Some memories from happy days.
Dear members of the Yelverton Bowling Club, if you don’t know me or remember my
name is Richard Button, and Daphne and I were members of the club from the early
nineties until 2009 when we relocated back to Essex, look on the boards on the back
wall and you will find us there somewhere.
The reason for writing is to say how very much we enjoyed being members and have
some very fond memories of people we met and came to know, unfortunately some are
no longer with us, also the activities we were involved in over those years.
I was persuaded to join by Dennis Banks (old member) who I worked with when we first
moved down to Devon and although I always thought it was a good game had never
played it. During our time at the club I was privileged to hold positions of captain, vice
chairman and was a member of the committee for many years.
Daphne joined not long after myself and later became the first lady to become chairman
of the club.
One of my first memories when I joined the club was the changing area, which put one in
mind of a bus shelter, sited where the new clubhouse stands today. It was open to the
elements and not the best place to shelter as I recall. Luckily we were allowed to use the
village hall for comfort breaks and when providing teas etc. to other clubs.
I had the good fortune in those early days to be placed on several occasions in a team
with Maurice Hellier who taught me a lot about bowls and although being left handed I
was invariably asked to bowl back hand which left me wondering at times what it was
like to bowl forehand.
We were lucky to have a nice list of friendlies that we could play and one in particular
comes to mind that being the annual trips by coach down to Constantine in Cornwall with
a stop on the way at the Holland Inn for lunch.
Another was Hatherleigh and on this particular occasion the weather in Yelverton had
been quite wet and our match secretary Barbara Hunter kept ringing to check that the
game was still on. Yes came the reply it is going to brighten up, so off we went in our
cars across the moor looking at the snow that lay in places along the way and of course
when we arrived the weather had deteriorated so it was just a cup of tea with cake
before driving back home.
I also recall playing possibly once or twice at Ipplepen between Totnes and Newton
Abbot. They had an all weather artificial green and was like playing on glass it was so
fast. They said they played all year round even sweeping off the snow so that they got a
game, whether true or not I cannot say.
It was always a pleasure to go to another club that provided a scrumptious tea during the
match and it was also a bit of a pain when we did one in return, mind you we all took
turns at helping out.
I notice that you still play most of the same clubs with a few extra.
In 1994 the club was opened by Kate Chaston who was the longest serving member in
the 69 year history of the club, as you can see by the picture work had also begun on the
club house.
I was already a committee member when in 1993/4 the club decided after much
discussion that a new club house was called for and being part of the team that put
together a package of designs and costs, Dennis Smith current chairman at that time
was the driving force behind the proposed project and spent a great deal of time sorting
things out.
The new clubhouse was then complete for its official opening in May 1995.
Unfortunately Dennis was not available on the set date so as vice-chairman it fell to me
to preside over the occasion and an honour it was to carry out that duty. That’s Doreen
Johnston (secretary), Vic Anstis (captain), Sir Frank (president of the club), myself and
Tom Reynolds President of the Devon Bowling Association in photo below.
A lot of fund raising and hard work was put in by the members, we even lent our own
money to make this possible and it’s nice to see that it is still in full use now 20 years on.
When it came to chairs we were lucky that Maurice was able to obtain 50 chairs for 50p
each and were still in use when we left although the acquisition of new ones was often
discussed at committee.
We even submitted plans for our own toilet block (plans in club archives probably) but
unfortunately it would have been very expensive to carry out at that time so plans were
shelved.
Quite a few of the Yelverton members also played shortmat during the winter season,
some at Tavistock but more at Buckland Monachorum so there was always a sense of
togetherness which helped make Yelverton such a good club to belong to. I believe that
Buckland has closed and the Memorial Hall is now used although how they get on with
the sprung floor, we found it nye on impossible when we were asked to try it after the
new hall had been built. I do believe that something was done to overcome the problem.
Picture is of Buckland beating Tavistock in 1995.
In the early days we were required to help out at car boot sales organised by the
Memorial committee with some share of the takings coming to the club. Peter Brown
then the chairman of that committee decided that on one occasion we could run a car
boot ourselves and all the monies after expenses would come to the club. For those who
may remember the day chosen it was absolutely perfect, sellers arrived early in large
numbers and there were so many buyers that cars were queued up out onto the main
Plymouth road causing a bit of a problem at times.
It was one of the largest anyone could remember and a great deal of money was made.
The memorial committee were not amused especially Peter Brown. One of the hardest
jobs was that of the people getting buyers cars onto the field me included.
A mention must be made of the hard work put in by all members of the club present and
past who were or are involved in the maintenance and upkeep of the green for without
them the club just wouldn’t have existed as does today. I remember on several
occasions members of others club whether playing league or friendlies complaining
about the condition of the green and others saying how well we were keeping it. One of
our biggest problems was the lack of watering facilities which led to some worrying
times.
This photo shows the opening day in 2007 when the grass was quite brown.
Apart from the ground crew we were lucky to have people like Brian King who organised
and did a lot of the installation of new ditch linings around the green and of course it had
been an ongoing wish of the club that we could extend the green so that we could play
proper games both ways. It is wonderful to see that this has now been achieved by Ron
Collier and his helpers.
It really was a pleasure to be a member of Yelverton and we both still miss the wonderful
location with its view out over the moor and friendship with others.
We hope that the club continues to be a success and grows in strength.
Richard and Daphne Button