Central Division Indoor Bowling Inc. oversees eight indoor bowling clubs in and around New Plymouth and aims to keep indoor bowling fun and affordable for everyone.
“We have a lovely hall with 19 bowling mats permanently down. Club 2000 run their club nights here on Mondays, while the other clubs hold their nights in their own halls. On Wednesdays, we run different competitions for teams from all eight clubs. For example, at the moment we’ve got 18 fours teams competing over four weeks,” said Bronnie Read, Secretary.
“We also run rep trials on Fridays at the moment, and we have weekend programmes of championships and open events. There’s something on every weekend throughout the season, including a major event over King’s Birthday weekend, with people attending from as far as Auckland and Wellington.”
Central Hall is well used right through the indoor bowling season, but for the past three years it has looked decidedly shabby.
“After getting quotes of around $20,000, we knew we didn’t have enough money to get the hall painted, inside and out. But we didn’t want our committee members up ladders trying to do it all themselves,” said Bronnie.
With funding of $9k from Toi Foundation, the Central Committee met with their painter to work out a plan.
“We hosed the hall down to clean it, and our committee members Noel, Ross and Brian sanded and painted all the small areas, including the window frames,” said Bronnie.
“Noel and Ross also spent considerable time taking off the scoreboards and seats to make painting quicker and easier for the painter, which saved us a considerable expense.
“The end result is fantastic and our indoor bowling community is delighted with the way the hall looks now.”
