Bridport Bowls Club Celebrating the club’s Centenary Neil Kennedy looks back on the history of ‘the friendliest club in the area’.
T
he idea of a Bowls Club was first mentioned in March 1921 at the AGM of the Bridport Cricket & Lawn Tennis Club. It was announced a green was to be laid at Brewery Field the site of today’s Leisure Centre. A green was laid within a year costing £200 and a Mr. Heath was appointed the first Secretary of the Bowls Section of the above club. In 1923 it was recognised as the year the club got underway properly when in February they were elected to the South Dorset League Competitions by which time their membership stood at 33. In April that year the club erected a pavilion with one room reserved for Ladies and by the time it had opened a month later the membership had swelled to 80 William Saunders Edwards became the club’s first President in 1925, the owner of a prominent net making business in the town W.S. Edwards products Outside the old clubhouse circa 1930s were shipped for use at venues such as Wimbledon and Wembley and who during the Second World War was tasked in constructing anti submarine nets with great success. By 1929 difficulties developed and friction formed between the three separate elements of the Sports Club initiating, after much deliberation, the departure of the bowls section. It was towards the end of that year that the now homeless Bridport Bowling Club were to receive much needed good news. At the Annual Supper held on November 8th, President W.S.Edwards announced that he wished to donate to the club a parcel of land he owned by the River Brit and it was here on the site where the club now stands. 1930 represents a milestone year in the club’s history when the new green was laid at a cost of £750 and said to be financed by J.C.Hunt who then leased it to the club on a 99 year lease for the princely sum of £3 per annum. It was reported that 16,076 sq feet of turf each piece one foot square and one and a half inches thick were transported from South Wales where it was laid diagonally from corner to corner on a foundation of six inches of clinker, two inches of fine ash and one inch of sand as a result forming a fast draining surface. Major S.H.Cleal lay the final piece of turf on March 28th 1930 and the green was remarkably ready to be played on by May 9th six months after the site was waste ground. Major Cleal and S.Vaugham together donated the club’s flag and flagpole along with store cupboards and a tool shed. With the completion of the new pavilion the grand opening ceremony on June 6th saw the arrival of a combined England Bowling Association and County team to celebrate the occasion, a photograph of which is displayed at the club today. 1932 saw the untimely death of the club’s founder member and patriarch W.S.Edwards who through his generosity, donations and leadership the club would not be where it is today. In 1934 at the Club’s AGM it was decided that women should
Club members circa 1939 not be allowed membership to the club but in an allowance it was decided that one day be set aside for member’s wives to use the green. In 1939 at the outbreak of war all league games were suspended for the duration although the club continued to function for its members to use. A Ladies section of the club was formally introduced in 1965 with inaugural numbers being 16. The club joined the South Dorset League in 1964 and won it in its first attempt. An upturn in fortunes came about with the popularity of Bridport and surrounding villages becoming a retirement haven and the holiday industry on the Dorset coast experiencing an upsurge in numbers all of which increased the membership to 58 by 1969. By the beginning of 1970 the clubhouse was refurbished including a fully equipped kitchen and bar. In 1973 with the death of J.C. Hunt and the subsequent death of his wife the freehold of the club was offered to the club which it duly purchased and since that time Bridport is one of the few clubs in the area which owns its own club and green. In 1978 the club celebrated its Golden Jubilee with an invitational match against the English Bowling Association led by its then President. Further land acquirements occurred in 1981 when a strip of land between the river and club was purchased and then gifted to the club. Around the mid 80s various events dictated that the club would once again change shape when with the Ladies membership allowance increased to 50 and around the same time the Wessex River Board altered the course of the River Brit along the west perimeter of the club new ladies and men’s changing rooms along with a shed and workshop for the mowers were built. In 1992 a further landmark for the lady members was their acceptance within the club as having the same full rights and votes as the men, apparently one of the few equal joint membership clubs in the County at that time. In 1993 an automatic watering system was installed at the mammoth cost of £16,000. The Ladies section of the club began outstripping the men’s section providing regular teams competing in National Finals at Leamington Spa. Over a ten-year spell from 1985 to 1995 Bridport provided the County with two Lady Presidents and members selected to play for England. 1998 saw the club celebrate 75 years with the men and ladies playing their respective County sides, and a combined team selected from officials of the sports main governing bodies. It was believed that the collection of teams and representatives had never before been involved in such a match.
34 The Marshwood Vale Magazine April 2023 Email info@marshwoodvale.com Tel. 01308 423031