WESSEX BOWLING CLUB 75th ANNIVERSARY

Wessex Bowling Club, located in Broadstone Recreation Ground adjacent to Dunyeats Road, was founded in 1930 and celebrates its seventy fifth anniversary this year.

There was in fact a Broadstone Bowling Club in existence as early as 1923. They played on a small, three rink green situated in the Recreation Ground on the plot situated at the bottom of the slope leading from the present green where the path meets that from the war memorial. The Club was unhappy with the state of the green and unsuccessful attempts were made to persuade the Council to increase the size of the green. The cost of the necessary work was given as £200. Mr Osman Brown, who was Club President that year, was the prime mover in those discussions.

Osman Brown lived at 'The Homestead', Laurel Drive, Broadstone, the house immediately to the east of the green. He was an architect, a Parish Councillor and a playing member of the Broadstone Bowling Club. His wife was a daughter of LE.Beale, the family linked with the LE.Beale Department Store in Bournemouth.

In July 1929 he offered to construct a new bowling green and club house on a rough strip of gorse land that he owned immediately adjacent to the west of his house in Laurel Drive. A new club was formed that year to be known as 'The Wessex Bowling Club'. They would play on the new green which would remain in the ownership of Osman Brown.

The green was laid by Maxwell Hart, "famous bowling green specialists of London (now En-Tout-Cas Ltd) with Cumberland turf". The pavilion was designed by Osman Brown and built by Hoare Bros of Bournemouth at a cost of £7,500, and is an outstanding structure of its kind. The fine leaded lattice windows at the rear came from an old thatched cottage at Mudeford as did the magnificent carved oak fireplace.

A unique painting of Sir Francis Drake on Plymouth Hoe hangs over the fireplace. It was painted by students at Bournemouth College of Art and cost 80 guineas. The seats that surrounded the green were made from teak wood rescued from the wrecked battleship 'HMS Indefatigable'.

The perimeter was surrounded by tall spiked iron railings, the majority of which were confiscated during World War H by the Government to be melted down for the manufacture of munitions and only the original gates remain today hidden in the hedge to the west of the green. The landscaping of the attractive and beautifully blended bushes, shrubs and trees that provide the delightfully picturesque setting of today was also carried out at this time.

The total cost of the green and pavilion was approximately £15,000 and Osman Brown is alleged to have stated that 'for every wood bowled, it cost him 10/6d'.

During the intervening seventy-five years Wessex Bowling Club has gone from strength- to strength. Poole Council acquired the green and clubhouse in 1945. In 1971 Broadstone Ladies Bowling Club was formed and in 1991 both clubs came together to create Broadstone Bowling Club. Maintenance and provision of the green and the clubhouse is now run by the club who also provide a bar facility. A recent addition has seen the introduction of indoor short mat bowling during the winter months.

Membership currently stands at 125 playing members with 85 social members. New members are always welcome ors, if you would like to just come along and perhaps learn more about the game of lawn bowls, drop in for a visit or ring the clubhouse on 659009.

Addendum

To those of you who receive the magazine in time, our Open Day on 21st August would present an ideal opportunity to see our facilities. We extend this invitation between 10.30am and 12.30pm and again between 2pm and 4pm.

Archive Summer 2005 | next

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