Let me introduce myself -

My name is John Manchester, and I am the current President of the NZ Blind and Visually Impaired Indoor Bowlers Federation.
First, I would like to tell you a little about the game of indoor bowls for the blind and how it is played.
Indoor bowls is played on a felt mat, twentytwo feet long by six feet wide. There is a square marked on each end of the mat in the centre. It is about two feet square. This is where the bowler delivers their bowl from.
The game is played a little like lawn bowls.
Teams can be comprised of four players, three players, pairs or of course we also play singles.

We play the game pretty much the same as the sighted would. The only difference is, we are allowed to have a sighted helper, or as we call them, guide, that shows us the green with a white paddle or for the totally blind, they stand beside them and tell them where the jack is and where from the box to deliver the bowl from.
With the guides help, we are also able to go out and play against the sighted in their clubs.

In October each year over 130 blind and partially sighted people meet in a different province, to compete in the National Championships. The players take this occasion very seriously and practice all year for the event.
At this time, we only play inside New Zealand, but maybe in the future, we will be able to go and compete with other blind people overseas.
Currently we have fifteen clubs throughout New Zealand.

The contact for our national organisation is on the contact's page.

From time to time, more news and information will be put on these pages, so watch this space.

BLIND INDOOR-BOWLS NEW ZEALAND Inc.
51st NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS REPORT

BINZ held their 51 st Indoor Bowls National Championships over Labour Weekend in Christchurch.

On Friday 22 October 2004, the Annual General Meeting was held at the Gardens Hotel Motel in Christchurch City.

The new Executive for 2004/2005 is:
President, John Manchester
Vice President Mrs. Grace Wheeler
Past President Mr. Joseph Twomey
Secretary Mrs. Phyllis Fox
Treasurer Mrs. Joy Thompson

Committee
Mrs. Iris Roberts
Mr. Owen Wilson
Mr Owen Palamountain
And, for the first time Mr. Evan Olander from North Taranaki.
After many years on the bowls executive Mr Peter McGlinchey stood down this time.
Thank you Peter for your very hard work on the committee over the years.

At the A G M I was very pleased to be made a Life Member of the Federation and Phyllis was also made a Life Member.
I’m sure I can speak for Phyllis here too and say how much an honour it is to be recognized in this way by the members of the Federation.
We thank you all for your support.

The Pairs were played on the Saturday.
This year, for all the competitors who were unlucky to not qualify for Post Section play, there was a consolation round of three games offered.
This Plate round as we are calling it for now, seemed to be quite popular among the players.
We did this on all the three days. It kept more competitors involved in the tournament for longer.

The Singles were held on the Sunday and this time, the Fours were held on the final day, Labour Day.

It was interesting to note, that the winning team in the Fours from Canterbury was made up with three first year members of the Canterbury Club.
The oldest player in this team was 91 years old. Well done Jack and I hope you enjoyed your first tournament!

I would like to thank Joy Thompson and her team from the Canterbury Indoor Bowls Association for organizing the tournament for us.
As we can expect, as usual, it was run to a very high standard and all the time frames were spot on!
My special thanks to the Hall controller, Carolyn Swanson and the President of the Canterbury Association David Bullock for their leadership over the weekend.

We are all looking forward now, to the Nationals next year which will be held in New Plymouth over Labour Weekend.

Congratulations everyone for making it such a successful tournament.

Thank you
John Manchester
President
Blind Indoor-Bowls New Zealand

P.S. See the results pages for a list of the winners