Allan Wright is a Coaster.

Born in Greymouth and brought up down the road in Runanga (the birthplace of the Labour Party in New Zealand), he and his wife Elsie came ‘over the hill’ in 1969 where Allan has been a member of the Hornby Domain Bowling Club (now ‘Bowls Hornby’) ever since.

At 87 years old. He’s the oldest full-playing member at the Hornby club.  We’re not just talking about rolling a size 3 down the green every so often, but playing and practising regularly and frequently.

He’s currently the longest-serving member of the club … maybe the longest serving ever.  And because he started off his bowls at the Runanga Bowling Club in 1953 at the age of 15, he’s certainly the longest-playing bowler at Hornby .. now and ever.

In fact Allan must be one of the longest-playing bowlers in New Zealand.

As you’d expect, he’s amassed quite a few club titles over that time … 20 at Hornby (5 x Singles, 2 x Pairs, 6 x Triples, 1 x Fours and 6 x Veterans) and maybe a further 2 or 3 at Runanga.  He’s been runner-up about as many times.  He’s never won a Centre title, but also been ‘all but’ many times.  And never gained any notable place in the Nationals, although a 21-16 loss to Peter Belliss almost counts as a ‘win’!

Allan was also a Canterbury rep in 1972, 1973, 1978 and 1980.

But it’s not over yet.  At 86 years old, he still looks and sounds like a 71 year old, and you would have to bet that he may still have more titles in him yet.

“I love my bowls,” says Allan. “But back on the Coast I started my sports life in badminton, and at 15 won the West Coast Men’s Doubles … even going on to the New Zealand Championships.”

Back then, Allan was working at the Runanga Bakery.  He then went on to become a Plasterer up the coast at Cape Foulwind, before doing what many West Coast blokes did at the time : going in to the mines.  That was after he married Elsie in Greymouth in 1960.

“The money was good,” says Allan. “And once, at the Liverpool mine, four of us pulled over 600 tons of coal out of the mine over a fortnight.  It was some sort of record.  And I can remember we got 8 pound seventeen and six for a day’s work … that was big money.”

Mining was dangerous work.  But Allan never had a serious accident,  “I had a mate who got caught in a blast.  And I had worked in the Strongman Mine in the blacksmiths shop before the disaster in 1968.  But I guess I was pretty careful.”

“But it became time to move on.  So Elsie and I moved to Christchurch in 1969, and I picked up a job as a foreman at the AHI Laminex.  I was there for 10 years when Elsie and I decided to have a change and we bought the Sockburn Dairy.  I also took a job in the lamb cuts room at Islington Freezing Works.”

“After seven years, we sold the dairy.  But unfortunately, the Works closed shortly afterwards and I found myself looking for a job again.  I ended up at Cookie Time in Templeton, where I stayed for 18 years until retirement in 2012.”

In their latter years, Allan and Elsie wintered over on the Sunshine Coast where Allan was a frequent visitor at the Kallangur Bowling Club.  Funnily enough, despite Allan’s enthusiasm for the game, Elsie never took it up.

And funnily enough, it wasn’t the bowling green where Allan enjoyed his 15 minutes of fame.

“25 of us formed a thoroughbred racing syndicate back in the late 80’s,” he says. “And our horse ‘Soundoration’ won the New Zealand Galloping Cup at Riccarton in1990.  It was in a record time … 3 minutes, 17.22 seconds if I recall.  We had a few that night!”

Elsie passed a year ago, and daughter Susan keeps an eye on him these days (there’s also two sons Stephen and Graeme). Susan lives in Halswell and is a nurse at Christchurch Public Hospital.  But Allan still spends a lot of time at the bowling club.

“Allan’s a great club member,” says Ann Wright (no relation), former National Bowls President and currently a board member of Bowls New Zealand.  “He makes a point of making visitors feel welcome in the club … he was the first to welcome me when I joined the club 12 years ago.”

“He quietly fits in with all the ‘groups’ in the club.  And although he hasn’t held a lot of offices at the club, he’s the first guy to put up his hand for a working bee or whatever.”

“Every club needs ‘Allans’.”

We agree. Thanks for everything Allan. And thanks for what’s still to come!!