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Board News David Darby The Board met with representatives of all adjunct clubs recently for a general discussion prior to the Country Club AGM, which is scheduled for Thursday, 21st May at 7.30 pm. Our Treasurer, Tom Stoddart has been working with the club’s accountant, Findex Ltd with preparation of annual accounts which will be sent to members when completed. An AGM agenda will be circulated in due course. The new Sporty website has been up and running for some time. It’s generally simple to navigate and pay subscriptions online, which streamlines the accounting process and keeps things simple. There are one or two minor improvements to be made to suit our club situation. The Board is aware of some problems with unauthorised entry to the basement area where Golf and Tennis equipment is stored. Security has been upgraded and a camera installed to monitor the clubhouse surrounds. We are also keeping a close eye on fuel storage tanks. The appeal to members for consideration of our neighbours with the dust problem on the driveway has been largely successful. Many thanks to everyone who keeps their speed down to 20kms/hr. It does make a huge difference. As another year passes and the AGM looms, it is timely to acknowledge those who spend hours of voluntary work to make our club so wonderful. We remain the envy of many other clubs because of our co-operative spirit.  |
Bar and Clubhouse Welcome to the new financial year. With this comes the renewal of all memberships. As many of you will be aware, we are now using the new Sporty platform for registrations. This currently applies to Country Club, Golf, and Arts memberships. Tennis and Bowls registrations will be completed later in the year. It is important that anyone wishing to be a member of the club or any of its entities completes the registration form. If you have not received this via email, please get in touch and I will send it through. I’m more than happy to help, as I understand the process can feel a bit overwhelming. If you are confident enough to fill out the form please use the link that applies to you (if you haven’t already done so): Porangahau Country Club Membership: https://www.sporty.co.nz/viewform/501811 Golf Membership: https://www.sporty.co.nz/viewform/367774 Arts Membership: https://www.sporty.co.nz/viewform/497630 Thank you to everyone who has already registered. We still have a number of members to reach, so your help in getting this completed is appreciated. Also, please let me know if you do not yet have a Porangahau Country Club membership card. With our upgraded SwiftPOS system, we’re encouraging all members to use these and will be introducing member rewards. As autumn approaches, we take a moment to reflect on the past few months of summer. We had fantastic turnouts at Friday night dinners, bowls competitions, the ambrose golf tournament, art workshops, fishing prizegiving's, and the HGC Tour. All of these events highlight what our club is all about - A community hub that fosters connection through sport, creativity, and social interaction. Thank you to everyone for your continued support. We look forward to a great year ahead. |
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Golf Our 2026 golf season is now underway. We’re pleased to welcome our new Ladies Captain, Jax Illingworth, who we know will do a fantastic job with a strong team of women backing her. We kicked things off with our annual 3-person Ambrose tournament, which saw a full field and a great day had by all. A huge thank you to our major sponsor, James Hamilton, along with our many generous supporting sponsors: Wayne Kirk Motor Group, Powerturf, New World Waipukurau, CHB Skip Bins Ltd, Dragon Electrical, PGG Wrightson Seeds, Nulook Waipukurau, Chrystall Lorck-Paewai – Property Brokers, Leopard Hotel Waipukurau, Matt Lorck – CR Grace, CHB Meat Processing, BM Accounting Limited, Ruahine Timber, Silver Fern Farms, The Irrigator Hawke’s Bay Ltd, Kells Wool, Will Tully Dingo Diggers, Tully Mobile Mechanics, Carters Waipukurau, and Waimoe Farm. Also to Tony Birdsall and Andrew McLean for organising such a successful event. Opening weekend featured the Kuru Shield, with congratulations to Rick Tully and Tracy Kerr for taking the win. It’s also great to see our new putting green up and running a fantastic result from all the hard work, man hours and fundraising, with special thanks to Dave Henderson, whose tournament last year helped fund projects like this, we’re very fortunate to have such great support. A few weeks ago, we hosted 58 players from the HGC Tour. It was a fantastic day, with great feedback on the course. Many thanks to Marilyn, Forrie, and all the helpers who made the day such a success for the club. Last weekend, we braved the cyclone as our Coronation Cup team competed in Takapau against Dannevirke, Takapau, and Cape Turnagain. Congratulations to the following members who were selected to represent the club:
Reserves: Matt Lorck, Henry Wilder, and Rob Hobson. A huge thank you to everyone who came along to caddie, support, and cheer the team on over the weekend especially those who turned up early on Sunday in tough conditions. Notable performances included Anton Barnes and Ben Andersen with three wins each, Tom Paget with two wins and a half, and Matt Lorck with two wins from two matches. Results were Porangahau 7-5 Takapau Dannevirke 7-5 Porangahau (two matches halved and two lost on 18) Porangahau11.5 - .5 Cape Turnagain Final results saw Dannevirke 1st, Porangahau 2nd, Takapau 3rd, Cape Turnagain 4th. |
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Junior Golf The first term of Junior golf went very well, with 6 new juniors. We had 3 players in the Hawke’s Bay Age Group, playing at Hastings 18 holes and Napier the next day 18 holes, during the first week of the school holidays, Taiwhitu Houkamau coming second and Jimmy Andersen third in the Under 13 years Nett. Well done boys. Jimmy played in the Coronation Cup for Porangahau with two wins and a loss only losing on the last hole. Jimmy also played in Marton for the second year in the HB Development Junior Squad to play a Quadrangular against Wellington, Taranaki and Manawatu/Whanganui. The first game against Wellington was rained off making it a half. The following day Jimmy played Taranaki and lost 2 and 1 and won in the afternoon against Manawatu/Whanganui 3 and 1. Unfortunately our junior storage shed has been hit by vandals, we lost clubs, equipment and golf balls which is really disappointing.
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Bowls As we look back over a busy season, we’re proud to say our Porangahau champ bowlers stepped up in full force - entering every category of the Hawke’s Bay Champ of Champs. A mighty effort from our small but determined club. The Sea Witches tournament on the 30th and 31st March, once again was another highlight of our season, with plenty of positive feedback from visiting teams about the atmosphere and hospitality. Our bowling club is genuinely humbled and truly grateful for the generosity given toward “Sea Witches” by the sponsors below. Penny Chapman – Caci Clinic for her exceptionally generous sponsorship. Jules, Kelly, and Penny who provided beautiful George & Edi packages. Bidfood, who generously donated a whole ham. Paul and Catherine, once again supplying the much‑sought‑after produce for our auction. Our club members all toiled to bring this two-day tournament together - and it showed. The visiting teams headed home happy, well‑fed, and already making sure their names are on the list for next year. Congratulations to the 2nd place winners: Porangahau’s own Nicole Scia Scia, Janice Scia Scia & Jude Henry Our season wraps up on the 19th of April, and we’ll finish with our final club competition of the year, followed by prize giving. |
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Tennis Our tennis season came to a close with the Club Championships, followed by an enjoyable prizegiving night at the clubhouse on Friday 27 March, where we celebrated our winners. Huge congratulations to:
Hot Shots also wrapped up for the term with a great final session featuring a hit-out with the ball machine. It’s been fantastic to see the progress of our junior players over the season. A big thank you to Sue Cutbush for her help in running the programme, and to all the parents for their support in making this happen. Many thanks to our committee, captains, and players for their contribution and support throughout the year—we’re already looking forward to next season. |
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Arts We’re excited to announce that Rob McLean is our new Gardening Group leader, who is happy to share his wealth of knowledge, especially New Zealand native plants and wildlife and will bring along so much value and energy to our members. The Painting Group is fortunate to have booked Susan Higginson, who is a talented Hawke’s Bay artist, known for her vibrant, semi-impressionist studies. We look forward to a dedicated tutorial day later in the month, focussed on painting tuis. This should be both inspiring and rewarding – we’re looking forward to coming away with something special. The Fibre ladies have been busy with some lovely hands-on projects, creating decorative tassels for home decor to add that perfect finishing flair, and learning decoupage a fun, versatile technique for turning everyday items into something special. The Pottery Group is at that exciting stage where their bisque fired pieces still look deceptively plain and pale, but after the next glaze fire, this will bring out the colours, textures,and personalities of each piece. The Glassworks Group are making great progress with their personal projects — it's always rewarding to see individual creativity come together for the exhibition. Leftover glass scraps are being formed into whimsical decor items, emerging from what might otherwise be waste. We’re excited to see the variety that will be on display this year! With the exhibition now about three months away, it makes sense that everyone's energy is shifting toward finishing, refining, and preparing their work for display. It’s a great motivator and a chance for the whole community to see the collective talent on show. |