Eketāhuna’s Bowling Club [EBC] has had to make the bittersweet decision to shut its doors after more than 100 years of operation.
The fate of the club was finally sealed at EBC’s annual meeting, in acknowledgement of a number of issues, including a shortage of members, and the way in which the work required to maintain the grounds and buildings was getting beyond the nine remaining members, who are currently in their 70s and 80s.
The decision to gift the grounds and building to the Eketāhuna Community Charitable Trust was made in hopes of either leasing or selling it to “benefit” the district through grants and projects in the future.
Former EBC president John Harmon told the Times-Age that members were disappointed in having to shut down the club, but it was the right decision to make given the circumstances.
Harmon – who joined EBC in 1989 – said it got to the point where only two or three members were left in the town as the remainder of the members had moved to different areas of Wairarapa.
“In the end, it just became inevitable that we were going to have to close,” Harmon said.
“It’s certainly been a club that has fully participated in Wairarapa Bowls Centre over many years.
“It had many of its members over the years win titles – given its centre level.”
Two EBC players – one of whom is Harmon – have already joined other bowling clubs in the region, while other former members intend to do the same.
“To a degree, I think bowls have slightly been rejuvenated for younger people, but it takes a bit of time,” Harmon said, noting that even when there is an indication that a child is interested in the game, they will almost certainly soon be moving out of the district for university or polytechnics, “so the chances of them being retained in the town and becoming bowlers isn’t that great”.
The bowling club grounds were originally donated in 1909 by Alfred Henry Herbert – an experienced Territorial Force Officer and shopkeeper from Eketāhuna – for the community to set up a bowling club that was officially opened two years later in 1911.
