BOWLING
© loaned by Jean Marshall
The game of lawn bowls dates back to the ancient world, with the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans all playing the sport. It is believed to have arrived in England in the 13th century and later became very popular during the reign of Henry VIII, who was a keen player. The game was played by the nobility and the working class and the rules varied from region to region. It was only in the late 19th century that the International Bowling Board introduced a standard set of rules across all competitions.
In Croxley Green sporting activities were organised by the John Dickinson mill which acquired a sports ground in 1877 opposite the Red House pub on Watford Road. Cricket, football, bowls and athletics were all part of the new sports club which thrived here until the land was needed for the extension of the Metropolitan Railway in the early 1920s. The mill then bought a large piece of land off the Green and Dickinson’s Sports Ground was founded. The newspaper cutting is from the Hertfordshire Express, 1954
A HISTORY OF CROXLEY GUILD BOWLS CLUB written by Peter Watson, 2026
Adding to tennis, cricket and football, Dickinsons created a bowls green and the club opened in 1926. Dickinsons employed a groundsman for the Guild site, although we don’t think bowling greens were his speciality. The green and surrounds were in pretty poor condition with tarmac/cinder surrounds full of potholes and an opposition skip was heard to describe the green (probably unfairly) as a cabbage patch. Maybe he lost? Facilities were also pretty basic, a corrugated iron shed for a men’s changing room, a wooden hut which served as a clubhouse (we were told it was derelict in the orchard and it was rescued by a previous generation of bowlers) and in later years, ladies changing facilities. Worse still, toilet facilities were two porcelain urinals behind a corrugated screen with no drainage - mostly used by men, but ladies in an emergency. There was a ladies toilet in the Guild cricket clubhouse which was only available during licensing hours as it had a bar. The club survived the war years without any damage or interruption to competitions. Dads army would parade on a Sunday morning and then retreat to the Artichoke or Coach and Horses followed by a roll up on the bowls green. Memories of club successes from those days are now long forgotten but from the archives we know that the last county singles winner was W Tait who won in 1952 and 1954. We had county pairs winners in 1942 (T Clarke and AJ Quelch) and 1946 (G England and OE Hides), fours in 1951 (A Boddy, A Fleming, R Groom, W Tait), and county triples in 1978 (A Humphrey, F Bass, L Gillam). A major success for the club was winning the County Club League in 2002 under Roy Toppin (Captain). Ladies became members in 1968 and soon started winning – the 1974 county pairs (J Bray and M Rittman), 1977 county fours (S Westall, D Cross, M Pavey, J Bray), 1981 county 2 wood singles - Shirley Westall, 1982 and 1983 county pairs (S Westall and D Cross), 1984 county triples (S Westall, J Humphrey, J Edwards), 1987 county 2 wood singles - June Edwards and 1992 county fours (M Pavey, A McLachlan, M Wiggs, A Walton). There was also a host of Watford and District successes by both men and ladies. Dickinsons closed the mill in 1980 and gave the Guild sports site to Three Rivers Council to be used for sports and recreational purposes. The club then became Croxley Guild Bowls Club. When Dickinsons gave the Guild to Three Rivers, the Dickinsons bowls club at Shendish objected to Croxley wearing the Dickinson ties, as they were no longer part of the Dickinsons group, so a new design by Henry Ansell was produced and is still used on our flag today. The different sections were left to fend for themselves, and fortunately bowls members rallied round and started fund raising mainly with socials for the members. Audrey and Ray McLachlan filled their conservatory with bric a brac and organised car boot sales and anything else to raise money. A float was arranged for procession at the Croxley Revels (a member working for the Post Office borrowed a van and a postman pat costume). We took a stall with a tombola and members were expected to donate raffle and competition prizes to the tombola. The Guild tennis section had a small wooden changing facility where our clubhouse stands today which they moved to be closer to their courts. This is when the bowls rebuilding began starting with a toilet block where the tennis changing room stood. A tractor and trailer were borrowed from a local farmer and excavated earth was taken to his rubbish hollow to save money on skips. The club was fortunate to have a building site manager and a manager of a local building suppliers who were able to help with supplying materials and the knowledge of how to use them. The next project was removing the urinals (which caused a hernia or two) to build the machine store and ladies changing room. Some good luck when 2 plumbers and a retired groundsman joined the club so no shortage of skills for building and looking after the green. The site foreman knocked down the newly built pillars for the men’s changing room and rebuilt them as he said they weren’t straight! The building work continued with the men’s changing rooms and paving the surrounds. A Croxley team won the Bovingdon BC winter league and donated the prize money for paving slabs in front of the men’s changing room formally known as Bovingdon boulevard) and work culminated in building the current clubhouse in 2005/2006. This was to replace the old clubhouse which had a corrugated roof and a dodgy floor in places. You could say it was a sprung floor. We received a donation from a member of £20,000 and a grant from Three Rivers of another £20,000. Interest free loans were received from many members (which were all repaid within 3 years) and together with club funds build up over the years, we were able to erect our current clubhouse which cost about £70,000, the plumbing, electrics and labour all provided gratis by members. In tribute to our past members, we have a small part of the flower border reserved for ashes and remembrance of members no longer with us. One of our members died over 30 years ago, and his ashes were spread on the green by his son late one evening when the club was empty with no one around. The was a terrific thunderstorm that night which flooded the green. The pools created were gradually absorbed into the green leaving large circles of ash on the grass. Members arriving next morning saw the white/grey rings on the grass asking what are those to which the answer by club president Vic Morris was ‘I think that’s Frank Bass’. The club is here today, 100 years old, thanks to Dickinsons and past and present members. Here’s to the next 100 years! Rollabowla
The following photos have been donated by Jean Marshall whose grandfather, Frederick Woollams, a WW1 veteran, was a keen and talented member of the Club.
Frederick won many awards and was crowned the Champion of Champions.
In Croxley Green sporting activities were organised by the John Dickinson mill which acquired a sports ground in 1877 opposite the Red House pub on Watford Road. Cricket, football, bowls and athletics were all part of the new sports club which thrived here until the land was needed for the extension of the Metropolitan Railway in the early 1920s. The mill then bought a large piece of land off the Green and Dickinson’s Sports Ground was founded. The newspaper cutting is from the Hertfordshire Express, 1954
A HISTORY OF CROXLEY GUILD BOWLS CLUB written by Peter Watson, 2026
Adding to tennis, cricket and football, Dickinsons created a bowls green and the club opened in 1926. Dickinsons employed a groundsman for the Guild site, although we don’t think bowling greens were his speciality. The green and surrounds were in pretty poor condition with tarmac/cinder surrounds full of potholes and an opposition skip was heard to describe the green (probably unfairly) as a cabbage patch. Maybe he lost? Facilities were also pretty basic, a corrugated iron shed for a men’s changing room, a wooden hut which served as a clubhouse (we were told it was derelict in the orchard and it was rescued by a previous generation of bowlers) and in later years, ladies changing facilities. Worse still, toilet facilities were two porcelain urinals behind a corrugated screen with no drainage - mostly used by men, but ladies in an emergency. There was a ladies toilet in the Guild cricket clubhouse which was only available during licensing hours as it had a bar. The club survived the war years without any damage or interruption to competitions. Dads army would parade on a Sunday morning and then retreat to the Artichoke or Coach and Horses followed by a roll up on the bowls green. Memories of club successes from those days are now long forgotten but from the archives we know that the last county singles winner was W Tait who won in 1952 and 1954. We had county pairs winners in 1942 (T Clarke and AJ Quelch) and 1946 (G England and OE Hides), fours in 1951 (A Boddy, A Fleming, R Groom, W Tait), and county triples in 1978 (A Humphrey, F Bass, L Gillam). A major success for the club was winning the County Club League in 2002 under Roy Toppin (Captain). Ladies became members in 1968 and soon started winning – the 1974 county pairs (J Bray and M Rittman), 1977 county fours (S Westall, D Cross, M Pavey, J Bray), 1981 county 2 wood singles - Shirley Westall, 1982 and 1983 county pairs (S Westall and D Cross), 1984 county triples (S Westall, J Humphrey, J Edwards), 1987 county 2 wood singles - June Edwards and 1992 county fours (M Pavey, A McLachlan, M Wiggs, A Walton). There was also a host of Watford and District successes by both men and ladies. Dickinsons closed the mill in 1980 and gave the Guild sports site to Three Rivers Council to be used for sports and recreational purposes. The club then became Croxley Guild Bowls Club. When Dickinsons gave the Guild to Three Rivers, the Dickinsons bowls club at Shendish objected to Croxley wearing the Dickinson ties, as they were no longer part of the Dickinsons group, so a new design by Henry Ansell was produced and is still used on our flag today. The different sections were left to fend for themselves, and fortunately bowls members rallied round and started fund raising mainly with socials for the members. Audrey and Ray McLachlan filled their conservatory with bric a brac and organised car boot sales and anything else to raise money. A float was arranged for procession at the Croxley Revels (a member working for the Post Office borrowed a van and a postman pat costume). We took a stall with a tombola and members were expected to donate raffle and competition prizes to the tombola. The Guild tennis section had a small wooden changing facility where our clubhouse stands today which they moved to be closer to their courts. This is when the bowls rebuilding began starting with a toilet block where the tennis changing room stood. A tractor and trailer were borrowed from a local farmer and excavated earth was taken to his rubbish hollow to save money on skips. The club was fortunate to have a building site manager and a manager of a local building suppliers who were able to help with supplying materials and the knowledge of how to use them. The next project was removing the urinals (which caused a hernia or two) to build the machine store and ladies changing room. Some good luck when 2 plumbers and a retired groundsman joined the club so no shortage of skills for building and looking after the green. The site foreman knocked down the newly built pillars for the men’s changing room and rebuilt them as he said they weren’t straight! The building work continued with the men’s changing rooms and paving the surrounds. A Croxley team won the Bovingdon BC winter league and donated the prize money for paving slabs in front of the men’s changing room formally known as Bovingdon boulevard) and work culminated in building the current clubhouse in 2005/2006. This was to replace the old clubhouse which had a corrugated roof and a dodgy floor in places. You could say it was a sprung floor. We received a donation from a member of £20,000 and a grant from Three Rivers of another £20,000. Interest free loans were received from many members (which were all repaid within 3 years) and together with club funds build up over the years, we were able to erect our current clubhouse which cost about £70,000, the plumbing, electrics and labour all provided gratis by members. In tribute to our past members, we have a small part of the flower border reserved for ashes and remembrance of members no longer with us. One of our members died over 30 years ago, and his ashes were spread on the green by his son late one evening when the club was empty with no one around. The was a terrific thunderstorm that night which flooded the green. The pools created were gradually absorbed into the green leaving large circles of ash on the grass. Members arriving next morning saw the white/grey rings on the grass asking what are those to which the answer by club president Vic Morris was ‘I think that’s Frank Bass’. The club is here today, 100 years old, thanks to Dickinsons and past and present members. Here’s to the next 100 years! Rollabowla
The following photos have been donated by Jean Marshall whose grandfather, Frederick Woollams, a WW1 veteran, was a keen and talented member of the Club.
Frederick won many awards and was crowned the Champion of Champions.
© loaned by Jean Marshall. Frederick Woollams with his son Henry Langton and two other bowlers
© loaned by Jean Marshall. Frederick Woollams and Sandy Pavey
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© loaned by Jean Marshall.
Frederick Woollams with Sandy Pavey and with Rhoda Humphreys
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© loaned by Jean Marshall
© loaned by Jean Marshall
