Club History
In 1903, 13 men met at The Central Hotel, Aglionby St, Lower Hutt and resolved to form The Hutt Bowling and Lawn Tennis Club. A horse paddock of 1½ acres was purchased for £500 by way of debentures. Within a year asphalt tennis courts were opened and a month later a bowling green. There is no record of any funds being collected or disbursed to develop the courts or the green, so the founding members must have financed it themselves.
In 1908 more land was purchased (the area now the car park and the Gibbes-Watson Conservatory) but this over committed the club’s resources and a club member Thomas Wilford (the local MP) purchased part of it to save the club. In 1911 a croquet lawn opened and the club became the Hutt Bowling, Tennis and Croquet Club. The tennis courts and croquet lawn have gone now.
The Pavillion
Before the first Pavilion was built at the eastern end of the property, in 1906, members had to be satisfied with tents. The Pavilion was extended in 1928 and again in 1947. By 1961 the membership had grown to 240 and expensive maintenance costs saw the building of the current ‘Clubhouse’, which subsequently has had a number of modifications. A rebuild was completed in time for the season opening in 1963 with work completed for the princely sum of £17,105.00. In 1971 renovations provided lounge and bar facilities.
The building was further remodelled in 2005 when women became members of the club
The Club continues to maintain and develop its facilities to provide an attractive and welcoming place for its members and others in the Hutt Valley and surrounding communities.
Bowlers & Administrators
The club has produced its share of outstanding bowlers and among those who achieved wide recognition nationally are; Arthur Webster who represented NZ at the 1954 Empire Games; Colin Simon who represented NZ on a tour of South Africa in 1968; Norman Lash who was a gold and bronze medal winner at the first World Bowls Championships in Sydney 1966. George Littlejohn who never represented NZ but won two National Titles and reached four other finals/semi-finals, stretching between 1941 and 1956, and was described by some of the top bowlers of the day as the greatest lead ever produced in NZ.
The Club has produced three National Presidents, Bill Hadwin 1950-51, Chas Hain 1962-63, who was also manager of the NZ Bowls team to the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Perth, John Carter 2003-2005 and then appointed Chairman of the Board of Bowls NZ 2003 – 12 before becoming the Asia Oceania Director on the World Bowls Board 2012 – 2014.