Category: Members Stories

Thorndon Bowls Club

Currently…

We are now in a position in time where we can call upon people who belong to the club, or know of it, or have played against us, to recall some of their memories. We make a start with our current Chairman, David Cattermole, who has a long history with Thorndon Bowls Club but is also well known within the village and community

David’s first link with the village was in attending the Primary School, where Daphne Wells was head, travelling from his home in Thornham Parva to school on a Hayward’s Bus. Moving to Eye Modern School he was soon to return to Thorndon when his working life started at Rex Service Station situated next door to the school where his employers were John and Daphne Wells, the latter still being head. Jack Wells, John’s father has featured in the already published history.

Playing football for Stoke Ash F.C. who’s home ground was at the Kerrison School-in its day one of the best playing surfaces locally- David’s links with the village continued and were strengthened when a colleague, Jack Mayhew, at the garage who often chatted about the game of Lawn Bowls took David to the Bowls Club with the invitation to ‘give it a try’. That started a 40 year journey for David, who was immediately welcomed into the Club and soon found that being a member was more than just about playing bowls, there is also a considerable social life at the Club as well. The late Peter Wright, then Club Captain, and his wife June, Club Secretary (seen as the heartbeat of the Club) were instrumental in providing some tuition. Villages were, and are still, close knit communities and they had both known him during his childhood days in Thornham where David lived and they kept the Post Office.

David will be well known to many villagers, perhaps from the days he may have served you with petrol from the Rex Service Station Forecourt or repaired your car, in the days when technology didn’t require the need to return to the main dealer. Having served his apprenticeship in motor vehicle engineering David spent many happy years working in the village during a period when Rex Service Station added some coaches to its fleet of taxis and minibuses. His underlying interest in coaches saw David move to Galloway when Mr Braybrooke sold his business to them and were seeking to recruit a Traffic Manager where he spent the rest of his working life with several years as managing director until retiring recently.

Leaving the social history and returning to bowling, steadily David gained sufficient experience to play competitively and was selected to play in one of the Club Teams at Eastern Electric at Gt Finborough which saw the start of many successful years competing at various levels right through to playing in the Suffolk County Team and reaching the National Finals on a number of occasions. However, David happily agrees that although the competition on the Green holds a certain attraction, the social aspect of the Club has meant as much to him as the sport as without it David wouldn’t be as regular visitor to the Black Horse or the Community events at the Village Hall.

Having held both the Secretary’s role, and Treasurer of the Club, June retired from an active role within the club only recently having completed FIFTY years of service which is a fantastic achievement and we hope to hear from her in a future article. June’s retirement coincided with David becoming Chairman and he has often commented upon how difficult it has been to follow such a talented and committed club member who naturally knew everything that had gone on for a considerable amount of time!. June, her husband Peter and those mentioned previously in previous articles made the Club a friendly, competitive and sporting arena where members and visitors feel welcomed and that socially we can discuss the game or just ‘chew the fat!’ The Club is looking forward positively and can now boast among some of the best facilities in the area, having been able to invest in improvements to the clubhouse, toilets, storage and general facilities during the last year. (With due regard, and thanks, paid to our Club President John Coy and his family for continued support and understanding). The Green itself, our playing surface, has also had a huge amount of work completed on it and looked fantastic throughout last year thanks to the efforts of our groundsman-and his ‘assistant!’ Maybe we will hear from them in another article…and the Club members can’t wait to get onto the Green for a ‘roll-up’ as soon as allowed although we know it won’t be before the end of April when we ‘always’ officially ‘open’ each year.

Thorndon Bowls Club

This month brings the reminiscences of probably our longest serving member of the club. Our second article from members is from June Wright

In 1964 Ted Bailey, who owned the Village Shop and Post Office in Thorndon, invited Peter Wright to play bowls, little did he realise what a journey it was to turn out to be. Peter quickly took to bowls and formed a great friendship with Sonny Garrod from Wetheringsett. In those days there was no ‘formal’ dress wear to play bowls and not many owned their own set of woods. Jack Coy would bring a sack, tip out the bowls and you chose which ones you wanted. Over the next few years they played mostly friendly games with one or two cup games. Peter and Sonny were getting more and more competitive and wanted more for the club. Sonny’s wife Jean, and Peter’s wife June played roll-ups during 1968 and were keen to learn, but there were no facilities so during the winter of ’68 Peter went to Hardwick aerodrome and bought and dismantled an old army hut. The men cleared the site and with Jack Coy’s permission they duly erected the hut to make a pavilion-which is still the basis for today’s clubhouse. In 1969 June and Jean joined as playing members. Calor gas lighting and a small stove were installed and bus seats to sit on-this was a new beginning for the club as June and Jean made sandwiches, teas and coffees and always a crate of beer from the Black Horse for the home matches.

In 1969 Bill Lloyd, a police officer, who lived in the village Police Station gave up his office of secretary to the club and with no-one willing to take on the role Peter said “That’s okay. June can do that”! In June 1970 Ivy Bailey of Thorndon and Margaret Chinery of Thornham joined the club and we now had 23 members including the four ladies. At the end of the 1970 season the club joined the South Norfolk League and affiliated to the SCBA Federation (Suffolk County Bowls Association Federation). In those days few clubs had their own greens but were associated with ‘big’ houses or pubs so Dickleburgh played on the Rectory lawn, Diss Cherry Tree had their lawn, Hoxne Swan also and in front of Bacton Manor.

In 1971 John Rolfe of Kerrison School organised our first club dinner of this era. We had now started club competitions and prizes were given. Also during this season Ken and Irene Emms joined the club. Irene has sadly now passed away but Kenny still lives in Kenninghall. Also at the end of 1971 the late Vic Hearn of Thorndon took over as groundsman with the help of Sonny and Peter and as the club continued to prosper it was decided to start playing open drives on Sundays once a month. These became very popular and helped raise the bank balance so that at the end of 1973 we were able to have electricity installed. In 1974 Jo and Brian Whatling joined us and both became very active bowlers within the club helping with many chores. Jo is still very involved but sadly Brian recently passed away.

With thirty members and getting more and more competitive we joined Stowmarket League and played in several different cup games. The men built a kitchen on the clubhouse which is also still there-albeit updated recently. And we purchased tables and chairs. Also in 1974 we entered Stowmarket ICI Indoor league and Shotford Indoor League. In 1975 we had two great characters join; George Edwards who had a butcher shop in Eye and John Terry who had the chemist shop in Eye. Both retired to Thorndon and what a joy they were to have-never a dull moment! Over the seasons things moved at a rapid pace. The green was levelled as it had a two foot slope and also a pond was filled so we could play with six rinks instead of four one way.

In 1976 we were playing many league and cup games and were beginning to become very successful and so decided to enter the County Junior Cup and during the same year we won the Soames Cup which is no longer played for-but the trophy is still with us! In 1977 we boasted 34 members with Bunny (Bernard) Hayward joining his father Vic, already a member. Bunny still plays an active role within the club teams and competitions. Also Geoff West, late of Thwaite Buck’s Head (now The Walnut Tree) and Don Bentley of Thorndon another great character joined us. Unfortunately Don passed away quite young but there is a bench in his memory at the club which was bought by the Leek Club.

With more members and more ideas the club got even more competitive entering even more competitions. In 1978 David Cattermole joined the club and is our current Chairman (previous member’s story). We now had several ladies and so joined the Ladies Federation giving them the opportunity to enter County Competitions. In 1979 John and Christine Aldous of Thorndon became bowlers and are still showing the youngsters how it can be done. Roy Rich of Thorndon became very friendly with Don and they provided us with many laughs. In 1979 the cub were runners up in the County Junior Cup, playing at Melton St. Audrey’s and losing to Beccles Bowls Club. On the same day we played in the final of the Scammel Cup at Watneys and we won!

The club was now the envy of many clubs because of our bowling and the wonderful friendship we all had; we were one big happy family. Throughout all these years Sonny Garrod and Peter Wright worked tirelessly on the green and laid the basis for what it is today. In 1969 the club had £1.10s.6d (£1.52p) and with all the improvements by the end of 1979 had now got a balance of £558.50p.

June only had this to say about her contribution

During these years June also worked hard for the club organising open drives, whist drives and sales etc.

However it should not be underestimated what her contribution was as secretary, treasurer, top class bowler, mentor and general factotum for the club. How many people will willing serve a village organisation for FIFTY years unpaid I ask? The club’s debt to June is immeasurable and we thank you once again for your commitment and contribution to Thorndon Bowls Club….

Thorndon Bowls Club has reason to be grateful to many people within the village since its inception in the early 20th Century but the longest ‘supporters’ we have had are the Coy family and this month we have information from the member of the family who laid down the initial green and additional notes from present family members.

The Coy family originated in Lincolnshire and moved down to Suffolk in the late 1800’s. They farmed at Thwaite St. George on the 1901 Census return but by 1911 Thomas Coy, born Gosberton, Lincolnshire was in Thorndon with wife Alice and sons William J and Thomas H. Both sons had been born here so we know they were resident before 1906. The William J was the man who was known as ‘Jack’ Coy-many Johns were known as Jack for some unexplained reason! John Coy said that from his father’s notes they ‘moved from Hill Farm to Poplar Farm in 1903 and dad was born in 1906 (he died in 1993’).

John sent this piece which he has from Jack in the family papers (which I have transcribed part of here and copied below) and he also mentioned that his sisters were still paying tennis on the bowls green in 1960/61.

9.12.1991 Thorndon

I used to hear them talking about Pinchbeck and Gosborton and Bourne Fen a few miles from Spalding.

Grandfather moved to the Hill Farm Thwaite in Suffolk … he bought Poplar Farm Thorndon in 1903.

He left jottings on the club for John, who is our current President, and he has kindly lent them to me to copy. Here is a transcript which I have illustrated with italics where possible. I have copied what was written and spellings may vary!

‘Bear in mind this was 58 years ago and recollection gets a bit dim. Of all the people mentioned only Jonny Everson and I survive. (John Coy confirmed that the notes were written in 1990)

The original Thorndon Bowls Club played on a piece of ground behind the house where Denman now lives (The cottage is now called Laurel Cottage which is opposite Fen Lodge.).It was a bit fenced off in Tydeman’s meadow. The members were nearly all Thorndon farmers, Jimmy Tydeman, Dick Cook, Frank Hammond, Freddy Rush of Occold, Derek Lockwood from Church Farm, Old Frank from Shorts Farm, Gus Hammond (Brames Hall), Dick Cracknell Rishangles Lodge, Hodgekinson (White House) also the village policeman W Ribbons, Ted Brock (Carpenter) and secretary, Horry Everson, Jimmy Everson, Ted Bailey (shop), Claude Alderton (shoemaker). The clubs they played against in those days were limited to neighbouring villages. Bedingfield, Mellis, Mendlesham, Debenham, Wortham. Play ceased when the war broke out. (That makes it 1939).

The total number of members could not have been more than about 20. They always kept to the same ‘blocks’ of 3 players. The same leaders and backs always played together. Like Horry Everson always led for Frank Hammond. Ted Brock led for W. Ribbons. Fred Rush led for Dick Cook and so on. I first played in 1930 or thereabouts and went with Ted Bailey. (The first mention I can find in local newspapers is June 1933 when Jack played against Bedingfield. He may have played before that date of course but no report was submitted to the newspapers) (The newspaper reports also confirm this although there are sometimes differences in the blocks of players).

I cleared the piece of ground to make a tennis court about 1950. Some of the original club members started playing again on the lawn at Standwell Lodge. I decided to convert the proposed tennis court into a bowling green and this was opened as a celebration of the Coronation in 1952. (Whether Jack meant 1953 for the coronation or 1952 for the accession I am unsure-although previously I have included a report for the official first bowl in 1953 from the Diss Express so I suspect he was right with coronation and meant 1953)(John says that the Green was in use in 1952-so accession but the club re-formed in 1953 the Coronation). The opening (1953) was performed by Mr. Balch of Hestley Hall who agreed to be President of the club and he presented the ‘Rose Bowl’ which is still competed for. Horry Everson (the oldest member then) bowled the first wood. I was not at the opening ceremony as I’d agreed to help run a clay pigeon shoot at Redgrave. (A report in the Diss Express headlined Clay Pigeon Shoot at Redgrave begins- Clay Pigeon Shoot, trailer backing, carrying a comb of wheat and tossing a sheaf competitions were held on the Glebe Meadow on Saturday. A profit of about £50 went to the Coronation Fund. The clay pigeon shoot was won by Warrant Officer Gulyas of U.S.A.A.F.) John remembers Clay shoots organised by Jack at The Eye Flower Show and Hardwick near Bury St. Edmunds. He also recalled that if Guylas turned up early all the other ‘guns’ went away as he was certain to win! The club had various secretaries in the following years; Thomas from Kerrison School, Lloyd the policeman, Ted Brock etc.

I cannot remember when it was that levelling was undertaken or pond filling and extending was carried out but when it was done the green became full size with 6 rinks both ways.

As can be seen from the appended list we got about all over the county and many of the present members will be able to remember the matches listed. Most of them were played between 1954 and 1966. While I was in the game we only played ‘friendlies’ but now they have joined various leagues and players and teams have to be registered.

Nowadays players are switched about and mixed up. Leaders and skips are changed about. (The reports in the Diss Express do bear this out and the rinks were nearly always the same three players although every so often there is a change which could have had many reasons). Ladies started to join and play about 1956 and over the past few years have made quite a name for themselves in regional competitions.

All the bowling greens I have played on since 1930. Those marked X are clubs the Thorndon Club played against.

Bedingfield X, Earl Soham X, Badingham X, Marlesford X, Otley X, Halesworth X, Earsham X, Scole X, Long Stratton X, Wortham Rectory X, Wortham (Green) X, Mellis X, Diss Causeway X, Earl Stonham X, Haughley X, Holbrook X, Ipswich Safe Harbour X, Ipswich Brook Street X, Burston X, Barningham X, Great Ashfield X, Bedingfield Rectory X, Stradbroke X, Laxfield X, Debenham (Old Gasworks) X, Hoxne (Swan) X, Hoxne (Grapes) X, Botesdale Bell X, Botesdale Street X, Pulham Market X, Mendlesham (Horse Fair Green) X, Mendlesham (New Green) X, Eye White Lion X, Eye Tennis Courts X, Gislingham X, Needham Market X, Occold X, Palgrave X.

Other greens and lawns not involving the club-some of these were invitation games. Felixstowe, Cromer, Framlingham Castle, Saxmundham, Standwell Lodge, Green Farm Kenton, Diss Bowls Club.

A fascinating insight into the club from Jack Coy. Thanks to John and family for their help with providing this view into the formation of the club on its current site from the inside as it were. We are hoping to have an ‘Open Day’ during the summer if the conditions allow so please watch out for further details on that…and I am casting my net around to see who I can persuade to add another personal contribution to our series.