Founded in 1897
Latest News
Sunday 27 April - thanks to everyone for a wonderful Open Day
The Bowls Gods smiled and produced six hours of sun for the Club's Open Day on Saturday. The membership were out in force to greet the very large numbers of the general public who turned up to try our addictive sport of bowls. The team of coaches had very little rest during those six hours and indeed, even before the scheduled start time of 10am.
There are too many people who contributed to this success to list them all here, but the administrative four of Sue Close, Barbara White, Richard Close and Bob Keen, who were chained to their seats for the duration, need a special thankyou.
Tuesday 22 April - draws for National competitions complete
Some club bowlers will be playing bowls nearly every day in May now the full draws have been made in County and National competitions. But if you are not playing yourself, it does mean that on most evenings there will be matches to watch and on those sunny days in May, with a glass of something in hand what could be better?
The full extent of matches is set out in the County and National page.
Monday 21 April - more Opening Day photos
Thanks to Richard Close we now have a set of formal photos for our History pages.
Men's opening day
Ladies opening day
President Sue bowling the first wood on Men's Opening Day
Guest Leah Bamford bowling the first wood on Ladies Opening Day
Sunday 20 April - Ladies Opening Day
The Ladies suffered a double whammy on their Opening Day of the season. Being on Easter Sunday restricted the numbers who could get away from family obligations and then, those that could get away did not enjoy the sun that the men were lucky enough to have on Saturday. But, nevertheless some fine bowling was on display, especially from the Chairlady's team who comfortably saw off the Captain's team challenge.
The Chairlady's highest winning rink was Wendy Wright, Val Hughes and Maddie McConomy whilst that on the Captain's side was Viv Denny, Anne Burton and Jenny Anderson.
Liz Long won the spider for the second year running, which must be some sort of record!
Captain Jenny Anderson handed over the day's trophy to Chairlady Alison Macdonald.
Jenny and Alison
Saturday 19 April - Men's Opening Day
It was a good day to play bowls in April, sunny with a stiff breeze, as evidenced by the horizontal flags.
The greens were a credit to Damian Hone and his greenkeeping team.
A very good turnout of over 60 men members had come to this first event of the season featuring the Captain's Team against the President's Team being contested over 10 rinks. It was extremely close with the victory belonging to the Captains by 6 shots overall.
The webmaster was lucky enough to win the spider and received his bottle of scotch from Captain for this year, Tony Dobson.
The Captain's highest winning rink went to the triple of Michael Hutchison, Russell Feast and Rodney Hummell.
The President's highest winning rink went to the pair of Graham Jackman and John Andrews. Graham achieved a feat rarely seen when he had three consecutive touchers, now immortalised on film.
The formal photos of Sue Close, our President, bowling the first wood and the assembled men's company will be shown in a day or so, together with those from the Ladies Opening Day which takes place tomorrow.
Finally, many thanks to two lady members, Karen Owen and Mandy Catt, who did sterling work throughout the afternoon behind the bar.
Friday 11 April - how we got to South Canterbury Road
It was over 30 years ago that the decision was made to move our Club to South Canterbury Road. Key people involved in that complex move are still members of our Club, Dick Mortley, Ian Burton, Alan Cornfoot, Mike Talbot and Joy Burton.
We asked Dick, the Chair of the Development Committee, to put his memories on paper for our History pages and he obliged. His memories have been supplemented by photos supplied by Ian Burton.
To see Dick's memories go to History and scroll down to the bottom then click on the pdf.
Tuesday 8 April - summerhouse
Reflecting its name in the glorious spring weather our historic summerhouse has been reunited with its twin shields.
Thanks to Ian Burton for the initiative to replace the old ones and to Andy Ferguson for the photo.
Saturday 5 April - fixture cards
Today fixture cards start to be distributed. The expanded, online version of the fixture card can be found if you just go to Competitions.
Thursday 3 April - draws for National competitions
Most of the draws for National competitions have now taken place and our Club entries are listed here and we will track progress in due course.
Tuesday 1 April - not long now
Thanks to the teams of volunteers, (the greenkeepers, the maintenance team and the gardeners), the signs of spring and the outdoor season are gradually appearing and their sight uplifts the soul.
The hard work of bulb planting in the winter has been rewarded with some wonderful colour.
And the maintenance and gardening teams will be further rewarded with colour which is yet to come, as previously untended areas have been restored and then planted, as the before and after pictures show.
Some also support us in other ways
