Club History
Lilleshall Hall Bowls Club was formed in 1982 from very small beginnings and played its first matches in 1983. Indeed it is fair to say that without the vision, enthusiasm and persistence of one man - Cyril Davies - the Club would not exist at all. Cyril took up the story ...
Starting a "proper" Bowls Club in the heart of crown green was getting close to an impossible challenge, but when I first saw the Croquet Lawn at Lilleshall and its magnificent surroundings I did resolve hard to try to beat the impossible. I could not have done it without publicity and Terry Gilder, who was then the editor of the local paper, was a great help.
When we called our first meeting only Dennis Jones and I had ever played the game before, though David Herrick had played a bit on holiday and Bill McMahon was a convert from Crown.
The early difficulties included:
- No bowls to play with - the Centre quickly provided four sets for hire at a reasonable fee and I went back down to Wiltshire begging and scrounging.
- No waterproofs, flat shoes, etc. We all got wet through if it rained - but found some shelter under the old oak tree.
- No money - but we did have a Treasurer - namely Dennis Jones!
- Most important of all - getting the real spirit and ethics of the game across.
It was 1984 when five of us lent the Club £50 each to buy our first "Pavillion" - a real beauty at 10' x 8' ! Making a level base from broken slabs (we couldn't afford the real thing) called for a working party of Ron Gladwin, Dennis Jones, David Herrick, Eric Langford and myself. It was about this time that we did an unofficial deal with the ladies that the men would do these menial tasks if the ladies took charge of the catering!
Those were the early days, the rest, as they say, is history.
Since then the Club has moved on, and now has a modern pavilion and a membership of keen young bowlers of all ages. We maintain a full diary of friendly fixtures and both ladies and men make regular forays into our affiliated County - Worcestershire - with enough success for opponents to have to take us seriously. All the time we strive to maintain, as our founders intended, the spirit and ethics of the game and to have fun!