BEACH HAVEN BOWLING CLUB
.........THE MIGHTY HAVEN!
SHEPHERDS PARK - A JEWEL OF A PARK
Beach Haven Bowling Club is an active member of the Shepherds Park Community, a group of formal sports clubs including Football, Futsal (5-a-side Soccer), Tennis, Squash, Hockey & Cricket and informal interest groups such as Sevens Football, Bushwalking and Fitness Training - there are several challenging fitness machines located throughout the Park. For further information see:-
These groups all acknowledge the hard work put in by the volunteers of the Friends of Sheperds Park, who have been instrumental in improving, maintaining and extending the walks around the Park for many years. Some of this work continues eastward along the waterfront of Hellyers Creek, well beyond the limits of Park itself. The Friends have also planted hundreds of native trees and shrubs, removed unwelcome exotic growth and thereby are slowly restoring the area to its former wonderful original mix of flora and fauna, particularly noted by the return af many bird species.
A SHORT HISTORY OF THE CLUB
​
With the support of the Local Board of the then North Shore City Council, Beach Haven Bowling Club (Inc) was first established on 29th April,1993 by a group of local residents who had identified a need for a Bowls Club at Shepherds Park. The Club finally opened its doors in 1996 with a small Clubhouse, a single Implements Shed and a green cared for by the members.
The Clubhouse was doubled in size in 1999/2000, and the green was fenced to protect the turf and provide shade and shelter for players and visitors in 2011. During a major upgrade in 2018, a second shed was added, all the concrete pathways around the green replaced with
artificial turf applied, and the deck fully extended, greatly improving access to the Clubhouse. The green was re-turfed to North Harbour and Auckland Bowls specifications during the winter of 2018, providing us with a much improved playing surface to compliment the new facilities. We are therefore confident we can be favourably compared with any small Club in the country with the unique bonus of being located in beautiful woodland surroundings.
None of this work would have been possible without input from our community. We enjoy the support of Individuals, Local Businesses and Local Government and as a result we have developed into a lively and respected Club with a reputation for friendliness and hospitality to visitors.
I
A SHORT HISTORY OF BOWLS
Lawn Bowls has developed as primarily a social game that has drawn players and communities together for hundreds of years. The first high profile reference to it in history is the incident of Sir Francis Drake who, after choosing to ignore pleas for immediate action in order to finish a game of bowls (which he lost), sailed to meet (and defeat) the Spanish Armada off the coast of Southern England in 1588. In fact bowls had been played hundreds of years before then in various forms. In a chequered history, it has been both legally banned as time-wasting and decadent by those who employed the players and at other times played by the rich and famous of the day. The roots of the modern game can be traced back to Scotland in the early 1800s. Australia and England followed soon after in setting up National Bodies and agreeing a common set of laws for the game. Over 50 countries are now represented in World Bowls competitions and Bowls is a popular and well supported Commonwealth Games Sport.