In the early New Year, Mairangi Bay, one of North Harbour’s more successful clubs, gained a notable playing double to add an appropriate touch to what is a special season.

For later this month, Mairangi Bay will celebrate its 75th jubilee and in February four of its members helped mark that occasion by winning two centre titles on the one day.
David Payne won the men’s singles championship, beating Browns Bay’s Brian Wilson in the final 21-16 and the women’s triple of Gaye Horne, Joy Watkinson and Theresa Rogers won the centre championship, beating Manly’s Elizabeth Ring, Trish Higginson and Tira Campbell 21-11 in the final.
The remarkable thing about this double is that all four bowlers are relatively inexperienced, none having played the game for 10 years. Yet already they have secured considerable laurels.
Payne, who moved to Mairangi Bay when Glenfield folded a few years ago, is now in the men’s representative side; Rogers with eight centre titles is now in sight of adding a bar to her gold star; and Horne is still in the one-to-five junior ranks. However, the former Commonwealth Games medallist in fencing has had an especially memorable season, having beaten in section play a world champion in Canterbury’s Tayla Bruce in the national singles championships over Christmas-New Year.
Over its 75 years' existence Mairangi Bay has invariably been among North Harbour’s most consistent performers with steady successes in centre championships and in inter-club competitions.
It has produced, too, more than its share of effective administrators and officials, one being the international umpire and life member of centre and national associations Jean Ashby.
A former national singles champion, Lionel Franks, also spent the latter part of his illustrious career with Mairangi Bay and a great New Zealand sportsman who was among the early members was the All Black prop of the 1940s, Johnny Simpson, who later became a national bowls administrator.
And among current members there’s a special place for life member John Miles, who still bowls well as he closes in on his century, accompanied, of course, by his wife Caryl whose talent
as a draw bowler is reflected in her gold star plus two bars for centre titles.
Like most clubs, Mairangi Bay has had its challenges in recent seasons, with Covid lockdowns and what has been a diabolical summer. And the club’s tournament director Sandra Coombe says a special problem has been trying to fit in with ever-increasing centre and national calendars, making it difficult to attract outside entries.
But for all that it has been a good season and just recently the club completed a successful Founders open tournament which it has been running for many years. Another top field competed with the winners Browns Bay’s Colin Rogan and Neil Fisher and Fisher’s Howick mate, Brian Chapman, with Takapuna’s Norm Scott-Morrison, Robyne Walker and Bevan Smith second.
The 75th celebrations take place on Saturday, April 22, and that will be preceded by another open tournament, the Harcourts Classic, on April 20-21, for which there will be a total prize pool of $3000.
This event will have some special conditions. Teams must have at least one player of the opposite gender, each fours game will have a different skip and on day two one of the rounds will be bonus fours, in which the bowls of leads and twos will count.