcliffs a place that people wanted to come to and enjoy … rather expecting their patrons to put up with hospitality from a former era.

“They invited the local RSA to make their home at the club,” adds Lorraine, “They started providing meals on Thursday and Friday evenings. They established business house bowls programmes and schools’ programmes.  And last year they ran an outstanding community Open Day in conjunction with the Redcliffs School and Air Rescue Trust.”

“It set Redcliffs alight … live music, food trucks, buskers, a white elephant sale, children’s entertainment, and more.  It proved that was great for Redlciffs was great for the club … the Open Day attracted 10 new full members and 30 social members.”

“It doesn’t get better than that.”

Despite focusing on becoming more than just a bowls club … or maybe because of that … Club Redlciffs has increased its membership to 290, including 41 junior members.

“They are a real role model for other bowling clubs,” says Bowls New Zealand Community Manager, Kevin Smith.  “They have opened up to the community, and as a result the community has opened up to them.  Contrary to what some might think, bowls hasn’t taken a back seat at the club.  If anything, it has put their bowls on the map.  They were semi-finalists in five of the 2024 Centre Champion-of-Champions events.”

“And that can only get better.  They have both a weed and a carpet green … so the best of both worlds.  And with a lot of juniors, as well as great coaches, the quality of the bowls coming out of Redcliffs is only going to get better.”

Congratulations Club Redcliffs on being Club of the Year.