A Century of Bowling - Royal County of Berkshire Bowling Association

MORLAND BOWLING CLUB
• Founded 1948
• Orchard Lane, East Hendred, Wantage
• Affiliated 1968
The Morland Bowling Club founded in 1948, was an offshoot of the small
Abingdon Brewery’s Sports and Social Club, whose other branches gradually
withered away. But the tiny bowls Club survived on a three-rink green behind
the Packhorse Inn at Milton Hill, just outside Abingdon.
A few years later the Fish Inn Bowling Club at Sutton Courtenay, another three-rink Club,
collapsed, and that coincided with the Packhorse green closing. The Morland Bowling Club
then moved to Sutton Courtenay. At that time only employees were allowed to become
members.
In 1993 the Fish Inn underwent an extension, which again meant that we had to find
another home. So here we go again !!! For the next three years we arranged to play all
club fixtures away. That worked out quite well. During that time we had negotiated with
Morland a lease on a piece of land that had not been used, and as a consequence was very
overgrown. This land was at The Orchard, East Hendred.
Having gained this lease, the Brewery gave us £10,000, which was matched by “Sports
Match”, a further grant from the Foundation for the Sports and Art for £17,000 and a further
loan from the Brewery of £15,000 (in return for selling their beer), gave us a grand total of
£42,000. The cost of making the new green was £38,000, so we contracted Wellborn Sports
of Lincolnshire to construct our green.
Over the next few years we carried out considerable work around the green and in 2009
we constructed new toilets and kitchen facilities, which will make things much more
comfortable for members and visitors alike to enjoy. The Club’s transformation of the land
they inherited to the Club it is now, has been captured with a series of photographs, at
every stage of development, and makes very interesting reading for visitors. The Club has
provided two County Presidents, with W.Greenway in 2005 and B.Dillon for 2010.
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