As of the other day, ‘Johnston Park Bowling Club’ is no more.
Instead, it’s now ‘Bowls Feilding’.
And although still the same club, and still located in the same place at Johnston Park in the Manawatu town of Feilding, the club locality has now got a much better chance of being recognised than the mysterious ‘J’ Park ever did.
“It just provides us with a more practical identity,” says Bowls Feilding Vice-President Mark Noble. “It not only signals to visitors where to find us in the bowls community, but also signals to locals that we’re an independent sporting organisation from the council-run Johnston Park.”
“Now people only have to grapple with spelling our name correctly,” he laughs “’Feilding’ … not ‘Fielding’!”
The club hasn’t just changed its name.
“As money and resources allow, we’re looking to carry out a gradual modernisation and freshening up of the place,” says Mark. “And that started the other week with sprucing up the seating around the green with our club colours : black and maroon.”
“However, the ‘re-branding’ is a about more than simply splashing a bit of paint around,” says Allan Stewart, a member of the club executive. “My sister, Natasha (Hume), has joined the club, and having a degree in visual arts, she is able to provide a more professional (but still gratis!) eye over what needs to be done to modernise the place.”
“That includes front-facing things like re-jigging the club logo with ‘Bowls Feilding’ rather than ‘Johnston Park Bowling Club’ … as well as producing new club shirts.”
“But it also includes revamping behind-the-scenes .. and that’s already started with the installation of a brand new chiller.”
The impetus for a club revamp is understandable.
Bowls Feilding is now one of the larger clubs in the Manawatu with close on 100 members … and giving the big city clubs Takaro, North End and Palmerston North a run for their money. “Our men were 2nd and 3rd respectively in the last two years Centre interclubs,” says Allan proudly.
What’s more the future is looking even rosier.
“Natasha was just one of 14 new members who joined the club last year. In addition to 6 new members who joined the club the previous season. They’re both younger and older bowlers … we’re not just getting retirees!”
“We want to make the club not only the place to play bowls, but the place to socialise in Feilding,” says Mark. “When the All Blacks play in Europe, we’re putting on breakfast at the club at 9:00am in the morning with the game live on TV … followed by bowls at 11:00am and an open bar.”
“We’re also getting 30 or 40 regulars from the local Empire Hotel down here from time to time … to mix it up with a beer and bowls.”
All the traffic through the club is doing wonders to impress potential sponsors.
Bowls Feilding has been able to do something which has rarely been seen at the other 470 or so clubs throughout New Zealand … get the individual rinks of their green individually sponsored. “That gives them naming rights on the rink scoreboard as well as 1 metre x 1 metre signage around the green.”
And in another ‘first’, the club achieved what probably no other club has achieved : Natasha Hume was selected to play in the Manawatu 1-8 Centre team against Wellington … without ever having played in a tournament before!
“I heard that Natasha put on a really good show at the Centre trials .. and couldn’t be overlooked by the selectors,” says Mark.
“Knowing her way around a bowling green may be in the family genes. Her brother Allan (Stewart) is pretty handy with a bowl (as is his partner Kirsty Hill). But it may also be in the ‘club genes’ as well (if there is such a thing), with fellow club players like Steve Love, Brian Gibson, Darren Wright, Janeen Noble and Aaron Goldsack already grabbing attention at Centre level,”
Of course, Mark is also hardly a slug at the game either!
With a new name, new members and new stars, we’re not only going to be hearing about ‘Bowls Feilding’ for the first time … but almost certainly a LOT about Bowls Feilding in the future!