“THE BEST AGE”

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 19750, 17 March 1934, Page 16

“THE BEST AGE”

IN A MAN’S LIFE That age as it arrives Is the best. Each has its charm. Each has its advantages and pleasures. These charms, advantages, and pleasures are enjoyable in any other age but their own. So it is with bowls. The newcomer to bowls finds it to be a game in which both physical and mental exercise to an extraordinary extent is demanded. It is a scientific game. Haphazard methods have no value in bowls. Bowls demands selfgovernment in its votaries. Bodily and mental health are necessary for the ambitious player. Steady participation in the practice of the game assures both these invaluable assets. Thus it will be seen that transference from cricket, tennis, or other active sport to bowls does not lessen the value the transfer received from his original pastime. Admittedly, bowls, is at its highest value in a man’s mid-years. To secure

this highest value it is better to take to the practice of the game before midyears are reached, prevention being better than cure.

The practice of bowls prevents many ills. The necessity for concentration and the pleasure of success—which all derive, more or less—prevent thought of other than the game. In pursuit of the game troubles are forgotten, sleep is induced, regularity in life and life’s needs almost unconsciously become part of a bowler’s habits. So through mid-years to old age bowls assists bowlers on then- life's journey. “Age cannot wither, nor custom stale’’ the charms of the game. Oldmen playing bowls are old only in years. In spirit they are young. Bodily their faculties, thought minimised, are wonderfully maintained. Mentally they are bright, and their outlook is cheery and hopeful.

There are no undue taxes on an old man's physical powers. Bowling greens are level. They have no hills to climb, no rising grounds to test an old man’s lungs and heart. Lengthy participation in the game gives unexpected longevity to bowler’s suppleness and ease of movement. There are very few metropolitan greens without players of seventy-five and over who are splendid advertisements for the game's wonderful effects.