Bowls Club Open Week

25 YEARS IN MILTON REGIS

Our bowls club is now approaching its 25th anniversary since its opening at the recreation ground in Milton, but how did we get here?
Lawn bowls is a very old sport going back a few hundred years, we have all heard the Francis Drake story, what you may not know is that Sittingbourne and Milton have a long history in the sport themselves

Milton Regis has possibly one of the oldest outdoor bowls clubs in the country, and in the 1930’s one of the earliest indoor clubs, Sittingbourne and District, was formed playing at St Michael’s Road swimming baths, when the pool was covered in the winter. With the demise of the pool the club found itself homeless and for a number of years played away only using members’ cars for transport. In the following years those members lobbied hard and wide for a new home, having to both find a site and raise approaching £1m for building costs.

A breakthrough came when the council offered to lease some land in the recreation ground, which was unusable for outdoor recreation purposes, and then came the fundraising. To show there was a demand potential members were asked to donate a minimum of £25 which could then be shown to the Sports Council, National Lottery and local council as evidence when asking for grants. The money from these bodies together with a bank loan and fund raising meant that a new company formed by the bowlers themselves, Swale Bowls Centre Limited could go ahead.

The new club finally opened in the autumn of 2000 and rapidly gained a reputation as one of the most successful clubs in the country having won national honours on a number of occasions and individual members winning both national and international honours. We were also the only club in the south to broadcast live competition on TV. All this despite having to close down for a while for renovation after having 2 arson attacks in one week!

During this time however we also focused on bringing in new members to the sport including young children, some of whom have attained international status, with social bowling, in house leagues and interclub leagues to enable people of all abilities to take an active role. This ethos has continued to this day with the local Swale Multiple Sclerosis Society taking an active part in introducing facilities whereby people using wheelchairs can now bowl alongside everyone else.

We are very friendly with our own restaurant and bar, and help us be around for the next 25 years.

So please come and see us during our open week 22nd – 26th September 8pm – 10pm and 27th September 9am – noon. All equipment is supplied so come along and give it a go.

For more information email enquiries@swaleindoorbowlsclub.co.uk or ring 01795 421222.