History
The construction of a bowling green in Poppleton had been talked about for some years. The opportunity arose in 1979 to include one within the new Sports Complex, The Poppleton Community Centre.
In 1979 the first provisional Poppleton Bowls Club committee was formed. However, our green would not be ready for play until 1982, which gave us breathing space to raise some badly needed funds. One successful way of raising funds was to sell turf at £1 a plot and a lot of money was raised this way. However, during the period of 1979 to 1982, it was discovered that the Sugar Beet Factory had an old, defunct green (complete with weeds, rabbit holes etc.) and PBC were allowed to bowl on it! Although far from ideal it did provide us with somewhere to learn the rudiments of bowling and prepare us for the competitive games in the future.
A huge amount of physical work had to be done to our green in the early years and, every Autumn, about a dozen willing helpers would turn up on Saturdays and Sundays. After several hot dry summers, it was obvious that if something was not done about the watering arrangements, we would lose the green completely. We were only using a garden sprinkler which had to be moved every 2 hours or so and this was totally inadequate. Investigations were made into the possibility of installing an automatic watering system, which was only achieved due to 40 club members who agreed to loan the club £50 each - interest free & repayable over 5 years. There is little doubt that this generosity saved the life of the green and the system was installed in 1985 at a cost of £3200.
The possibility of extending the pavilion had been discussed for some time and in 1991, we managed to complete the project. It was necessary to raise £7000 and our members rallied round again by offering £50 loans on the same basis as last time.
The results of the efforts can be seen today, and our members continue to voluntarily offer their services. We entertain clubs from far and wide and all comment favourably on their visit.
