Our Club History
The club was formed in 1911 when a public meeting promoted by
the Rugby Chamber of Commerce decided to form a Bowling Club. The only
green available was at the Recreation Ground on the Hillmorton Road, and
arrangements were made with the Council to use this ground. The
relationship between the Club and the Council was always cordial but the
condition of the green was a continual source of
complaint and efforts were made to obtain a private green.
In 1927 Mr. Taplin kindly offered the Club its present ground
on the Westfield Estate with access from the Bilton Road. The next
stumbling block was the raising of upwards of £1500 to lay a Cumberland
Turf green and build a pavilion. To finance the project a limited
liability company called the Rugby Bowling Club Co. Ltd. was incorporated
on the 16th Dec 1926. Many members and other sporting sympathisers
took shares in the company and the money was raised. In June 1927 the
new green and pavilion were opened by Captain Margesson, the M.P.
for Rugby.
Article from the
Rugby Advertiser - dated Friday June 3rd 1927
''RUGBY'S NEW BOWLING GREEN''
BOWLING CLUB'S ENTERPRISE
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OPENING OF CUMBERLAND TURF
GREEN AT RUGBY
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SCHEME COSTS OVER £1,500
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Carried through at a cost of over £1,500
the Rugby Bowling Club's scheme of having for their own a full size
Cumberland turf green and pavilion, instead of playing on the Rugby
Urban District Council's green in the Recreation ground advanced as far
as the opening ceremony on Saturday.
The ground is pleasantly situated close to the Bilton Road
on the Westfield Park Estate (which is being laid out by Mr. W. H.
Taplin). The green has been built up on a level piece of
ground at the foot of the first hill from Rugby, and the pavilion faces
across the Park, towards Rugby.
Captain David Margesson, M.P. threw the first wood, and was a member of
one of the rinks in the first match in which Rugby beat
the Warwickshire County B.C. by 138 shots to 91. The first four
woods were played by Capt Margesson, Mr. J. T. Clarke, President
of the Club, Mr. C.W. Bluemel, Chairman of Directors, and Mr. H.
J. White Vice-Chairman of the B.A. Mr. J. T. Clarke unlocked the
pavilion, a large timber and tiled structure, with verandah
surmounted by a clock, providing changing rooms, a main room, bar and
other offices. The flag at the entrance near which is a tennis
court, also the property of the club, was unfurled by Mrs Wardrop
in the absence of Mrs. Margesson, and she was handed a
bouquet by Audrey Taplin.
Capt Margesson remarked that a politicians duties were heavy, and kept
him too much indoors, so that it was a pleasure to attend an open-air
game. Young people should not imagine that bowls was a game for
old men, for it provided plenty of exercise. The ceremony was the
outcome of a great deal of hard work by the committee, the success
following two previous attempts which, for one reason or another,
failed.
Bowlers' Dream Comes True
After the opening of the pavilion Mr. W. H. Taplin, a member of the club
and contractor, handed the key by Mr. Clarke, who said it was his
pleasure last autumn to congratulate the club on the prospect of a new
ground, and now it was a privilege and a joy to congratulate them on
its consumation. They had a green in beautiful surroundings to
which they would not be ashamed to invite any club in England. The
club had been in bonds since its formation, and now the bonds were
severed, and they could do as they pleased without fear or favour.
They read that Joseph dreamed dreams for years and years of
a bowling green, a tennis court, putting green with babbling brook
running through(laughter), and a pavilion where they could get
refreshments. Their dream had come true.
The fame of bowls was an ancient one. Southampton claimed that
they laid down the first bowling green in 1299. Plymouth Hoe was
where Drake was said to have played, Shakespeare was supposed to have played, and
if he did not, he knew about it, for he mentioned the game
in several plays. There was scarcely a town where bowls was not
played. It was as much a national game as cricket and football.
People said it was an old man's game, It was. There was an old man
who went to the green at Bournemouth within a month of his 103rd
birthday it was also a young mans' game and young men were taking it up.
Bowls was a popular national, pleasant, sociable, skilful and healthy
game (hear hear).The green had not been laid without a tremendous amount of work.
In October last year they appointed as directors messrs. Bluemel, White,
Howell, Dr. T. Wardrop, Pollard, Johnson, and P. James. they put their
hearts and souls in the work from the beginning, and had given
unstintingly of their time and abilities, and he hoped they were as proud
of the result as were the other members (hear hear). Mr. C. Antill, the
Hon. secretary, had been energetic, and had |
''come through
smiling'' Mr W.H. Taplin, the contractor, has shown a sporting interest
in the affair from the beginning, and had make it possible by selling
the ground at a reasonable price, and granting them many favours.
They were also grateful for various gifts of seats, chairs, plants,
shrubs, clock, and fittings from the following: Dr. Wardrop, Messrs.
C.W. Bluemel, B Haynes, F. Down, T. Shenton, R. A. Avery, J. Beese, H.
Ridgeway, L. S. Howell, H. H. Goods, T. Banner, A. W. Smith,
T. A. Ryecroft, C. Antill, R. Thomas, W. Cowley, W. H. Taplin,
A. E. Townsend, J. Pariss, E. J. Brievogel, E. Woodroffe, E. J.
Pollard, C. H. Rowbottom, H. H. White, F. Lloyd, W.
Tomes, A. Bodycote, A. Whittaker, P. James and W. Herbert.
The scheme had cost £1,500 and they had raised about £1,100 in
£1 shares. If they could add the remainder subscribed they would go
home singing ''the more we are together the merrier we'll be'' (laughter
and applause)
Warwickshire's Congratulations
Capt. Margesson supported the appeal that the club should not suffer
from lack of financial support.
Mr. H. Lupton-Reddish converyed the good wishes of the W.C.B.A., of
which he is president, and said it was the ambition of every bowler to
play on a Cumberland turf green, for they all knew what it meant to put
down a good wood nicely delivered and with nice weight, and then
just as they thought it was going near what it was put down to do it
kicked out against the bias. It would be a season or two before
this green settled down, and he gave them the heartiest good
wishes for the success of the green.
M. C. Antill proposed a vote of thanks to the speakers, and in seconding
Mr. F. Black referred to the fact that Mr. Clarke had been connected
with the Club almost since its formation. He had been
''pitch-forked'' into offices of nearly every kind and deserved
the heartiest thanks to all bowlers for his work. They
also owed a debt of gratitude to Mr. Reddish, a member of the
club, who as their legal advisor had done his utmost to help them.
The Best Advice
At the tea provided for players and visitors, Mr. W. H. Taplin,
captain of the club, welcomed the members of the county team, and said it
was a proud day in the progress of the club, for they had long
cherished a dream to possess their own private green and pavilion,
especially a Cumberland turf green, and all that meant. The real initiative
was taken after the match last
September, for on congratulating Capt. Strong and Coventry
club on their enterprise, he responded by urging
Rugby to ''buck up and get busy.'' They had been busy, they were
also proud and honoured to be playing Warwickshire, and asked them to
take their greetings to their respective clubs and tell them they were
looking forward to playing them many pleasant matches both at Rugby and
away.
Councillor W. Ivens, Capt. of the county team, said as one who had a great
deal to do with recreation and games in Coventry he appreciated the private
enterprise in Rugby and they would find being under their own control better than
public control. He would pass on the advice given
to him when he was a young bowler:'' Never be short, never be long, never be
wide, and never be narrow''(laughter)
Mr. A Lloyd seconded.
The chairman proposed thanks to the Press and Mr. E Woodroffe, an ex-secretary
of the English Bowling Association, said the Association was looking for its
strength to private clubs rather than municipal greens, which were not self -
supporting. Touching on the rise of the level green game, he pointed
out that it was due to the enterprise of some Scotsmen in London about 70 years
ago and, although the numerous, the level green game was the only
one they learned and could give them internationals. He had a
great respect for the crown game, but the asset of the level green game
was sociability. He read a telegram from the Middlesex C.B.A.
congratulating Warwickshire on the opening of Cumberland greens at Rugby
and Coventry.
Amongst the guests were Mr. C. W. Beadle, secretary of Cambridge C.B.A., and Mr.
S. R.H. Molyneux, of Bedford B.C. an ex - president of the E.B.A.,
and native of Rugby. |
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The opening game
Rugby
W.C.B.A.
F. A. Slack
W.C Bone
H. Rimmington
E.H. Ludens
A.W. Smith
E. Woodroffe
*M. Watkiss
17 *J. Rees
19
A. E. Townsend
G. Brebener Smith
J. T. Clarke
D. Rowley
G. S. Howell
T.W. Cook
*C. H. Rowbottom 21 *J. Oxnard
19
R. Thomas T. H. Jones
C. W. Bluemel J. Mellor
T. A. Ryecroft Coun. Rayley
*H. J White
18 * J. Tarplee
21
P. J. James Coun .J. Fennell
F. Downs Coun. W. Ivens
W. H. Taplin
E. Cope
*E. J. Pollard 24 * A. W. Johnson 13
W. Tomes J. Porter
J. Tomes F. Allen
E. Breivogel H. C. Morgan
*Dr. Wardrop 27 *T.
Cooper 11
T. Shenton W. Marsh
Capt. Margesson H. Whitbread
B. Haynes W. T. Wrigley
*H. Ridgway 31 *A. J. Meridith 8
138
91
* Skips
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In 1945 the club members evolved a scheme to purchase the assets of
Rugby Bowling Club Co. Ltd. and they became the owners of the
clubhouse and green. This was largely thanks to a Mr. J. W.
Clarke who donated a sum equal to that raised by the
members. That clubhouse was extended in 1953 with improvements in
toilets facilities. To celebrate the completion we had the honour of a
visit by the President of the E.B.A. Robert Kirkland(Northumberland) when
R.B.C. played a Warwickshire President's team on 12th June
1953.
Again in the 1970's a Banbury Building concrete verandah was
incorporated along the front of the original wooden clubhouse. In 1984
the club obtained the planning permission to erect the present building at right
angles to the old clubhouse. In 1985 the Club purchased a strip of land
from the Council to enable the clubhouse to be moved further away
from the green. Money again was the issue and was
overcome by selling a building plot fronting Bilton Road, our own savings, £1000
grant from Rugby Borough Council, £3000 loan from the Sports Council, £10,000
loan from a brewery and donations from life and club members. The building was
completed thanks to a lot of hard work by many members and was officially
opened by the Mayor of Rugby, Councillor Reg French in
September 1987.
History by kind permission from Bill Yates.
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