Tauranga's Bowls Matua club opens flash new greens after Covid-19 delays

The new $400,000 Bowls Matua greens opened on Friday. Photo / Supplied

There were cheers at Bowls Matua as 101-year-old Dennis Gillard and 91-year-old Pat Gillon christened the club's new synthetic greens by laying the first bowls of the day.

Just under 100 people gathered at the club on Friday to celebrate the opening of its new synthetic greens after three years of Covid-19 delays threatened to stop the project altogether.

It fundraised $400,000 in donations and grants to fund the new turf.

Bowls Matua board member and former president Cliff Osborne. Photo / NZME

Bowls Matua board member Cliff Osborne said the grand opening "went very well".

"We had a little tournament and a free barbecue."

Osborne said Bowls Matua was within a 10-minute drive for about 33,000 households.

"Life revolves around it," Osborne said.

"It's about fellowship. You meet with your people, have chats and reminisce. We look after each other.

"We have competitive bowlers and social bowlers. We even have a bowling arm for those with arthritis. It keeps everyone in the game."

Osborne said Gillard, the centenarian, was one of the club's competitive bowlers. Gillard still plays every week and has been a member of the club for about 15 years.

Bowls Matua also used Friday's celebrations as an opportunity to award life member plaques. Photo / Supplied

Friday's opening came as a big relief to Osborne, who initiated the project of replacing the club's greens three years ago.

At the time, Osborne thought once the money was raised the project would only take about three months to complete.

"We didn't have a clue that we were going to go into a Covid-19 shutdown in New Zealand," he said.

"We had to purchase the greens and then store them for two years."

Osborne said the pandemic had also meant their contractor was stranded in Australia.

"The project should have been finished in 2020," Osborne said.

Osborne was the club's president until 2021. Now a board member, he was very happy to see the new greens being used on a sunny day.

"We've always had a synthetic lawn for the bowls. We knew we wanted to move that way because the cost of maintaining grass is $80k to $100k a year."

Main funders for the new greens included TECT ($100,000), NZCT ($70,000), the Tauranga City Council ($50,000), Pub Charities ($30,000) and the Lion Foundation ($30,000).