Club History
Lytchett Manor Short Mat Bowls Club - A History
Lytchett Manor Sports Centre is attached to
Lytchett
Minster
School
and has been provided not only for the school’s use but, as with
many leisure centres associated with schools, for the local public’s
sporting and leisure requirements.The seeds of the Short Mat Bowls Club were sown in
1988 when the Sports Centre provided mats and equipment for sessions
on a Friday evening. Our previous President, Graham Lee, was the
Sports Centre’s Administrator and it was he, along with a handful of
bowling enthusiasts, who started the ‘bowl’ rolling.
In 1990 the players were demanding more
competition. An annual competition was arranged with other clubs and
the Purbeck Shield was competed for against Wareham Short Mat
Bowling Club. This competition was played for over 4 legs, with
Lytchett being the winners of the inaugural and majority of subsequent
fixtures. In addition,
over the years we have enjoyed numerous friendly matches against
both short mat and outdoor clubs with varying levels of success
particularly against the latter!
In 1990, the
Purbeck Sports Centre in
Wareham
initiated The Purbeck League, and we entered 3 teams playing against
3 teams from Wareham Short Mat Bowls Club and various non-bowls
clubs from Cricket (many of
whom are still on the local bowling circuit), Hockey,
Football and Volleyball disciplines.
The Club was truly on the map and in 1990 officers
were selected to run proceedings, and the first AGM took place in
April 1991 when officers of the Club were officially elected and the
requirement for a Constitution was tabled.
The Dorset Short Mat Bowling Association (DSMBA)
started the Dorset League in late 1991, and Lytchett entered two
teams. The first team has held its position in Division One since
the league started, and the second team were Division 3 champions in
1997/8. With increasing
membership, Lytchett entered a third team for the 1994 season and
the next year entered a fourth team. It was not possible to sustain
our numbers and from 1999 the fourth team was dropped.
Unfortunately, from 2006, we have reverted to 2 teams.
In 1994, an Invitation Fours Competition was
inaugurated and other Dorset
clubs were invited to enter a mixed gender competition held in
Lytchett Sports Centre. A Rose Bowl Trophy was purchased and each
year 12 to 16 teams enter the competition. The competition suffered
a dramatic hiatus in June 2000 when an ex student decided to burn
the school down. The headmaster requisitioned the main sports hall,
in which the competition was held, and the competition was unable to
restart until 2003.
1994 also saw the start of our annual Presentation
Dinners at the Kensington Hotel in Bournemouth
and since 2005 at various venues including Dylans in the Courtyard
Centre, Poole Yacht Club, The Botany Bay Inne and The Chequers Inn.
In 1995 the Sports Centre obtained a grant to
build an extension, a gymnasium, and this was to be our home from
1998. Our Club, together with other clubs within the Sports Centre,
were asked to raise funds to help with the finances and, between
1995 and 1997 we held monthly raffles that raised £500. Tottenham
Hotspurs’ Darren Anderton officially opened the extension in
December 1998.
In 2000 members asked for a second bowling night,
but only Monday evening was available, and this session was not well
supported. However, in 2003 Wednesday evenings became an option and
this evening has been used for our home Dorset League matches ever
since. Non-league members can also play on any remaining mats.
Since 1996 the club has held charity events in aid
of the Dorset Kidney Fund and from 2007 also for the Parkinson’s
Disease Society. In 2010 we added a third charity, the Poole
Hospital Body Scanner Appeal. Since 1996 the Club members have raised in excess of £3,700.
For the more adventurous members of our club,
Bowls Tours have been arranged by the Social Secretary at the time,
Brian Scott, and the first outing took place in May 2002 to Torquay.
In 2004 and 2005 we returned to Torquay and from 2006 to 2008 the Isle of Wight has been our preferred venue. In 2009, the
Social Secretary, George Musselwhite, arranged a tour to Okehampton
in Devon, and in 2010 to Coleford in the
Wye
Valley. Brian Scott,
re-elected as Social Secretary, took us back to Coleford in 2011.
These tours are very relaxed and intensive bowling is definitely not
the order of the day. Three or four matches are arranged with local
clubs and fun events are also organised.
Phil Giles
Treasurer since 1991
