Welcome to Bowls Bay of Plenty

Mid Term Update:    from Bowls Bay of Plenty President.                   

Greetings Everyone…..it is timely to report to you on Centre activities over the period since July last year when the Annual Meeting significantly changed the structure of our Centre governance and set in place a new Board framework of Divisional representatives and elected members.

The Board has met on a monthly basis and worked very positively under the Divisional setup.  

Until recently, all emphasis has been on catching up with the many areas that needed to be re-assessed following on from previous administrations - with ultimately a number of policy and operational updates required. While at the same time, ensuring the Centre Events and Representative programmes kept running effectively, notwithstanding the Covid19 and weather disruptions during this period.

Representative Fixtures: Our representative programme has had significant disruption through Covid19, losing the major North Harbour Quadrangular event  early in the season and then the first leg of the Zone 2 fixtures for the Kaimai and Geddes trophies in November. The national Inter Centre will now take place as a regional playoff later this month at Tui Park with the national final scheduled for October. The national Interclub fixture still remains uncertain.

Notwithstanding all this, our players and team managements, under the respective stewardship of Gayle Melrose and Janice Paap, have done an amazing job in making themselves available and competing in the events able to be staged.

We have enjoyed success with the Junior 1-5yr teams against Gisborne –East Coast early on in Whakatane and credible results when taking on Counties, Waikato and Thames Valley more recently in away fixtures.

The Premier 1 squad of men and women has excelled with very good wins, against North Harbour in January at Katikati and then claiming  the Zone 2 Kaimai trophy last month at Papakura. The Premier 2 teams, featuring mostly ‘developmental’ players have at the same time lined up against strong opposition with encouraging performances for the future.        

Centre Events: Following the Annual Meeting approval for establishment of an Operations Committee - this new group, headed by Morgan Solomon, has been working assiduously on the day to day requirements for Centre Events. These competitions are the very fulcrum of Centre activity, and every effort is being made to streamline and further improve their running. By next season the intention is to have Tournament Controllers, venue and green allocations in place early and well in advance.

Thankyou to all host clubs so far this season. We are very appreciative of the co-operation and effort that has taken place, especially during the difficult period in early December with the Covid disruptions.

Entries to Centre events have been very good with the main frustration being the weather causing cancellation of the Men’s and Women’s Triples, now rescheduled for May, and the postponement of the Mixed 2x4x2 Semis and Finals still to be completed.

‍The highlight has been the Baywide Sevens held over two weekends in December in a re-vamped format ending in a superb finals day hosted by the Te Puke club. The new format attracted much discussion amongst competing teams and the Board has now confirmed for next season the event will be again in December but on back to back weekends. A similar format will remain, however entry will be confined to one team per club.              

 Events and dates for the next two years are already in the planning stage and the Centre Programme with next season dates is aimed to be available to Divisions and Clubs by the end of April. The Annual Meeting in June is planned to include a workshop on the formatting of Centre events and future venue allocation.      

Finance and Administration: A subcommittee was established at the outset for this key area. With Margaret O’Regan in charge, new innovations have included an operating budget period introduced from July to June being the ‘seasonal’ 12 months following each AGM. The financial year remains at 31 March. Accounting procedures have been fully analyzed with some adjustments made.        

All Centre events are now closely monitored and reported on, with prize money paid online in the week following. The method for re-imbursement to host clubs for venue use has been totally revamped with Clubs not having to enter into protracted claims, now receiving payment shortly after each event.

The Centre continues to be in a strong financial position.        

Work on incorporating the Board structural changes at the 2021 AGM for inclusion in the Centre Constitution is currently being completed.

Future Planning: Since the beginning of this year the Board has been able to focus on future needs and a Work Plan has been adopted for the rest of this season and to set a platform for next season and beyond.  Key areas include:

‍2022 AnnualMeeting: This will be held on June 26 in Rotorua with a change to a conference styled format. Two key Workshops will be held in the morning, one for Club Membership promotional ideas and another on Centre Events.

Notices, remits and nomination requirements for the meeting will be sent out mid April with returns to be in by mid-late May.

Centre Handbook: Publishing arrangements have been confirmed for next season’s edition. Final content and editing is planned for May with production in August.

Centre Manager Position: Eddie Ashcroft has played a vital role as our Interim Manager since the July AGM and his intellectual knowledge of Centre business and events has allowed day to day operations to proceed with minimum fuss.

The Board is underway with re-establishing a permanent manager role and the position will be advertised shortly with the objective of having someone in place by mid-year.

‍Website: The Centre website in its current format was introduced over 12 months ago and remains a work in progress for the new administration. It has a number of excellent features but better navigation, programming content including Divisional information, along with tournament entry confirmation are amongst planned improvements.  

In the meantime thanks to all involved, keep enjoying your bowls, and please keep safe.

Regards

Bill Murphy – President, Bowls Bay of Plenty.

7March, 2022.  

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