Our History

If someone whose membership of the Takapuna club ended even 25 years ago, let alone 50 or 100 years ago, was to be reincarnated and revisited the club he would undoubtedly suffer a severe attack of “future shock” because of the many changes which have occurred.

That has been in dress and a slackening of the strict codes which were still in force in the early 2000s, the varied colours of the bowls, the fact no one would be smoking on the green and, most strikingly of all, that on a championship day there would have been almost an equal number of men and women playing.

For even up until 2002 Takapuna was a male bastion, as it had been since it was launched in 1912. It officially opened on December 7 that year, which explains why our flagship Birthday Tournament is always scheduled around that date.

The club started on what pretty much remains its present site when two acres of land were bought from the old Shakespeare estate, which in the early 20^th century was then was a small seaside village.

The site was then shared from the club’s early years with tennis and croquet until 1951 when tennis stayed in its present site but croquet moved to Auburn Street, enabling more room for bowls then undergoing a post-war membership boom in membership.

That was taken a stage further in 1955 when the present club-house was built.

That bowls was seen in its early years as a male preserve was illustrated with some of the tokenism that was conferred on the ladies. They were allowed to play at the club but only one rink on each day of the week except Saturdays, match days and public holidays.

Little wonder that women’s bowls nation-wide took some time to develop for it was not until 1955 that through the effort of one, Bel Murdoch, that a Takapuna ladies’ club was started in Auburn Street near the croquet club.

It is perhaps unfair to be too scathing on the male attitudes of those years. They were really only following the prevailing mores of the time, and it wasn’t solely because of men that gender integration took so long to come about. Many women were also loath to lose their independence and some were so strong-mind they enforced dress codes to a limit which today would not be tolerated.

And for the Takapuna to have lasted for as long as it has must surely owe something to the sound administrators of yesteryear. They clearly established a club on a strong foundation and with a good set of values and ethics.

Many of the club’s early leaders were also people of substance in the community. The club’s first president, Euan Alison, became in 1913 the first mayor of the Takapuna Borough and three others who were to be presidents followed him in that role, W Blomfield, JW Hayden and JW Williamson.

President in 1951 was a leading banking executive, Frank Sutherland, a former international rugby referee and in 1952 president of the New Zealand Rugby Union.

Until the formation of the North Harbour centre in the mid -1980s Takapuna was affiliated to what had become a cumbersome, faction-ridden Auckland centre. Takapuna bowlers were prominent within Auckland as players and administratively. Phil Bowden was on the Auckland centre in the 1970s and its president in 1978-79 and Bill Hewitt, like Bowden a Takapuna life member, was the full-time Auckland secretary in the 1980s.

Takapuna was a mainstay of the Auckland centre until the North Harbour formation, the club sharing in the boom which bowls enjoyed during the 1960s and 70s. Owen Smith was the leading Takapuna bowler then and in winning many Auckland titles along with the likes of Graham Delamore, Cliff Parry and Les Sanders achieved a gold star from that centre. That was a distinction he would also gain when the Harbour centre came into being, having in 1981 come close to winning the national singles title, pipped by one Peter Belliss.

In the 1979-80 season the Takapuna membership peaked at 240. The membership was so large applications to join used to go on waiting lists and for Saturday afternoon roll-ups ballots were used. This was at a time when the club had two and a half greens, for the need for a car-park did not then exist

But in the late 70s and early 80s seven-day shopping was introduced and among those affected by the vast socio-economic changes this caused were recreational sports clubs.

In the 1987 season Takapuna was in the national spotlight when totally unexpectedly two young members, George Fabling and Tony Marinkovich, were runners-up in the national pairs.

But while it wasn’t always obvious bowls as a whole was undergoing a gradual decline into the 1990s, offset to some extent at Takapuna by switching what is now the Ryman green to artificial, allowing all-year play.

In the early 2000s, about the time this writer became a member, came much needed boosts from two momentous events. One was finally opening membership to women, the other the sudden arrival at the club of several outstanding bowlers.

Rowan Brassey, one of New Zealand’s greatest bowlers and a world champion, had a major disagreement with the Auckland centre leadership. Perhaps because of his ties with the head of the company which distributed Henselite bowls, Jack Carter, who also was a Takapuna club member, he crossed the Harbour Bridge. He brought with him other top Auckland bowlers, notably his friends Danny O’Connor and Ross Haresnape.

They were only with the club briefly and sporadically, but that was sufficient for them to help Takapuna not only to dominate the Harbour sevens competition but to win national play-offs in 2005 and 2007. The “imports” formed the basis of the 2005 win, with the help of regular club members, Bob Howitt and Trevor Forward, and two more of the “regulars,” Murray Mathieson and John Sakey, shared in the 2007 triumph.

The latter two, indeed, gained further national success in the club’s centennial year by winning in 2012, along with John Valentine, the Trusts New Zealand Open triples at Henderson.

Arguably, though, the biggest quantum shift in transforming and revitalising the club came with the inclusion at long last of women members. This stemmed from the then Hillary Commission urging those sports with a gender divide like bowls to merge at national and all other levels.

For some the process wasn’t necessarily smooth. But it is to Takapuna’s credit that common sense always prevailed and blending the two genders was so seamless.

In 2002 a special meeting of the club approved the admission of women and among the first to become members were Liz Stevens and Lois Rose, both of whom became effective and efficient administrators. Then in 2004 there was an official amalgamation, with the ladies leaving their Auburn Street site and enhancing the club with their graceful charm.

For many years, though, apart from a few exceptions, most of our ladies preferred to play at a recreational level, so much so that the club’s best women’s player, Connie Mathieson, to compete at centre level became a dual member with Birkenhead, where most of her titles have been won.

That, of course, changed dramatically just a few seasons ago when such accomplished players as Selina Goddard, Wendy Jensen, both Black Jacks, Anne Dorreen, Lisa Dickson, Robyne Walker, Lauren Mills, Adele Ineson, Trish Hardy and Jacqui Belcher joined the club.

Boosted by these sort of star players, Takapuna had a magnificent 2022, with Lisa, Lauren, Robyne and Anne winning the national champion of champion fours title, then a few months later being joined by Selina, Adele and Keiko Kurohara to win the national inter-club sevens.

While the ladies have provided most of the club’s glory in recent years the men haven’t been quite over-shadowed. Several have won centre titles, and Trevor Forward, Chris Taylor, Murray Mathieson and Walter Howden have achieved gold star status.

Other top players like Simon Poppleton, Steve Hoeft, Jerry Belcher, Ian Hardy, Graham Skellern, Brent Malcolm, Jason Parker and the Skoglund brothers, Philip and Raymond, have added to the depth at club championships. Skellern, as a para athlete, accompanied Selina to the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, giving the club a rare double with Selina a few months later winning an epic 2023 national singles final.

The club has always benefitted from the skills some have brought from their feats in other sports. Graham Delamore was a 1949 All Black, the famous Bert Sutcliffe and Colin Snedden, members in the 70s and 80s, test cricketers, Murray Mathieson a 1960 hockey Olympian and Bevan Smith and Norm Scott-Morrison champion track athletes.

Takapuna, too, has been lucky in the quality of its administrators, many of whom have been professionals in their fields, in its green-keepers and its handymen volunteers. In the past few years the club has been headed by innovative chairs like Graham Dorreen and Robyne Walker and has been able to call on the wise counsel and vast bowls knowledge of Brett O’Riley, one of only three New Zealanders to become World Bowls President in 2024.

The calibre of all these fine servants of the club perhaps explains why Takapuna has won so many Bowls New Zealand and Bowls North Harbour club of the years titles and why it can face the many challenges ahead with confidence.

By Lindsay Knight, Life Member

And written with thanks to Murray Mathieson and his excellent club history, “A Book Of Memories.”

Our History

If someone whose membership of the Takapuna club ended even 25 years ago, let alone 50 or 100 years ago, was to be reincarnated and revisited the club he would undoubtedly suffer a severe attack of “future shock” because of the many changes which have occurred.

For even up until 2002 Takapuna was a male bastion, as it had been since it was launched in 1912. It officially opened on December 7 that year, which explains why our flagship Birthday Tournament is always scheduled around that date.

The club started on what pretty much remains its present site when two acres of land were bought from the old Shakespeare estate, which in the early 20th century was then was a small seaside village.

The site was then shared from the club’s early years with tennis and croquet until 1951 when tennis stayed in its present site but croquet moved to Auburn Street, enabling more room for bowls then undergoing a post-war membership boom in membership.

That was taken a stage further in 1955 when the present club-house was built.

That bowls was seen in its early years as a male preserve was illustrated with some of the tokenism that was conferred on the ladies. They were allowed to play at the club but only one rink on each day of the week except Saturdays, match days and public holidays.

Little wonder that women’s bowls nation-wide took some time to develop for it was not until 1955 that through the effort of one, Bel Murdoch, that a Takapuna ladies’ club was started in Auburn Street near the croquet club.

And for the Takapuna to have lasted for as long as it has must surely owe something to the sound administrators of yesteryear. They clearly established a club on a strong foundation and with a good set of values and ethics.

Many of the club’s early leaders were also people of substance in the community. The club’s first president, Euan Alison, became in 1913 the first mayor of the Takapuna Borough and three others who were to be presidents followed him in that role, W Blomfield, JW Hayden and JW Williamson.

President in 1951 was a leading banking executive, Frank Sutherland, a former international rugby referee and in 1952 president of the New Zealand Rugby Union.

In the 1979-80 season the Takapuna membership peaked at 240. The membership was so large applications to join used to go on waiting lists and for Saturday afternoon roll-ups ballots were used. This was at a time when the club had two and a half greens, for the need for a car-park did not then exist

But in the late 70s and early 80s seven-day shopping was introduced and among those affected by the vast socio-economic changes this caused were recreational sports clubs.

In the 1987 season Takapuna was in the national spotlight when totally unexpectedly two young members, George Fabling and Tony Marinkovich, were runners-up in the national pairs.

But while it wasn’t always obvious bowls as a whole was undergoing a gradual decline into the 1990s, offset to some extent at Takapuna by switching what is now the Ryman green to artificial, allowing all-year play.

In the early 2000s, about the time this writer became a member, came much needed boosts from two momentous events. One was finally opening membership to women, the other the sudden arrival at the club of several outstanding bowlers.

The latter two, indeed, gained further national success in the club’s centennial year by winning in 2012, along with John Valentine, the Trusts New Zealand Open triples at Henderson.

Arguably, though, the biggest quantum shift in transforming and revitalising the club came with the inclusion at long last of women members. This stemmed from the then Hillary Commission urging those sports with a gender divide like bowls to merge at national and all other levels.

For some the process wasn’t necessarily smooth. But it is to Takapuna’s credit that common sense always prevailed and blending the two genders was so seamless.

For many years, though, apart from a few exceptions, most of our ladies preferred to play at a recreational level, so much so that the club’s best women’s player, Connie Mathieson, to compete at centre level became a dual member with Birkenhead, where most of her titles have been won.

That, of course, changed dramatically just a few seasons ago when such accomplished players as Selina Goddard, Wendy Jensen, both Black Jacks, Anne Dorreen, Lisa Dickson, Robyne Walker, Lauren Mills, Adele Ineson, Trish Hardy and Jacqui Belcher joined the club.

Boosted by these sort of star players, Takapuna had a magnificent 2022, with Lisa, Lauren, Robyne and Anne winning the national champion of champion fours title, then a few months later being joined by Selina, Adele and Keiko Kurohara to win the national inter-club sevens.

While the ladies have provided most of the club’s glory in recent years the men haven’t been quite over-shadowed. Several have won centre titles, and Trevor Forward, Chris Taylor, Murray Mathieson and Walter Howden have achieved gold star status.

The calibre of all these fine servants of the club perhaps explains why Takapuna has won so many Bowls New Zealand and Bowls North Harbour club of the years titles and why it can face the many challenges ahead with confidence.

The club started on what pretty much remains its present site when two acres of land were bought from the old Shakespeare estate, which in the early 20^th century was then was a small seaside village.