Noel Jolly

Noel Jolly was a New Zealand lawn bowls player, born in Cromwell in Central Otago on 23 December 1908. He competed for New Zealand at the 1950 British Empire Games in Auckland, where he won a bronze medal in the men's fours alongside Arthur Engebretsen, Fred Russell and Pete Skoglund. The New Zealand, Australian and South African fours all finished the round robin with two wins, but New Zealand lost an eliminator against the South Africans and did not reach the final. Jolly was the son of Ernest Jolly, who served as mayor of Cromwell, and his brothers included the noted bowler Gordon Jolly and the Otago rugby union representative Ian Jolly. As a young man he was a prominent tennis player, turned to bowls after an injury, served in the Middle East during World War II, and then joined the St Clair Bowling Club in Dunedin, winning its club championship in consecutive years from 1946 to 1949. A bank manager by profession, he died on 23 April 1969 and was buried at Waikumete Cemetery in Auckland.