14/09/2026
🎉🟢 WHAT AN OPENING DAY! 🟢🎉
On Sunday 13th September, Te Kūiti Bowling Club officially kicked off our 2026/27 season — and what a REMARKABLE day it was! 🙌
We had an awesome field of 14 teams take to the green, including 10 visiting teams and 4 Te Kūiti teams. To everyone who travelled to join us THANK YOU! Having so many visitors on our green made our Opening Day that much more special. 💚
Our season officially began with two very special moments:
❤️ Life Member Wendy Weinberg had the honour of rolling the first jack, followed by
❤️ Patron Ray Lincoln rolling the first bowl of the season.
With the formalities complete… it was GAME ON! 😎🔥
And it didn’t take long to realise that everyone had turned up ready to BOWL and secure those W’s! 😂
The competition was fantastic, with so many close games coming right down to the final end. There were plenty of great bowls, plenty of friendly banter and, most importantly, a great atmosphere across the green.
Then after lunch, before Round 3 got underway, our President decided it was time to add a little extra entertainment…
🕷️ SPIDER — WITH A TWIST! 🕷️
Instead of one prize, there were THREE! 💰💰💰
Two $20 notes and one $10 note were placed in the centre of the green, everyone lined up around the outside and then ALL bowls were sent towards the money at once!
Congratulations to our Spider winners:
💵 $20 – Pania Reed
💵 $20 – Conrad Perawiti
💵 $10 – Peter Lange
💰🎟️ CASH RAFFLES 🎟️💰
We also had two Cash Raffles running throughout the day, with four lucky winners receiving $25 each.
🩷 PINK RAFFLE
Both winning tickets went to Kihikihi — apparently they weren’t planning on heading home empty-handed 😂💰
💛 YELLOW RAFFLE
💵 Vinnie – Cambridge
💵 Michelle – Te Kūiti
Congratulations to all four of our raffle winners — $25 each 🤑
Then it was back to business for the final rounds — and those W’s became even more important!
By the end of the day, only ONE TEAM had managed to finish unbeaten with 4 WINS, while another three teams finished strongly with 3 wins.
🏆 OPENING DAY RESULTS 🏆
🥇 1st – Composite Team: Cambridge & Te Awamutu
Pete, Vinnie & Mike
An awesome result from a team made up entirely of Junior Bowlers, finishing the day with an impressive 4 from 4! 👏🔥
🥈 2nd – Piopio
Colin, Linda & Bruce
🥉 3rd – Te Kūiti
Pania, Stu & Dave
👏 BEST EFFORTS “Perky Nana” AWARD – Kihikihi 👏
A HUGE congratulations to all of our winners and to every bowler who took part.
Most importantly, thank you to all 14 teams, our visitors, our Te Kūiti members, supporters and every single volunteer who helped make the day possible.
From preparing the greens and grounds, organising the tournament, working in the kitchen and bar, setting up, cleaning up and all the jobs happening behind the scenes many hands really do make light work 💚
Our greens looked absolutely AMAZING and ran beautifully, and the positive feedback we received throughout the day was incredibly appreciated.
What a way to officially start the 2026/27 bowling season!
Great bowls.
Close games.
Plenty of laughs.
A little Spider madness. 😂🕷️
A few extra dollars heading home in people’s pockets. 💰
And an absolutely brilliant day at Te Kūiti Bowling Club.
💚 THANK YOU EVERYONE — THE SEASON IS OFFICIALLY UNDERWAY! 💚
