The Clubhouse Project Story 2014-2022 

 

The club was formed in 1948 and plays Lawn Bowls on the green which is situated in a beautiful setting on a former Rose Garden of the former Holywells Mansion adjacent to the Margaret Catchpole Public House in Cliff Lane, Ipswich. We have enjoyed a long and fruitful history and in recent years we have made steady progress including staging inter county matches and county finals with great success. During the bowls season, which runs from mid-April to late September, the club plays up to 130 official matches, plus many more individual, national, county and club competitions. There is play in the afternoon and evenings almost every day during this period. There is also plenty of daily activity with people working on the bowling green, gardens, surrounds and clubhouse, plus members call in to view the team sheets and news on the notice boards. Meanwhile others carry out the various behind the scenes tasks remotely. Currently the club, which is operated in a ‘family atmosphere’ has around 50 members of all ages and it is very active all year round with social events held the winter months. 

 

The existing wooden clubhouse was erected in 1962 and the club had long outgrown it. When the challenging task of finalising the club’s new lease with our elusive landlords Admiral Taverns was eventually completed in the late autumn of 2014, it was time to improve the facilities. The new 20 year lease gave the club control of the unsightly waste land between the clubhouse and Cliff Lane, which had been a renowned local eyesore for many years. 

 

In early 2015 our steering committee with Ken Grayburn at the helm was formed. We were looking forward to providing car parking and a new clubhouse which would include toilets, changing room and kitchen. The undergrowth was duly cleared and landscaped, plus outline plans were drawn up. Progress was rather slow due to outside influences and in 2016 the major hurdle of getting the necessary permission from our landlords was overcome just before Christmas. After almost two years we finally obtained planning permission for a less ambitious project of extending the existing clubhouse and then applied for the appropriate grants. Meanwhile we installed a new access gate to the club, and a new paved footpath from this area so we could enter and leave the club without passing through the adjacent pub’s property. Incidentally, as the newly cleared land is in a conservation area, Ipswich Borough Council and the local population were elated as they had pressed for this area to be tidied up for many years. Landscaping the area certainly made viewing the club from the road aesthetically pleasing.  Extracting the roots of the brambles was major headache and once these had been removed, new grass was seeded, and plants and shrubs were installed.  By early 2019 construction of the new extension was well underway. The shell of the building was completed, the electrical wiring almost finished, and the old clubhouse was renovated.  Of course, Covid 19 intervened for a few months and hampered progress. By Christmas 2020, despite encountering continuing obstacles, the construction of the new extension to the clubhouse, containing much needed toilets, kitchen and a changing room, was virtually complete. The toilets were in full use and the electrical work was finally completed in March 2020. A superbly constructed brick built circular flower bed was expertly built by Richard Byham, ably assisted by his willing assistant Ray Rosie. 

 

After Jose Crane sadly passed away in February 2020, her husband Jim and their sons offered to donate an honours board to the club. Steve Prentice then did some research and produced a basic design. He then consulted with Malcolm Day (Jim and Jose’s son) who then came up with a final plan and carried out the construction and installation. The final result is very impressive, and the quality of Malcolm’s workmanship is superb. Over the winter Steve made up the framed certificates for the honours board spending many hours on preparing the display. He also re-installed the wonderful picture gallery depicting the history of the club.

 

On finishing the installation of the new incoming electrical supply cable and testing was completed our newly extended clubhouse became fully operational from 4 May 2021. Following the advent of Covid 19 we could welcome visitors again and the improvements have been much admired. We  held the Grand Clubhouse Opening Day on 11 June,2022 when we invited representatives from the bodies who kindly gave the club financial support towards the project and other dignitaries, plus our members and friends of course to attend our celebration.

 

Nowadays the club is used the year round and we hope this will help us to increase the membership. As the club does not have a financial benefactor it has to rely on its members to raise the money to keep the club viable and the increased usage should derive extra revenue.

The club is keen integrate further into the local community and to welcome local residents to make use of the facilities. 

 

Ken Grayburn deserves a medal for his sheer determination and patience to see the project through to a satisfactory conclusion.  All through the project Charlie Sharp was beavering away behind the scenes and was successful in bringing in some substantial grants from various bodies. Also, a special mention to Ipswich Borough Councillor, Liz Harsant, who has given us great support with her valuable advice, and she has become a great friend to the club along the way. At this point we must sincerely thank those many loyal club members, who have assisted in any way for their valuable contributions. 

 

This not the end of the story, the club is ambitious and has a policy of continuous improvement, so further improvement projects are anticipated.

 

Finally, the Margaret Catchpole Bowls Club would like to sincerely thank and acknowledge all the various bodies who have given us advice and the finance to bring the project to a successful conclusion: