Westlands Bowling Club

Club Information

Westlands     1945 - 2016
 

Notes on Development of the Club

Westlands Bowling is a Parks Club using facilities, owned and administered by the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme, at Westlands Sports Ground. 

Unfortunately, existing records do not go back to the founding of the Club, but it would appear that the Club was formed in 1945.

The earliest minutes available are those of Committee meetings held in the bowls pavilion in July 1955. The next record refers to the "11th Annual General Meeting", held in the bowls pavilion on 21st June 1956. Ten members were present and the future of the Club was discussed. After some deliberation it was resolved that the Bowls Club should continue. 

They were struggling to keep going due to the low membership, at the time the only competitive games played were in the Burgess Cup Competition. 

The first League team entered the Parks Saturday League in 1958. At the time there were 4 divisions; the Club were placed in the "Northern B" division. In the first season they finished 7th (out of 10) but in the following season improved to finish in second place.

In 1977 a second Saturday team and a Thursday team were added. 

For many years the Club catered only for male members. In 1998 ladies were invited to join and this resulted in a fairly rapid increase in membership. In 2000 Saturday morning "training" sessions for juniors were introduced. In the following year a junior team joined the Saturday Junior League and in 2003 a second junior team was established. As our very successful juniors neared the age limit we found it difficult to attract replacements. Unffortunately this compelled the Club to withdraw from the League at the end of the 2009 season.

At the end of the 2014 season, membership of the Club stood at 121. 

The Club now have 15 Senior teams.

For further information on our League activities please refer to Leagues Section.