Most Fridays, weather permitting, you'll find former World War II British RAF aero engineer Tom Piercy having a roll-up with mates at the Tauranga South bowling club.

He's a relatively agile bloke with a quick-wit to boot, so you could be forgiven for not realising he's a respectable 102-years-old.

An assortment of knee and hip replacements over the years have contributed to his bowling longevity but Tom really puts his fitness down to having ridden a bicycle most of his life – something he only gave up in his late 90s after a couple of accidents.

These days he cycles on a stationary bike set up in the safe confines of his garage.

A legacy of his joint replacements is that one of his legs is now slightly shorter than the other but it's a trivial detail when he's on the bowls green; right-handed Tom just uses the same backhand delivery for each bowl so that he doesn't fall over.

He also likes to play the lead position in his team games because 'you can please yourself where you put your bowls”.

'Whatever happens you've only got yourself to blame,” he says.

Tom and his late wife Sylvia, with their 10-year-old son Marshall in tow, immigrated to New Zealand from England in the early 1950s.

Tom got work almost immediately as a motor mechanic for Seabrook Fowlds, an Austin dealership in Auckland. He gave that up in the end because they had a contract with a road construction company and all the vehicles were covered in tar. He couldn't put up with it.

The family's first accommodation in Auckland was at the People's Palace, run by the Salvation Army in upper Queen Street.

They then moved to a flat in Bassett Road where they saved up enough money to purchase a section in Pakuranga for 540 pounds.

After a few family camping and caravanning trips around the country he and Sylvia decided to retire to Tauranga.

Remember, however, that ‘retirement' is a subjective term. Tom's version was to run his own garden and lawn mowing round, with a bit of ‘sea gulling' [stevedore work] thrown in.

Tom and Sylvia both got into bowls about 40 years ago thanks to one of Sylvia's gardening friends. It was back in the old days before women bowlers were officially allowed to play against men, Tom says.

'My wife was a keen gardener. She was at this gardening meeting and a lady she was friendly with, invited her to play bowls at the ladies club. I drove her there and got invited to play too.

'My wife was always better than me at bowls,” he says.

The couple were married for 76 years. Sylvia died two years ago, aged 92.

While he was born in Merseyside, outside of Liverpool, Tom's never been back to England.

'I've loved New Zealand,” he says.

He doesn't understand other British ex-pats who he's overheard whining about the country at times.

And as far as bowls goes, he has no plans to stop anytime soon.

'I've met so many friends here and they're all so helpful and kind to me.”

Tom gets a special sparkle in his eye when he tells of the cushions a couple of the bowling ladies have made for his seats out on the greens.

'I have a cushion at both ends,” he grins.

'All I can say is I wish I'd joined bowls much earlier in my life.

'You find that being a bowler, wherever you go, you can go into another club – in Australia too – and say can I have a game of bowls and they welcome you.”

'I've met so many, many friends.”

Tom's 103rd birthday will be on December 27. He has two granddaughters and seven great grandchildren. Son Marshall, now retired too, is living in Auckland.