AROUND THE GREENS

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30578, 22 October 1964, Page 13

AROUND THE GREENS

The St Martin’s women’s club this year became the third women’s club in Christchurch to possess its own green and the photograph above shows the patron, Mrs P. Hollander, playing the first bowl at the opening ceremony. Next to her is the president Mrs W. Evans, and standing at the rear is the first president, Mrs I. Atkinson, who played the first kitty. The green is backing on to the men’s club, which is to the right of the photograph. There was a large attendance of members from both St. Martin’s and other clubs at the opening, which was performed by the Mayor, Mr G. Manning.

One of only three or four clubs in Canterbury with a “weed-green,” Linwood is very satisfied with the progress the green is making. It was sown in March and should be ready for play early in the New Year. The green is very much an experiment but it appears to be knitting well and should have a better surface than normal.

Mr A. F. Graham, who was a successful member of the Sumner club for 43 years in spite of the loss of a leg in World War I, died recently in his eightieth year. He was

the oldest member of the club. Mr Graham skipped the club’s winning champion pairs in 1943 and 1945, and was also in the winning champion rinks four times, in 1935, 1941, 1942 and 1946. In later years, Mr Graham was the club’s umpire. Elected a life member in 1956, he was the patron from 1962, an office he also held in the Redcliffs Croquet Club. In his younger days before the war Mr Graham was a prominent member of the Linwood Rugby Club. The heavy rain last Saturday postponed the first day of serious club competitions for most bowlers. However, the disappointment of no play was eased by the knowledge that the greens, many of which were hardly that colour, would have a chance of recovering from the illeffects of a dry winter. Recently opened, the Canterbury Club’s green has seldom commenced a new season in brighter order. At the moment, the surface is inclined to be a little slow but is improving all the time and members are taking full advantage of the excellent conditions. Particularly pleasing has been the large muster of new members each day and in this direction, the veteran bowler and coach, Mr J. Turpin, is doing a fine job. The result, even at this

early stage, is that the club appears to have acquired some unusually promising colts. Everything points to a most successful season in all departments for this longestablished club. The club holds its first all-day open tournament on November 1.