Mairangi Bay - Clubs and Council partner up 3
Mairangi Bay Bowls Clubs merger: a successful merger and spin-offs for the clubs and community
The quality of the merger plans, and the transparent benefits to the community through making further space available for other sport and recreation opportunities, contributed to the newly merged club winning funding to develop and expand their facilities. The club received a grant from the North Shore City Council Community Facilities Fund for $35,000 to develop the Men’s Club to accommodate the women, and to upgrade one of the greens for greater use and to a higher competition standard.
Since the merger, Mairangi Bay Bowls Club has won the Bowls North Harbour Club of the Year Award, and then went on to claim the National Club of the Year title from Bowls New Zealand. These awards recognised the seamless way they had gone about their amalgamation, subsequent increased membership, their role in developing secondary school bowls (the club now employs part-time staff to develop the sport of youth bowls), for hosting several significant events, as well as their competitive success on the green.
Pictures of the bowls club during redevelopment. North Harbour Volleyball Club – a new home for the club and a new opportunity for young people in North Shore City
The Mairangi Bay Women’s Bowling Club site is now occupied by the North Harbour Volleyball Club. The Bowling Club and North Harbour Volleyball Club, along with a number of other clubs, form part of a cluster of sport and recreation organisations and facilities in the area. Mairangi Bay Tennis Club is situated alongside and a Community Arts Centre occupies an adjoining site, while Mairangi Bay Surf Lifesaving Club is less than one kilometre away.
Background
The North Harbour Volleyball Club formerly operated out of Auckland University of Technology’s Gymnasium and could only dream about incorporating beach volleyball as an activity within the club. They wanted to capitalise on the phenomenal growth of informal beach leagues and interest in the sport from schools in the North Shore. But the club lacked the facilities to respond to this growth in popularity of the sport.
They knew of examples in New Zealand (Tasman/Nelson) and Australia (Adelaide) where bowls clubs had been converted to beach volleyball facilities, and North Harbour Volleyball made enquiries with North Shore City Council. Following these enquiries, David Anthoness (the then CEO Volleyball New Zealand) and Grant Bindon (Club President) paid a visit to the Mairangi Bay site to assess its potential to be turned into a beach volleyball facility.
Updated | 06 Aug 2008.
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