HISTORY OF BUXTED PARK BOWLS CLUB

The Bowls Club was formed in October 1969 when a small proportion of the land at the park was provided by the Buxted Cricket Club, allowing a number of keen enthusiasts to get together to build their own bowls green.

Those founder members, to whom all present day players and supporters at Buxted Park Bowls Club owe a huge debt of gratitude were:

Robert Brooks	Leslie Court	Claude Needham
Alfred Wickham	William (Bill) Wickham	Alan Blackford

One other person that should be recognised is Michael Read, who whilst not one of the original founders, took up the challenge when Claude Needham left the district. It is pleasing to record that Michael (or Mick as he prefers to be called) continues to play regularly. He is an extremely skilful player and is respected by bowls clubs and their members in the area.

In February 1970, a Mr. F. Grant became interested in the project and donated his labour and machinery to complete the levelling and seeding.

With the help of a loans and grants from associations from within the county and donations from the founder members and friends, this covered the initial costs of seeds, fertilizer, fencing and machinery and, after many setbacks mainly due to perverse weather conditions; a six rink green was at last constructed.

To put a price on the green at that time is difficult if not impossible but one could estimate that the investment was in the region of £500, a modest figure when compared to the modern day, but it should be remembered that were it not for the donation of the land together with the physical and financial donations from the founders and friends, the costs would have been far, far greater and practicality says it may even have been prohibitive.

So in October 1972, twenty seven people enrolled as the first members. Subsequently the club became affiliated to the Sussex County Bowls Association and the County President, a Mr. G. Pavitt, officially opened the club in July 1974 and presented a shield to mark the occasion.

Over the intervening years the green continued to improve but in 1979 it was realised that in order to get a perfect playing surface, the turf must be removed and the whole green re-levelled. The costs of such an undertaking was large but with loans and labour from club members the work got under way.

Wet weather over the winter held things up but in April 1980 the banks around the ditches had been rebuilt and paths around the green were constructed to provide easier access to the green.

Since then there has been a continuing level of investment both on and around the green.

The biggest task to be undertaken in recent years took place over the winters of 2002/3 and 2003/4. This activity, namely the installation of a completely new drainage system, was completed with all of the labour coming from within our own team of volunteer ground staff, working under the direction of our head greenkeeper, Trevor Morton, senior green consultant, Chris Garrad and resource coordinator / green advisor, David Branch.

This work, which was originally estimated at over £27,000, was completed on time and at a quarter of the estimated cost. It is therefore opportune to recognise the tremendous efforts of those volunteers, who laboured for the enjoyment of others. This is especially relevant when one considers their average age, which is certainly not below the sum of three score years and ten!

Robin Cheal	Eddie Cornwell	John Hawkins
Cyril Keating	Peter Kerwin	Peter Newton
Peter Petts	Malcolm Porter	Ron Twigg
Steve Ward	Brian Wilkins