AVON BOWLING CLUB: A BRIEF AND VERY PARTIAL HISTORY 1999 - 2025
by Kevin Hand
The millennium is an apt point to continue the developing story of Avon Bowling Club. Lawn Bowls is an incredibly conservative game and resistant to change. But, as in business and in all other aspects of life, it’s change or die! The challenge has always been, and remains, how to manage change without destroying this ancient and quintessentially English pastime.
Walking onto the Avon site at the start of the 21st century you would have seen a magnificent green sward surrounded by tired wooden buildings including the pavilion and changing rooms. The ‘greenness’ wasn’t a virtue and told of an enduring problem and reputation that the green was heavy. Under successive Chairmen and Club Captains, that situation has changed. Using professional services, backed by an army of volunteers, the green runs true and fast and receives many compliments.
Maintaining the wooden pavilion and changing rooms remains a serious challenge. They are close to the end of ‘useful existence’ following many episodes of spring flooding. The debate, therefore, moves to ‘rebuild’ or ‘replace.’ There have been, however, significant site improvements. There are new gates and a striking and substantial wooden gazebo. Modern seats and tables make this the perfect spot to follow the action. The Centenary Celebrations (2024) saw this area extended with other temporary gazebo cover and turned into a magical party grotto, lit with strings of colourful fairy lights. This was managed sublimely by Avon heroine and stalwart Joyce Turner.
More prosaically, storage space has been renewed and enhanced. There’s a specific and large storage space for mowers and tools, another for members’ bowls’ bags and another for games’ equipment including mats, pushers and score boards. Investment has been wise here and the club astute in maximising sponsorship and grant funding.
Toilets have been refurbished and there’s the addition of facilities designed for the exclusive use of disabled members and visitors.
Hedges and flower borders remain a dramatic and colourful feature of the site. There is no longer any support from the District Council, so it falls on Avon members to maintain and develop this imposing façade. Over the years, many Avon volunteers have risen to the task but a hero of the modern era must be Carl Bloxham for his gargantuan efforts in taming and sculpting our vast perimeter.
Moving inside the pavilion, changes are fewer. You may miss the giant honours’ boards showing a century of winners and runners up but truth is - we ran out of space. They were also the focus for looking backwards when the need is to always be looking forward. Also missing from the pavilion walls are photographs depicting the sartorial playing style of the day. For gentlemen, always a blazer and tie and ladies, skirt, blouse and a distinctive hat. Although some loved this style, others didn’t and the kindest interpretation is, that it was quaint. The sponsored polo shirt is now de rigueur and the move towards tracksuit type sportswear commonplace. For social bowling, ‘mufti’ prevails and flat soled trainers of all sorts makes the whole bowling experience more inclusive.
This new informality has helped over the past 25 years to develop Avon’s highly successful community bowls programme. Initiated by Alan Head and David Ainsworth, it has been Maggie Hosking and Derek Ridley who have taken the project to another level. There are two distinct elements of the community bowls programme: the social and the development of competitive bowlers. Visit Avon on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons during the season and the green is likely to be full. There will be seasoned members, mixed with a large sprinkling of novices experiencing lawn bowls for the first time. Community bowls has been a major driver of player recruitment. A number make the transition to competitive bowling in short order.
At the start of the millennium, Avon played regular club friendlies and a single men’s team in the Courier League (now Pickering League). The Ladies’ season seemed to have little structure, and postponements and cancellations seemed common. Under the Chairmanship of the late Dave Johnson, the club moved on by entering the Kineton League (4 rinks mixed) Tuesday and Thursday evening. At the same time a second men’s team was added to the Pickering League. Avon’s first team reached division one of that league for a brief while, but now performs with credit in division 2. There has been a renaissance in ladies’ bowling, not only in recruitment but in results, showing improvement in the overall standard of play.
During this transition, catering played a major part of activities particularly in the Kineton League. Chris and Tony Cosgrove were two heroes of this period, with outstanding hosting skills: Tony a most genial barman, with Chris providing sumptuous suppers. It was during this period that Avon became a major social hub for its members. Beyond social and competitive bowling there was a perceived desire to continue friendships in a broader social context. The annual ‘fish and chip’ supper came with entertainment provided by club members.
Quiz nights run by Maggie Hosking continue to illuminate summer evenings. The Mayor’s Match continues to draw large support, and an annual charity match for local organisations and businesses raises hundreds of pounds. When the season runs its course, members meet each Friday morning for coffee at the Sports’ Club. There, they plan visits to local events at the Bear Pit or the Playhouse to lighten winter evenings.
Against a national decline in participation in lawn bowls, Avon has remained remarkably resilient. At the start of the millennium, membership was in decline, following a hike in the membership subscription to £100. That, in 2025, that subscription has only just been raised to £110, bears testimony to the way Avon has managed change. Nowhere is this more evident than in the use of technology.
The club’s website is the starting point for news, match information and logging availability for games. Facebook allows Avon to interact with other interested communities. The march towards ‘cashless’ allows members to pay membership electronically, use the card reader at the bar and collect match and rink fees remotely.
There is no denying that the pandemic and the regular spring flooding of the site have proved challenging and tiresome. Avon has also had to endure the loss of its car park during this time, and the effect on member recruitment as a result is clear. With a new lease to be agreed shortly with Stratford District Council, and the uncertainty of what that might bring, planning for the future remains problematic. It is to the credit of Chairman, Peter Jones, and fellow officers that lines of communication remain open and positive.
We are lucky in Stratford to have an outstanding recreation ground with magnificent walks besides the beguiling River Avon. At every turn there is a surprise or a meeting with history that delights our many visitors from near and far. There stands Holy Trinity Church, the resting place of William Shakespeare. Run your eye along the river to the RSC’s Other Place, Swan Theatre and Main House. Look up at the Big Wheel set against the Victorian Cox’s Yard. Listen to the thwack of leather on willow at the Sports’ Club, Swan’s Nest. If rowing is your thing, there are boats galore and on a Sunday afternoon a brass band plays on the Bandstand. Swans and geese and the occasional heron populate the river which is best crossed from the Dirty Duck. Cross using the Victorian chain ferry and there lies Avon Bowling Club at the very heart of everything that’s going on. Long may it continue.