It is believed that Newbold on Stour Bowls club had its origins in 1928 and that play took place in the rectory garden which was situated behind the building known as the Grange. Houses at the end of Park View Lane have since been built on that site. There exists a photo of some of the original members in that location. As yet, nothing has been found relating to the bowls club before 1931. In his history of the Kineton and District Bowls League, George Jordan states that the rector at that time (Herbert Baxter) agreed in 1932 to rent a piece of land to the club for one guinea per annum. I have found a cutting which states that the club had found a suitable field opposite the Grange Hotel ( the rectory had been sold to a businessman and opened as a hotel ) in 1933. This may well be the site of our present green. The land was purchased in 1960 for £150 from a number of parties representing the Church of England by John Rimell, Donald Wilson, Patrick Slatter and Edward Hutchings, the Trustees of the club at that time.

Eirian and I moved into the village in August 1977 ‐ too late for that year,s season, so I joined the bowls club in 1978 and Eirian joined the WI. We found it was a good way of meeting village people. In those days, to become a member, you had to be nominated by an existing member and seconded by another before being accepted by the committee. Both the WI and the Bowls Club had larger memberships than at present despite the fact that Newbold has almost doubled in size. Harold Simms from Alderminster was club President. He was also Town Clerk for Shipston Town Council. Denis Wyatt a builder from Ettington was Captain. Other members at that time were : Jack Nason, deputy headmaster Shipston High School who lived in “Tollgate”; Ned Hutchings, farmer from Barton farm ; John Ades from Alderminster who later went on to become president of the EBA and who presented the plaque to the club to commemorate the loan from Bowls England ; Eric Slater who ran the Waggon Wheel in Armscote ( now the Fuzzy Duck ) ; Les Harris and his son Philip, greengrocers whose shop was ,Meadows, in Rother Street, Stratford ; John Holmes, environmental health officer with Stratford District Council ; Brian Holmes who was landlord at the Gay Dog in Lower Quinton ‐ this pub no longer exists ; Albert Moulder, cowman ; John and Guy Spencer, farmers, Mansell farm ; Les Jacques, Newbold Nurseries ; Bob Cox, Blackwell ; Bill Hadland, mechanic, greenkeeper, 3 Stratford Road ; his son Steve, draughtsman ; Mick Jeffery, Pebworth ; Ted Neal, 2 Stratford Road; Mike Kenney, seed representative, Ettington; Major Bachelor, director at Stratford Canners, who lived in Tylwych House next door to us and who joined the club at the same time as I did. “Major” was his first name, not his rank, and when he was club captain the opposing captain would begin his speech by saying, “Captain Major and members of Newbold bowls club….” which always got a laugh or two. He was responsible for keeping the club going in the eighties by bringing some of his work colleagues along to boost membership. However, things did get a bit cliquey as the “canners” tended to take over what had been a village club and this caused some resentment among the locals. Later, Mike Kenney brought his father in law, Wally Dewsberry, along to the club who, in turn, introduced his neighbour in Wilmcote, Jack Derbyshire, to the game of bowls. Jack was a former teacher and a talented sign writer whose work could be seen in various locations in Stratford as well as the club,s honours boards which he completed for many years at no cost to the club. Jack, in turn, brought his friend Tony Thirlaway to the club. About the same time, the “Pebworth Mafia” joined the club ‐ John ( Jack ) Power, Rob Hall, Ken Waldemar, Les Kilbey and Peter Harrison. As now, most of our matches were against other teams in the Kineton League. Clubs which were members of the League then but which have either withdrawn or folded include Long Marston Civilian Sports and Social club, who played on a rabbit infested green on the Long Marston Army base, Shipston Sports, Stratford Police and Halford. We also played friendlies against Evesham Police, Warwickshire County Council Staff, Lillington, Little Compton, Home Guard Leamington, Northwick ( Blockley ) and Chipping Campden. This last club played their home matches behind the Noel Arms in the High Street. When the land was sold for development they moved to a “field” behind a pub in Bretforton which no longer exists. Later, a new development on former nurseries on the edge of Campden provided the club with a new green and clubhouse.

Until the mid 1980,s The Kineton League was a “men only” league and we had no lady members. Dress code for league matches was: grey trousers, white shirt and club tie. Many bowlers would arrive at the games wearing a blazer too, with either a club badge or a South Warwickshire or County badge if they had represented those organisations on a certain number of occasions within a certain time limit. If the weather was very hot the captain could announce, “ Gentlemen, you may remove your ties “. As club matches consisted of 21 ends, the games finished at the far end of the green. We then bowled our woods back towards the clubhouse in what was known as the “penny‐end”. Skips would bowl first, then threes followed by twos and lastly leads. The person whose bowl finished nearest to the jack collected 10p from the other players.

Ladies were not allowed on the green. However, wives were only too pleased to do the teas, having a drink or two bought for them as they prepared the food, often in pairs, behind the bar and laid out the meals on the tables. And they would often do the washing up afterwards! A typical post-match meal was ham and cheese salad with optional pickled beetroot and onions.

In Newbold bowls club there were only two internal competitions ‐ the club championship and the pairs. Bill Hadland and Harold Simms both passed away in 1990 and memorial trophies were presented creating two new competitions, the 2 woods and the novices. When Les Harris passed away the mixed pairs cup was presented in his memory. Following the Equal Opportunities Act in the 1980s ladies were welcomed as playing members. For many years Hilary Hadland was the only lady playing member. She was also club captain for a number of years and took over the duties of greenkeeper after Bill had died. The few ladies who played in the mixed pairs competition, wives of male members, were generally very inexperienced at bowling and the standard was not as it is today. When female representation grew, the president at that time, Michael Mitchell, presented the Hilary Hadland cup in order to create a ladies, champion. It was named in recognition of the many years of work which Hilary had devoted to the club. During the time that I have been a member we have not won the league although George Jordan, in his history of the KDBL, states that Newbold were once joint winners with two other clubs. We have reached the final of the knockout competition, the Joe Edkins Trophy, on a number of occasions and in 2011 we beat Snitterfield in the final held at Ilmington. The winning team was: Richard and Chris Wilson with Joe and Dave Thomas, and Bernard Gardner, Ed Cruttwell, Guy Hawkins and Peter Goodfellow.