Saturday, April 22, saw the club celebrate its 75th anniversary with a Gala Dinner held in the Club Rooms attended by 108 members and guests.

An organizing committee led by Gaye Horne with Colleen Rice, Glenda Rountree, Tony Trent put the event together with great success. The Club Rooms were transformed into a very attractive dining setting with balloons, tea lights and fairy lights in abundance,

The evening was catered by Anise Catering and started off with canapés and bubbles courtesy of Jo Mimmack and James Dixon of Harcourts Cooper & Co Mairangi Bay.  The delicious dinner was Buffet style and Kane Stevens aka the Music Man did an excellent job of providing the musical entertainment throughout the evening.

President Kevin Cameron was the MC for the evening and he welcomed guests and introduced our sponsors, Harcourts Cooper & Co Mairangi Bay  who were represented by Martin Cooper and his wife, Kim, Robyn Coles, Mairangi Bay Office Manager, and Jo Mimmack and James Dixon   who are the Club’s dedicated sponsors. Kevin also introduced Jean Ashby our Patron and  a Life Member of the club in addition to being a  Life Member of Bowls North Harbour and Bowls New Zealand.  Other Life Members included  John Miles who at 97 is our oldest member and still playing competitively, Phyl Humphries and Trevor Tozer. David Pearse, also a Life Member was unable to attend.

Martin Cooper was the guest speaker and was introduced by Vice President, Sandra Coombe. In her introduction Sandra thanked Martin for his ongoing Sponsorship of the Club. Harcourts Cooper & Co are the principal sponsors of Mairangi Bay, Bowling Club with naming rights to the Harcourts Community Green, sponsorship of the Harcourts Classic, plus Jo and James Fun Day Tournament.

Martin’s  presentation was both entertaining and informative, covering many topics and he spoke about the early development of Mairangi Bay area prior to the arrival of the European settlers , who renamed the area initially as Little Murrays after an early settler, before changing it to Mairangi Bay.

Following for Martin’s speech Jean Ashby, and John Miles were invited to cut the anniversary cake, which was then enjoyed as part of the dessert menu.

A great evening befitting the club reaching its 75th milestone .

A big thank you to Club Members who also assisted in making this such a wonderful evening. Particularly to John Gledhill who set up the champagne table & wine glasses, Jo Mimmack & James Dixon who provided the bubbles and all those who stayed behind on Friday to help set up the dining area, and those who returned on Monday to restore the clubrooms to their workday life. We are very fortunate to have a club with so many people willing to lend a hand.