The Beginnings of Bearsted & Thurnham Bowls Club

 Today, visitors to the Club are met by the sight of a glorious seven rink green, with the refurbished and extended pavilion standing at the furthermost point, in an elevated position. It was not always like this. The Clubs history only goes back as far as 1983, when a group of local bowlers formed the Bearsted and Thurnham Bowling Club and arranged with the Parish Council to lease a plot of land adjacent to the Church Landway. For the first three seasons, bowlers had to change in tents erected on the day and played on a slowly improving Green. Needless to say, all other facilities at the time were extremely primitive! In the bleak winter of 1986/87, the original pavilion was constructed, with all the funding and much of the labour being provided by the clubs membership.

The Club Pavilion Today

The Pavilion has undergone major extension work and refurbishment of internal facilities over the interceding years. Most recently, during the winter of 2004/2005, the Pavilion was widened and fitted with "wide-view" picture windows in order to gain maximum advantage of its elevated position over the green. Internal ventilation is much improved and the viewing of matches for spectators seated in the Pavilion is much enhanced. New lighting, heating and furnishings fitted to the Pavilion this year, provide for more room and comfort for members and visitors. Improved and extended changing accommodation for ladies and men now provides for a total changing room floor area of nearly 50 square metres.

Dining in the Pavilion

Whilst the kitchen and bar are only five years old, they continue to be the subject of improvement As well as providing teas to support club matches, our ladies are keen to provide hot snacks for bowlers on at least two occasions during the week throughout the season. For special events, excellent cooked meals with hot desserts are produced, which are available for players and spectators alike. A team of ladies provide for all the Clubs catering needs and consistently receive plaudits from visitors for the high standard of food that is served. A tea rota of volunteers is drawn up to manage the bulk of catering needs for the forthcoming season. Specific teams are formulated for special events and matches where a more ambitious menu is requested. With the popularity of such culinary delights, the Club has recently upgraded facilities for the kitchen to provide a new 10 foot cubic feet freezer, plus a new Rangemaster cooker, with two ovens, a grill, five halogen plates, a warming plate and a warming drawer. A new dishwasher is capable of achieving a full cleaning cycle in 60 seconds. These additions are much appreciated by the "team". The volunteer and "self help" philosophy of the Club is demonstrated by the efforts of the "Green Team" and other working parties that all make a vital contribution to the successful running of the Club. All work associated with the maintenance of the Green and surrounding areas are provided freely by Club members.

Working in the Community

A few minutes walk from the historic village green, and just beyond a medieval church, lies the idyllic location for the Bearsted and Thurnham Bowling Club. Facing a conservation area, it is not just by chance that the Club is located in an area of such outstanding beauty and rural bliss. Until recently, the immediate surrounding area was "earmarked" for property development, but the combined efforts of local residents and the wider community helped secure 12 acres of adjacent land as a conservation and amenity area for the village, under the auspices of the Bearsted Woodland Trust. The land is now protected in perpetuity and can never be developed. Over fifty Club members have joined the "Friends of the Trust", one of whom is the Deputy Chairman and another the Treasurer of management committee. A volunteer force, turning out at least once a month, helped with the planting of 250 trees. The construction of a circular pathway and the opening of this wonderful site to wheelchair and pushchair access has been achieved.

Bearsted and Thurnham Bowling Club

The Club continues to go from strength to strength, underpinned by sound financial management and a strong self help ethos. All improvements at the Club, from Pavilion extensions and refurbishments, to the purchase of equipment, have been funded from balances held by the Club, without any recourse to external grants, funding or loans. On the Green, support for Club friendly fixtures is high, with 76 matches planned for the 2007 season. In addition, the Club enters a total of nine teams in four different competitive leagues. Club Competitions form an important and integral part of the seasons bowling programme. During May and September, six evenings are allocated for one off team competitions which maximise the capacity of the Green. The competition programme is run principally over five full days during the season, culminating in a semi final week-end (First week-end in September) and the Finals Day itself (Second week-end in September). Specific evenings are also set aside to play particular rounds of team competitions. Altogether, the Club runs 7 adult singles competitions (Veterans, Two Wood, Mens Singles, Mens Singles Handicap, Ladies Singles, Ladies Singles Handicap and the 100 Up). In addition, there are a further seven team competitions. Junior players may enter adult competitions but also have two designated junior competitions (Singles and 100 Up). The Club considers it vital to maintain links with all our membership, notwithstanding how often they practice their bowling. To assist with this aim, newsletters are produced near the beginning and the end of the playing season. These are dispatched to the entire membership in order to keep people informed of developments on and off the Green. Now the introduction of this web site where newsletters will also be published.