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1926 – 2016: 90 years young and still rollin’

At the end of the first quarter of the 20th Century, England was gripped by an industrial dispute between the coal mine owners and the work force which was to result in the General Strike of 1926. Meanwhile, in a quiet London suburb, the Gentlemen of Bensham Manor formed a Bowls club.

As was the custom at the time, the club was to be men only ….. and so it stayed for many, many years!

 

Success on the Bowling Green came quickly, culminating in perhaps the club’s greatest competitive achievement, when during the 1933 season, Mr H W Hines won the Andrews Cup to become Surrey County Champion.

Bensham Manor members outside the Pavilion - 1933

By 1939 a thriving club had developed, judging by the Croydon Advertiser and East Surrey Reporter’s 27 January edition (see attached pdf). Under the headline ‘A Happy Family’ (top, centre), it reported 200 guests in attendance at the Greyhound Hotel in Croydon for the club’s annual Presentation Dinner, an event that still forms one of the mainstays of the club’s social calendar.

As an aside, check out the ‘Good Old Days’ article written by the delightfully named Ursula Bloom (bottom left corner) who bemoans the fast pace of life in 1939 compared to the turn of the century. What would she be saying about modern life now we wonder?

Croydon Advertiser and East Surrey Reporter - Friday 27 January 1939

Image © Local World Limited/Trinity Mirror. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD

In the final year of the 1960’s, further sporting success at county level was achieved when Bensham Manor’s Mr L Flynn won the Osborne Bowl, a competition open to the Secretaries of affiliated clubs within Surrey.  

 

The club’s fortunes ebbed and flowed through the decades thereafter ………….

Bensham Manor members outside the Pavilion - 1990

………………… until the dawning of the age of enlightenment!

 

The club papers record that at a committee meeting held on 8th October 2002, introduced under Any Other Business, was the suggestion that Ladies should be permitted to join the club. The minutes indicate that after a lengthy discussion, the proposal was narrowly passed by 4 votes to 3, with one abstention. Interestingly, there was a caveat! Implementation of the measure would be subject to Croydon Council providing suitable changing facilities. The irony of this will not be lost on those readers familiar with the club’s current situation regarding the Ladies (non-existent) changing facilities!

 

The first Lady appears to have joined during the 2004 season and she was the wife of an existing member, who happened to be partially sighted. Cynics might suggest that this was a factor in the club’s transition to a mixed club environment, but that would just be them being cynical! We’d like to say that thereafter there was a rush of applications from Ladies to join, but sadly that was not the case. That situation has changed in recent years and Ladies currently make up one third of the club’s playing membership. The club has yet to have a female champion but it is only a matter of time.

The club celebrated its 90th anniversary during 2016. We are very proud of our link to those who have gone before us, from the original Gentlemen of Bensham Manor, the Surrey Champions, our own club competition winners, whose names remain with us recorded as they are on the competition Honours Boards, and the many other individuals who have been a club member at one time or another. The current membership, with the support of family & friends, is looking to the future, and working hard toward improving the facilities on site, so that yet more people have an excuse to get out in the park on a Summer’s day to enjoy good company, whilst at the same time just happening to roll up a few bowls.

 

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