Active Bowler At 96

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28256, 18 April 1957, Page 15

Active Bowler At 96

Bom in the little village of Craigdam, near Tardis, Scotland, in 1861, Charles Taylor, at 96, still takes a keen and active interest in bowls.

Mr Taylor arrived in New Zealand in 1872, and soon found his way into the building trade. He became interested in stonemasonry, and in 1883 he began work as an apprentice on the Christchurch Cathedral when the walls were only two feet high. He then worked on the Canterbury Museum and also the Christchurch railway station, and many other ptominent city buildings. After serving as an apprentice builder, Mr Taylor .went into business with his brother, but staff difficulties during World War I forced the business to close. He then worked as a clerk of works on such notable buildings as St. George’s Hospital, the McDougall Art Gallery and Todd Motors (now the Railway Road Services’ depot). A serious accident during supervision of the erection of a timber mill in the late 1920’s caused his retirement. Mr Taylor was elected in 1900 as the Sydenham representative of the Christchurch City Council, under the ward system. This introduced him to bowling, because he received a letter from the secretary of the Sydenham Bowling Club informing him that it was usual for the district’s representative on the council to be a member of the club. He has been a member ever since, is now a life member, and has filled the office of patron. He has taken a great interest in bowls, and has travelled all over the Dominion to various tournaments. He first played in a Dominion tournament in 1912, and continued to play in them until 1950 when he was 90. Apart from club successes, he won the West Coast champion pairs, and was runner-up in the South Canterbury pairs with Mr R. B. Clarke,

the immediate past president of the Christchurch Bowling Centre. Mr Taylor’s last tournament away from Christchurch was in 1950, when he visited the West Coast. Only recently has he given up cycling to bowls and, although he does not play regularly now, he took part in the elderly bowlers’ tournament on the United green in February. Mr Taylor has one hope, and that is that he will live long enough to see the opening of the new railway station, which is being built to replace the one on which he worked.