Scott Donaldson
Wakefield had its own mystery case solved recently, to make even Sherlock Holmes scratch his head.
Wakefield Bowling Club star Barbara McGregor was brought to tears recently, when her beloved lawn bowl was returned to her by four Year 7 and 8 boys (Roman Jackson, Brodie Ching, Lincoln Johnstone and Zephyr Kelly) from Wakefield School, six weeks after it went missing.
“I am so delighted that I have got it back,” Barbara exclaimed.
“I just love those boys for returning it.”
“I did have a tear in my eye when I saw them coming through the gate, with a red bowl in their hand and I knew it was my mine; I just ran out and thanked them.”
It had been missing since 17 May and despite all efforts to locate it, there was no sign of it until its return on Wednesday 1 July.
“It fell out of a backpack that I had,” Barbara explains.
“It wasn’t in a bowling bag, it was in a backpack that I was carrying my bowls in, and it must’ve just rolled out.”
“It was seen by my car unbeknown to me until about three weeks later. Someone had seen it by my car outside the bowling club but never did anything about it and it must’ve been picked up.”
Barbara has been playing lawn bowls for 43 years and has won Nelson and New Zealand titles with her current set of bowls over the last 26 years.
While novice players may have given up looking for the bowl, these ones had both sentimental and monetary value.
Barbara kept looking for the bowl, even posting a photo and her details on a local Wakefield noticeboard, but to no avail she thought.
The timing of the finding six weeks after losing her bowl, makes it even more special.
Barbara was on the verge of buying some new $930 bowls, because it was a “pain” to be without a fourth bowl as she couldn’t play singles or 242 versions of the game.
“I was actually about to trial some new bowls, they were brand new, from a lady who I bowl with, but I won’t have to now, because they are quite expensive,” Barbara conceded.
“I had thought that I would never see that bowl again and you need four.”
According to PJ Johnstone, mother of Lincoln, one of the boys found the bowl on the playing fields at Wakefield School in mid-June.
“The boys were catching up one day hanging under the Wakefield noticeboard and there was a notice in there with the details of the bowl,” PJ explains.
From the notice, the boys knew where to go, so Lincoln rang the number twice and they decided to walk over to the club.
“The lady (Barbara) met the boys at the club and ran towards them,” PJ says.
“She was so happy she ended up crying, it had been in her family for 26 years.”
