Women play bowls at their own club in Gisborne in the 1950s. The club began when a small group of Gisborne women decided in 1938 that they wanted to start playing bowls. The Kahutia Men's Bowling Club allowed them to play on their greens on a couple of days during the week and they were allocated a room downstairs. However, after several years the women were not satisfied with this, so a local landowner allowed them to use his land and the Riverside Women's Bowling Club was established in 1941 with 20 members. When this land was sold, the Gisborne City Council gave them another site which had been a camping ground. There was a lot of work by members and their husbands to prepare the greens, and the camp's kitchen became the club rooms. The new green opened in 1945. In 1996 the women's and men's clubs amalgamated. The club is now called Bowls Riverside (Gisborne). The effort required to establish women's bowls was a common pattern throughout the country.