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Deaf Bowler

Former New Zealand titleholder S. E. N. Smith (Auckland Deaf Welfare League Bowling Club) was one of the early qualifiers in the North Taranaki Indoor Bowls Association’s annual Queen’s Birthday weekend fours tournament in New Plymouth. A total of 88 teams are taking part in the fours tournament which finishes on Monday and 178 pairs will play in the pairs tournament tomorrow.

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NZSL story – Taonga source: Unknown, Colleen Norris

Colleen’s Bowls Win While Six Months Pregnant

Colleen explains how she got involved in Auckland Deaf Society’s indoor bowls team for the 1968 NZ Deaf Sports Convention in Christchurch. The team was short on players, and since her husband was already going to play basketball, she decided to join. Her mother-in-law came to help look after her daughter. At the time, Colleen was six months pregnant. Despite that, she won the singles, doubles, and team events. She remembers how formal team photos were back then. In the November team photo, everyone tried to hide her pregnancy!
NZSL story – Taonga source: John Mansell

John’s Early Days on the Indoor Bowls Mat

John gave indoor bowls a go in the late 1960s and played for about a decade. He started in 1968, the year his team won the overall Jerome Plate. He was lucky to play under Skip Sen Smith, a top indoor bowls player in both Auckland and New Zealand. John remembers how everyone had to dress formally for team photos, wearing suits and ties. Unlike today’s more relaxed style, he believes things were better back then.
Taonga source:
Auckland Deaf Society
Reference number:
SignDNA – Deaf National Archive New Zealand, A1968-002
Note:
This item has been transcribed and/or OCR post-corrected. It also has been compressed and/or edited.