A Century of Bowling - Royal County of Berkshire Bowling Association

1982 was to be the year of great celebration on the bowling green, as our players were
successful in Winning the Middleton Cup for the first time, having only reached the
final back in 1922. It also coincided with Berkshire winning The Home Counties League
by the narrowest of margins in the final match against Oxford by half a point. Players from
both teams enjoyed a celebration with their wives / partners at Thatcham Bowls Club with
the lads from The Middleton Cup Squad receiving their trophy on the 4th of December
1982 at The Connaught Rooms, where tickets were the princely sum of £12.50.
(A list of all the players is shown in The Honours Section of this book on page 96).
The County Handbook by 1986 was at last making a small profit, as adverts now formed an
important part of the income stream, which combined with the fact that all competitors in
County Competitions were now required to purchase a book, helped to overcome a longrunning
problem of losing money on its publication.
With an increasing number of younger bowlers, the County created an Under 35’s Squad in
the early 1990’s, which played adjacent Counties on a competitive match basis. The Home
Counties League was approached with the idea of forming a league for this age range, but it
was initially rejected.
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