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The Early Years

South Kelsey indoor Bowls club was formed in 1986 although no official records are found before 1993. Most of the details before this date are from people’s memory. The only Official that can be remembered is the first treasurer being Jim Everatt.

At the beginning of the club in 1986 the village hall lent the club money to purchase new mats, which they did then eventually repaid this money.

Several cups and trophies were purchased by the club or donated by various Organisations or Individuals.  Full details of these can be found on the relevant cup/trophy pages.  We now have a total of 12 club competitions, all of which are all well supported.

The club donated to the Bishop Norton and district league a trophy to be played for on a knock out basis by all clubs in both divisions.  The final to be played at South Kelsey unless South Kelsey are in it, Then a neutral club is to host it. To date Kelsey have not made the final.

In 1989 they were the league winners.  The Team being as follows, Ron Barr, Dick Chappell, Dianne Flunder, Colin Hooker, Beryl Parker, Darren Scutt, Ted Sparrow, Betty Umpleby.

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1990s

During the 1992/93 season, 2 new mats were purchased at a cost of £875 and a donation of £250 was given to the village Hall, leaving a healthy balance of £1080.

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In the 1993/94 season it was proposed that grey and white to be worn at league matches but eventually it was decided to make this voluntary rather than compulsory.  It was decided that anyone wishing to join the club must apply in writing. Also In this season a new trophy was purchased (The Whatsit Trophy) to be named the South Kelsey Bowls club Trophy.   At a committee meeting on Jan 6th 1994 it was decided that as Roy Everatt had passed away it should be re-named the Roy Everatt Memorial Trophy. Members were also to be asked if they would like to contribute to this trophy. Donations to the amount of £40 were received and an appropriate trophy was purchased.

Following a request from Waddingham bowls club on behalf of the Bishop Norton league for a donation to the Air Ambulance appeal, a bowls drive was held on Mar 13th 1994 and approximately £40 was made and a cheque sent.

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On Oct 16th 1994 a bowls drive was organised inviting other clubs to play, the proceeds of this competition amounted to £200.  A cheque for this amount was sent to Waddingham bowls club to be sent to the air ambulance appeal.

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Early in 1995 after consultation with the village hall committee, a front entrance has been made underneath the stage by Colin Shephardson. The cost of this being £252, paid for by the club. This was money well spent, as this has made it a great deal easier for putting the mats away.  Before this they had to go through the side door and lifted and turned to get under the stage, no easy job.

Apr 2nd 1995, a drive was organised with other clubs invited, the proceeds of which were given to the village hall. This amounted to £82.20 On Sept 5th 1995 a drive was organised in aid of Great Ormond Street Hospital as the granddaughter of our Secretary Peter Walker and Blue team Captain Joan Walker had spent some time there.  A total of £462 was made.

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After consultation with Keith and Vi Knapton it was decided to alter the rules of the K And V Knapton cup so that ladies or Gents can play together if there are too many players of either sex for it to be a mixed doubles.

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Dec 1995 a proposal by Ron and Margaret Barr to change the rules of the R And M Barr trophy was accepted. This was that you now draw for partners instead of choosing your own.

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June 1996 the open singles format was altered from a straight Knock Out to a monthly drive played over several months drawing for partners and position of play every time.

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It was proposed that as over the years several members had passed away we should change the name of the Roy Everatt Memorial trophy to The Memorial Trophy in remembrance of these members as well. This was agreed.

Aug 1996 The Hall had been provisionally booked for most Mondays and Thursdays and every Tuesday but the Hall committee decided that we could not have Mondays.  This reduced our bookings from 70 to 43.

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Nov 1996 a donation of £50 was sent to the fox plant charity appeal.

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Jan 1997, a fund raising competition was organised which made £70.97 for club funds. This was only a partial success as we allowed Barrow club to bring too many players, this caused a lot of confusion which was our own fault .  We learnt a valuable lesson from this mistake.

Feb 1997, up to now no runner up prizes had been awarded.   It was now proposed and accepted that we could now afford to give runner up awards for Ladies, Gents, and open Singles plus the Memorial Trophies.

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Sep 1997,  We hosted the Bishop Norton Plate. This is a competition between the 2nd  and 3rd  teams in each division Of the Bishop Norton League. This turned out a bit of a fiasco as Bottesford Brown tried to bring players back in after they had dropped out in a previous round, Bottesford then walked out.  They later sent an apology.

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Nov 1997. 2 Trolleys have been made to put the mats on when they are put away. This has made it a lot easier than pulling and tugging the mats along the floor.

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Apr 1998. It was decided that the dress rules for league Matches i.e. grey and white should be changed from voluntary to compulsory.  Oct 8th 1998,  Boston Bowls supplies visited the club with 2 different mats for us to try.  We agreed on the faster of the 2.  We were allowed £500 on the old mats leaving a balance of £1473 to pay for 3 new mats.  These were ordered delivered and paid for.

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Autumn 1999.  As it was a dusty job putting the mats away under the stage. (It was a concrete floor and trouser Knees came covered in cement dust) it was decided to ask the Village Hall Committee if we could line the floor under the stage. This was agreed to and the work carried out at the clubs own expense by John Staves. Over the years with the various improvements, we have made the mat storage and movement very much easier.  A display cabinet for some of the trophies the club have won was obtained by Les Hewson.

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2000-2001 Season

Apr 2000. It was decided that in future we would have 1 Thursday competition per month rather than try to get them all in after Christmas.

Nov 2000 there was a discussion about lack of interest in Sunday competitions. It was decided to try one more and if it was not supported we would not have any more.

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2001-2002 Season

May 2001 a letter was received from the village hall asking for a donation towards the cost of decorating the hall.  We donated £20.  

It was decided that too many of the club nights were taken up by competitions due to Sunday competitions being transferred to Thursday evenings, therefore 5 competitions would revert to Sundays, where they are now well supported.

Dec 2001. Christmas Dinner was this year held at the Black Horse Wrawby instead of the village Hall.

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2002-2003 Season

Dec 2002. Rather than members having the work of doing a Christmas dinner it was decided to look for somewhere to go. This was welcomed (particularly by the Ladies). Enquiries were made at the Black Horse at Wrawby and The Queens Head at North Kelsey Moor. The Queens head being decided on.   Club funds paid in full'

Mar 2003. Due to Freddie Ellis-Hawkins being in hospital, he could not play in the final of the Knapton Trophy. It was decided that the 3 remaining finalists have their names put on the trophy, this decision is not to be made in the future.  

As the Lodge sports doubles cup was deteriorating in condition it was decided to purchase a new similar trophy. It was decided that from now on as some of the winners and runners up in club competitions have a lot of trophies and do not know where to put them, they should be given the option of receiving either a trophy or money.

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2003-2004 Season

Sep 2003 £10 was donated for a raffle prize donated to a village hall car boot sale in aid of village Hall funds. This year The annual dinner was held at the Queens Head on Jan 22nd 2004.

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2004-2005 Season

May 2004. It was decided to drop the 20p tea charge to visiting teams in league matches.

Jan 13th  2005 was the date of the annual Dinner at the Queens Head.

The profit from this years invitation day Jan 30th  2005 was donated to the Tsunami (Earthquake) appeal.

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2005-2006 Season

Apr 2005. Annual Subscriptions were increased from £5 to £6 this being the first increase in over 12 years, it is still considered very reasonable.

Sep 2005. As there was no record of a constitution to be found a new one was written and agreed on by the committee.

The venue for the annual dinner was once again the Queens Head, on Jan 19th 2006.  It was decided that as the club had paid for the meal for the past few years it was proposed that the members contribute £5 to the cost with guests paying full price.  This was agreed.

Nov 2005. As there was confusion as to when we do pay and when we do not pay for tea it was decided to drop the charge for tea and charge £1 mat fees for both home and away matches instead of £l home and 50p away. There was a suggestion of paying a small prize of £2 for the winner and £1 for the runner up on Thursday night competitions, but this was not put forward as it was thought a lot of members would not like it.  It was noted that only runners up in the singles competition got a prize, now the club could afford to it was decided that the runners up in doubles and triples should also get one, this was carried.

Invitation Day Jan 29th 2006, it was decided that as last year we started at 2pm and there was quite a lot of food left, we would start at 11am. This was very successful.

Jan 2006, the annual dinner was this year held at the Queens North Kelsey Moor.

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2006-2007 Season

April 2006. Car drivers were asked if they wanted any recompense for petrol on away matches, they said no thank you.

It was proposed and accepted that members pay 50%o to the annual dinner with non members paying full price.

Sep 2006. The Team of Alan Walker, Ted Sparrow and Eileen Wilmot won the Fox plant Charity trophy this year, therefore we will be hosting it next year, the charity chosen was Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire air Ambulance.  It was thought it would be nice to have a change of Venue for the annual dinner this time so we booked the new in at Great Limber

On Jan 11th 2007, by good luck we found later on that the New Inn had changed hands. On enquiring if our booking still stood nobody could give an answer one way or the other. We had no alternative other than to look elsewhere. We then decided on the Bull at South Kelsey.

 

2007-2008 Season

Apr 2007. It was thought as we lose money on the cost of engraving and prizes for the club competitions the entry fee should increase to £1.50.   The club will still be subsidising these events, but at the present time can afford to do so. This decision was passed.

There was a suggestion that we have The AGM, Presentation day and Annual dinner all on the same day. This was defeated. 

New members. Rather than wait for or arrange a committee meeting specially, it was decided that applications are to  be given to the 2 captains who are to ask various committee members if they agree and only have a committee meeting if it is thought the applicant to be controversial.

Competitions it was decided that in Single competitions only you can visit the head.

Dress code for finals day/night to be grey and white.

Sept 2007 The Blue team where short of members and in danger but managed to get several new members who have turned out to be useful players. The-future is looking much brighter now.

The annual dinner.  As there had been several complaints about last years dinner at the Bull, South Kelsey we decided to have a change of venue and we tried the Hope Tavern at Holton-Le-Moor.  This was much preferred, although the Beef was not very good for which the landlord did apologise.

Sun Mar 9th 2008, We Hosted the Fox plant Charity Cup, and raised £500, for the Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire air Ambulance.  On Presentation day two of their representatives came to receive the cheque for which they were very grateful.

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2008-2009 Season

Apr 2008. There was a request for the better players of the club to be handicapped in the club competitions. This was considered very impractical, Members where offered the opportunity to choose who was to be handicapped, not surprisingly nobody volunteered' It was therefore decided to have two new competition’s instead, one for the Ladies and one for the Gents. The handicaps to be worked on a sliding scale over the previous three years.  As this was an experiment it was decided not have cups/trophies until it was seen if there were enough entries to keep it going.

We decided to have a finals Sunday afternoon rather than night as we now have too may finals to play one night, we played this with two matches played at once, which proved not to be too popular as there didn't seem to be a good atmosphere.

Jan 2009. The annual dinner was held at the Hope tavern again.  This time the Beef was much better.

Feb 2009.  lt was decided as the club was now in a good financial position we could now afford to give better prize money in the club competitions. They have therefore now gone to;

Singles Winners £10.00  & Runners up £7.50.
Doubles/Triples Winners £7.50 & Runners up £6.00
Or trophies to similar value.

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2009-2010 Season

Apr 2009. It was decided that in future not to pay match fees on away games now that the club is in a fairly healthy state.  This would be a slight help to people who always use their cars.

The handicap competitions proving popular are to continue.

Finals day/night. As last year’s finals Sunday was not too popular using two mats at once it was decided that this year we will have The Singles played on a Sunday and the Doubles on a Thursday Night.   The Sunday was a little disappointing as there were very few supporters came if they were not in any of the finals.

K & V Knapton Cup. It was decided that as we now have a fairly even balance of Ladies and Gents in the club we are to revert to playing this competition as a mixed doubles.

Nov 2009. This season started very sadly with the passing of two founder members of the club within a fortnight of each other, namely Betty Shaw (Formerly Umpleby) and Ted Sparrow. Both of whom were very good players and good supporters of the club.  Betty one time Vice captain of the Red team, also tea and biscuit lady and committee member until her passing away.  Ted one time Secretary, Red captain, twice vice captain and committee member until his passing away.  Both were very popular, and are sadly missed.

Jan 2010. We had a complete change for the annual dinner this year. We went for a Sunday Lunch at Elsham golf club. This proved to be very popular.

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2010-2011 Season

Apr 2010. Last year we had singles finals on a Sunday and the doubles on Thursday evening, this still did not seem too popular, so this year we are going to try them all on a Sunday starting at 1lAM. As the handicap competitions seem popular, we have decided to have a trophy for each, in memory of two founder members they are to be named as follows;

The Ted Sparrow Gents Handicap Trophy.
The Betty Shaw Ladies Handicap Trophy.

Ted's to be provided By Margaret Husband, Betty's by Michael Shaw.

As Arthur Dawson is now our only founder member and still playing for and supporting the club, Alan Walker proposed and Michael Shaw Seconded that he is to be made an honorary member. This was approved by everyone.

 

These are all the facts I can find. I give apologies for any errors and omissions.
Michael D. Shaw. 26.4.2010.