Our own bowls legend John Miles celebrated his 100th birthday milestone last Thursday at the club.
The John Miles Centennial triples were held.
It was a beautiful day, little wind and it got quite warm just after lunch.
A full field of 18 teams were entered with a number of players keen to acknowledge Johns contribution to bowls by playing in this special tournament.
Gaye and Ron, flew up from Amberley especially for the event, I think they were trying to get away from the cold.
The format for the day was four games of 2 bowl triples with John planning to play a few ends in the fourth game.
Followed by afternoon tea and drinks.
John did play four ends, he commented the green had got a lot slower than last time he played.
An excuse for some of his shorter bowls.
Caryl and John graciously wanted to pay for both the afternoon tea and drinks.
His birthday was actually on the Tuesday 19th, but he felt it was a good idea to celebrate it on Thursday with all the 54 bowlers that turned up for the triples.
All current members and past members were invited and it was a great turnout with 90 or more bowlers and friends in attendance.
Steve McGregor ran an excellent tournament on the day keeping, right on time, he had the presentation done with time to spare before the celebration.
John presented the winners with their envelopes and did the draw for the lucky dips, including two extra John Miles lucky dips.
Thank you for drawing my team out, John.
President Tony Stanaway started the proceedings by congratulating John on his great milestone, also praising the woman beside John, Caryl and also thanked John for his 40 years at the club and also his roles in the club from assistant greenkeeper to greenkeeper to the president.
He also mentioned , that behind every great man there is a greater woman.
Alan Daniels, neighbour of John and Caryl before they moved into Greenwich, and a close bowls friend, spoke about John and Caryl as neighbours, how John supported the juniors and also a couple of bowls stories.
Alan read out some emails from our members who are currently away and also one from the Takapuna bowling club.
A number of past bowlers turned up which was great and a lot of stories were shared over a lovely afternoon tea ( including Johns request for Cheerio’s) and some drinks.
The day went very well, the weather was amazing and John enjoyed his day.
A big thank you to Colleen for organizing the food and Robyn Pittams for preparing the food.
Thank you to Colleen and Rosemary for decorating the clubroom and also to David, Tony Trent, Graeme, Annie and Colleen in the bar.
Report by Alan Daniels, Photos by David Lloyd
