Bowls Canterbury Inc Annual Report 2017 National Champions—Canterbury Men’s National Intercentre Team 2016/2017 2 BOWLS CANTERBURY INCORPORATED DIRECTORY AS AT 30th APRIL 2017 Nature of Business : Regional Sporting Organisation Business Address: PO Box 29620 Fendalton Christchurch Registered Office: 28a Makora St Fendalton Christchurch President: Brian Barker Board Members: Karolyn Boon Alan Dunlop Tony Fielding Bill Joblin Graham Russell Staff: Adrian Robins Chief Executive Officer Mel Mather Operations & Development Manager Emily Robbins Youth Development Coordinator Katie Griffiths Events & Marketing Coordinator Auditor: Peter Davidson and Associates Bank: ANZ Bank NZ LTD Solicitors: Harmans Lawyers 3 PRESIDENTS ANNUAL REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30th APRIL 2017 With my second term as Chairman of the Board coming to an end I can look back on another successful season for Bowls Canterbury. The highlight of the season was the World Bowls event being staged in Christchurch, with Burnside Bowling Club as headquarters (3 greens). The greens at Bowls Papanui (2 greens), Fendalton Bowling Club (2 greens) and the Centre Green (1 green) were also involved. A huge thank you from the Board of Bowls Canterbury to the above clubs and their many willing volunteers. This World Bowls event was the recipient of the ‘Sport Canterbury Event of the Year’ at their annual awards night. The Bowls Canterbury Centre Programme was successfully completed, highlighted again by the two Finals Days (28th/29th January and 22nd/23rd April). A huge thanks to Adrian, Mel, Katie and Emily in the Centre Office. The Programme for the 2017/2018 season will be in place by the time this report is read. A committee of ten enthusiastic club members have met under the guidance of our Events Manager, Katie Griffiths, and alterations have been made. Clubs were asked to submit ideas/recommendations/remits for discussion. Disappointingly only five clubs (Belfast, Bowls Papanui, Burnside, Elmwood and Redcliffs Mt Pleasant) used this forum to advance the game in the Centre. Emily Robbins, our Youth and Community Bowls Coordinator has yet again worked tirelessly this season, visiting 23 schools which had a total participation of 6,540. With a similar programme in place for the coming season we are doing our best to increase our playing numbers in the future. Sports Awards This year we put in seven nominations at the 2016 Nexia New Zealand Canterbury Sports Awards in the following categories: AWARD NOMINEE Administrator Bill Fowlie Club Burnside Bowling Club Coach Raelene Peters Official Ann Wright Event World Bowls 2016 Sports Man Kerry Becks Sports Woman Angela Boyd These nominees were selected based on their performance in the 2016 year (January-December). It was a great night with two winners for Bowls Canterbury in ‘Event of the Year’ – World Bowls, and ‘Club of the Year’ – Burnside Bowling Club. 4 PRESIDENTS ANNUAL REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30th APRIL 2017 Sponsorship We appreciate the support from all sponsors who are in behind Bowls Canterbury: House of Hearing Henselite Lamb and Hayward Funerals Nicowear Kelvin Scott Plastering GMC Decorators Travlon Summerset NZ Sports Turf Institute Prebbles Turf World Ryman Healthcare Grants Thank you to the following organisations whom we received Grants from: Youthtown Rata Foundation New Zealand Community Trust Christchurch Earthquake Recovery Trust Trust Aoraki Pub Charity First Soverign Sport Canterbury Mainland Foundation Lion Foundation To the Gaming Trust and Sponsors a huge thank you from Bowls Canterbury. We look forward to your continued support. Representative 2016/2017 was another strong year for our representative teams. Development Women – Semi-finalist Development Men – Semi-finalist Senior Women – Non-qualifier for post section play Senior Men – Winners of the New Zealand Centre title To the Senior Men Selectors, Darryl Hawker and Ron Matheson, and the players Andrew Kelly, Stephen Ditfort, Gary Lawson, Richard Hocking, Nathan Glasson, Kelvin Scott and Lance Pascoe – a huge congratulations on winning the National Intercentre title. It is with sadness that I acknowledge the passing of one of last season’s selectors, Eddie Simpson. Eddie had been a selector for Canterbury for the past 3 years and will be sorely missed. 5 PRESIDENTS ANNUAL REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30th APRIL 2017 Board Appointments Alan Dunlop has resigned from the Board. Thank you Alan for your time and service. We welcome Graham Russell to the Board. Staff It is with regret we have the departure of Adrian Robins as our CEO. Adrian stamped his authority on the position right from the start (December 2013) and we are now benefitting from his wisdom and expertise. Adrian, from the Board a huge thank you for all your efforts on our behalf. Adrian’s expertise will not be totally lost however, as he is staying on as our Financial Controller. Adrian, we wish you and Julie all the best in your partial retirement. Our new CEO is Mel Mather, who was appointed by the Board as from May 1st, 2017. This was a unanimous decision. Congratulations Mel. In conclusion, I wish to thank all those who have supported myself and Bowls Canterbury during the 2016/2017 season. For and on behalf of the Board, Brian Barker Chairman 6 CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER’S ANNUAL REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30th APRIL 2017 Sadly, this will be my last Annual Report as I decided to retire at the end of April and have moved to a small cottage in Waimate with my wife, dog and cat. However, it is not a complete goodbye as yet, as I have agreed to remain on a 2-year contract as Sales and Finance Manager with responsibilities for overseeing the Bowls Canterbury Shop and also providing accountancy support. I wish to thank all of those clubs, bowlers, staff, volunteers, sponsors, trusts and the Board who have supported me during my three and a half years in office – a difficult job would have been made impossible without your wholehearted encouragement and backing. Playing Programme: We introduced a new competition for Post Xmas Interclub in the form of the popular Australian Pennants with the men competing as a 3 x 4’s and the women as a 2 x 4’s – both competitions were thoroughly enjoyed by the few Clubs that entered these competitions and hopefully more will get involved next season. Overall playing numbers were increased over the season with the exception of the Champion of Champions Event which was considerably down on the previous season – mainly because 4 x Clubs decided not to enter (though one was because of the St Albans Park/Canterbury merger). Pre Xmas Interclub – total numbers up by 23 an increase of +1.11% Post Xmas Interclub – total numbers up by 177 an increase of + 9.2% Centre Events – total numbers up by 3 an increase of +0.33% Champion of Champions Events – total numbers down by 75 a decrease of -10.96% The proposed Tournament Review Panel was established and they have come up with changes for the forthcoming season – hopefully this will continue the upward trend and we continue to provide competitions for all levels of bowlers. The Finals weekends for this season for both the Centre Events and the Champion of Champions Events were put out for tender and Woolston Park Bowling Club won both tenders and held both of these events and did a tremendous job – many thanks to the Club and all of their willing volunteers – they did us proud. 7 CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER’S ANNUAL REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30th APRIL 2017 Financials: The Annual Accounts for this year show a surplus of $20k+ mainly due to the continued support of grant providers and the growth in the retail sales through our Bowls Canterbury shop which grossed over $120k this last year. We express our thanks for all of the Clubs and bowlers who have supported our shop, these monies received are put back into bowls development instead of going out of our game, and we hope that you continue to support this venture. We also added this year an online option and have received many orders from throughout New Zealand from both the South and North Islands. We have also introduced Club Deals and also a Loyalty Programme that also benefits our Clubs. The Centre still relies heavily on outside funding to maintain our operations and this is getting increasingly harder to obtain the required amounts but we understand the predicament of the grant providers and are extremely grateful for all of the support that they give to Bowls Canterbury. The Draft Budget has been sent out to Clubs and shows a deficit of $40k+ as we do not anticipate receiving funding, other than what has been received and is being expensed monthly, however, we should expect to receive some funding and if we receive continued support through the shop we would anticipate a similar result to this year. Centre Green: The Centre Green continues to be used more frequently by established bowlers, youth and schools and the general community and we expect this trend to continue. The highlight of the season was part hosting the World Bowls Event in November/December and we received many thanks for our hospitality and the green itself. I would like to congratulate our new greenkeeper, Terry Stewart, who in his first year produced a marvelous playing surface, with great help from Glen Miller. I would also like to pay homage to all of the Clubs and volunteers that helped make this event memorable, the feedback from across the world has been all positive with the many overseas visitors enjoying their experience. I would also like to thank Terry Stewart and Paddy Brandon for their sterling efforts in improving the surrounds and buildings at the Centre Green in preparation for the World Bowls and the other volunteers that helped, including Rotary Club Members.