The Plympton Bowling Club was founded in 1962 when the A38 carrying all traffic between Exeter, Plymouth and South East Cornwall ran through the centre of Plympton village, The Ridgeway!! And the same year the Tamar Bridge was opened.
The Bowling Green was provided by the then Plympton Rural District Council in 1961 and is situated in Harewood Park. During several meeting in January and February of 1962, the first Plympton Bowling Club Management Committee meeting was Held on April 25th 1962 and the opening of the green took place on 28th April 1962, and as a consequence the club is now celebrating its 60th years of serving the local and surrounding areas of Plympton with bowling facilities.
It is a very active, well established and well organised club who provide a much needed asset to its members and the local community, the club provides Plympton and the surrounding area with sporting and social activity all the year round, aimed at adults of all ages.
Over the years, the club has developed a strong support from not only the bowling community but other sporting clubs, the business community, the Plympton Community Council and a vast number of individuals. Plymouth City Councillors, the Lord Mayors and the Local Member of Parliament, Sir Gary Streeter MP.
The Club hosts fixtures with other bowling clubs in the area in association with Plymouth and District Men’s and Lady’s Bowling Leagues, Bowls Devon and in addition, host teams touring the South West from far and wide and has developed a reputation for its friendly, cheerful and fun loving attitude, not to mention the Ladies Cream Tea’s, which encourages visitors to come back to Plympton on a regular yearly basis.
Various Internal Club competitions are also organised throughout the outdoor bowling season which are very popular and can prove to be very competitive.
The club are extremely proud of their reputation to run a Charity Day each year. This comprises of democratically choosing a Local charity from a list of charities provided by members. If possible, the club endeavour to get a local bank or company the match the funds raised by the club, which is then presented to the selected charity after the event. The monies raised in recent years, totals in the order of, £ 11,000.00
As previously stated, the club operates through the winter season with the ‘Winter Blues’ meeting regularly in the Club House on every Thursday afternoon to have Tea, a chat and to participate in Skittles, Quizzes, Curling, carpet bowls and other activities which keeps the members socially active, in addition to entering many teams in various Indoor Bowling Leagues and friendlies at the Plymouth Life Centre and other Indoor facilities within the west country.
The club’s outdoor season will start with the Opening Drive performed by the club President Jan Stapleton on Saturday 2nd April to the cheers of many members.
The Club have two main events to celebrate the 60 year Milestone. The first will be a celebratory Invitation Day where bowling clubs across the City will take part on a Mixed Friendly game, on 12th June followed by a traditional Devonshire Cream Tea. The second event will be for Plympton Bowling Club Members only on the 10th July which will involve the Captains Challenge Cup followed by a Barbecue.
Each year, the club hold an ‘Open Day’ to encourage people of all ages to come and ‘Have a Go!!’ the purpose of this day is for people who have wanted to try it out but not sure how to go about it.
At the club are four fully qualified and registered coaches, with a number of seasoned club members available who will provide the encouragement and equipment to those who have an interest. One can get a feel for the game in short session of 10 to 20 mins and should you feel it’s for you, the club will invite you to a six week coaching period at no cost, and at the end of this period, you can decide if you wish to join the club.
The ‘Open Day’ this year will be held on Sunday 23rd April from 10.00 am to 3.00 pm.