At some stage in your bowling career, consider taking a trip up to Northland and having a roll-up on some of the greens in the sub-tropics.

But remember.  There’s a lot of country up there.  Mainlanders sometimes scoff at the travel distances we enjoy in the North Island, but it’s as far from Auckland to Cape Reinga as it is from Christchurch to Nelson (and for that matter, as far from Auckland to Wellington as it is from Christchurch to Te Anau).

And there’s also a lot of bowling clubs, bowling greens and bowlers up there.

The trick is getting past Whangarei … there’s plenty in the city to distract you from exploring further north : the wonderful walk around the Town Basin (4.2 kilometres), the must-visit Hundertwasser Art Centre, the challenging  trek up the view-rewarding Mt Manaia … to name a few.

Plus, the city is also home to 4 bowling clubs, 3 of which boast over 100 members.  That’s amazing when you realise that Whangarei only has a population of a tad over 50,000.

One of those powerhouses is Bowls Kensington … just a 5 minute drive from the central Town Basin.

It’s a club with two-and-a-half greens … one natural star weed, one artificial carpet (2021), and half an astro turf.  You could say there’s something for every bowler!

Pictured above, Board Member Sheryl Johnson and Treasurer Deb Hooson are great promoters of the club.

“We have a membership of 163, of which 96 are bowlers,” they say. “Which is larger than a lot of clubs.”

“But in many respects, we’re like all bowling clubs … the members put a lot of work in every year to cover expenses … and to keep subs at a minimum.  And that includes all the usual ways ... selling signage around the green; selling advertising in our handbook; getting sponsorship; hiring out the club rooms; wrangling donations; selling raffle tickets; holding garage sales and so on. We’re fortunate in that we fully own our club property.”

But club members aren’t just busy running the club for themselves … they’re also busy making it an attractive venue for the Kensington, and Whangarei, community.

“We’re getting an increasing number of corporate groups using the clubhouse. In fact the clubhouse is used every day, at all times of the year summer and winter, for something; whether it’s housie, line dancing, cribbage, pool or table tennis.”

“And that’s on top of the bowls that happens most days … indoor and outdoor … casual roll-ups and tournaments … coaching and umpire training … as well as rangatahi bowls in term 1 and term 4.”

It’s a busy place.

And needless to say, all that bowls activity makes Bowls Kensington a very competitive club.

“Last season our 1-5 Interclub Sixes team won the Northland, and then the regional event. 5 players made the Northland 1-5 Rep Team.”

“5 women also made the Northland Premier Team, and finished runner-up in the National finals in Wellington.”

“Bowls Kensington went forward to the National Women’s Champ of Champ Triples and Fours this year,(with the Women’s Fours successfully defending their National title) as well as representing Northland at the National Interclubs.”

This was all on top of the 8 Centre titles the club won.

It’s great stuff.

“Like other clubs, we find it hard to entice people into bowls, and to get them to join the club,  But we can sit around and just keep talking about it … or get out and about and do something about it.”

“We’ve chosen the latter.”