The Ōhope Indoor Bowls Club was formed in 1950 and this weekend, 75 years on, current and past members are coming together to remember and celebrate.

Some of the foundation members of the club were Phil and Doreen Bigwood, Bill and Thelma Moore, Con Callaghar, Rex Jerome and Eric Hunt, who played in the Presbyterian Church on the one mat available.

When the project to construct the Ōhope Memorial Hall started at the bottom of the Ōhope hill, the first stage was to build the supper room and, on its completion, the club relocated, allowing membership to increase and the purchase of another mat.

When the Memorial Hall was completed in 1955, the club moved from the supper room into the main hall area. From here, the door was open to again increase membership, which happened. The decision was made to start a junior club, and some of those players are still playing today.

Ōhope, being a holiday destination, saw its population fluctuating and television also came along, and it was at this time that membership dropped. This trend continued for a time, but thanks to some dedicated members the club did not fold.

Ōhope eventually grew to have a more permanent population and club membership increased, with the club becoming one of the biggest in the Whakatāne Association.

From the records, the first Bay of Plenty centre title came in 1955, the Open Fours won by E Hunt, J  Walker, H Butler and N Butler. The first Whakatāne Association title was in 1960, the singles by  J Simons.

Other achievements include being runners-up in the North Island Championship fours in 1980 and 1991. Peter Clark and Tony Reynolds have twice been third equal in the NZ Championship Pairs, and Dennis Baker and Garth Beggs, once.

Five members, Connie Dowle, Gail Hunt, Chris Wyke, Tony Bonne and Gary Hunt were in the BOP representative team who beat the touring Australian team in 1978.

Dave Reynolds and Gary Hunt were in the first BOP team in 1985 to win the Bankier Rosebowl, and Dianne Mackey and Kaye Hunt were the first women’s team to win the McGillan pairs in 1991.

The Ōhope club can claim three generations from one family winning the BOP Champion of Champion fours with Eric Hunt winning in 1956-57, Gary Hunt in 1981-82/1994, and Karl Hunt in 1994.

Over the years, Ōhope members have kept the flag flying and the club’s name is well known around the country.

The new Ohope Hall was built in 2000 and the club transferred to this venue as the old Memorial Hall was demolished.

Unfortunately, this hall was flooded in 2010, which also saturated all the club’s mats and affected the bowls. The club moved its base to the Whakatāne Indoor Bowls Stadium while repairs were made to the Ohope Hall.

Due to some miscommunication within the Whakatāne District Council offices, when members went to return, they discovered their normal Tuesday night booking had been given to someone else and the scheduling could not be changed.

Members voted to remain playing in the Whakatāne Stadium.

The club has a great record for both the Association & Centre Top 7 competitions, which they have won on numerous occasions, along with the Geyserland Trophy for the top BOP club. Ōhope was the first club to win this trophy in 1977.

This year, Ōhope won both the Geyserland & BOP Top 7 competition.

Ōhope members individually have represented Whakatane and the Bay of Plenty at top level competitive events over the years and performed extremely well.

This year, Ōhope members Raewyn Clark and Margurrite Gerrand, combined with Jacque and Robin Porter from Taupō in the Master Fours competition, won the respective preliminary rounds and ended up in the New Zealand finals, where they finished in second place and came home with a silver medal.

Ōhope members over the years have gained Gold Star (5) Gold Bar (10) centre titles and some even more than 10, and others that have between one and four currently.

Ōhope members have also been involved in the administration of both Whakatāne Association and BOP Centre bowls, and their services have been recognised with life membership.

The  club has come a long way since starting with one mat in a local church hall and today is recognised as one of the top clubs within the Bay of Plenty.

It is hoped the club will continue to be a very sociable club with the ability to play competitive bowls.

Keeping the balance between social and competitive events has been part of its success over the years.

With the trend in all organisations seeing membership dropping, the club hopes it can survive many more years.