KEARSNEY  BOWLING CLUB

100 YEARS of HISTORY

Kearsney began its life in 1906 as a private club, at that time it had only four rinks and played by invitation only, mostly against clubs belonging to Dover or Dover Institute Bowls Clubs.

In 1924 the club was offered to its members for a princely sum of £1000.00, at that time thought to be too expensive and was eventually negotiated down to £600.00.

In 1926 members extended the green further by adding another two rinks and in 1936 the club house was added.  We got our first male changing room from the “Oil Mill Barracks” for the sum of £5.00; we often wonder how they managed without their “Guard Room Hut”, which served the club well until 1981.  

In the 1920’s a well known family played at Kearsney, the Campbell’s, before joining the club they played for Dover BC, George being the eldest with his younger brother Donald.  The “Campbell Cup” was bought and presented to Kearsney in George’s name, but it was Donald who achieved most in the bowls world, he was President of Kent and County Singles champion in 1922, went on to play for England 1922-30 and was eventually made Captain of England in 1928.  The Captain of England then had great influence on the game in general, as there was no England President at that time; he wielded a lot of power as to what went on within the game.  Later Donald was awarded the MBE for his services to the game of bowls.

Not forgetting our ladies, in 1992 they won the “Champions of England at Royal Leamington Spa, prior to that a ladies team won the County fours in 1988, 1990 and 1992, due to this they were given the honour of representing England in the British Isles Championships played at Ayre in Scotland against teams from Wales, Scotland and Northern Island.

In 1981 it was decided to further enlarge the club a kitchen, three changing rooms and two toilets were built, over the years the clubhouse has been further extended by the addition of a bar and new store/greens shed.

From a small club 100 years ago the Kearsney Bowling Club has grown in stature and size, becoming one of the principle clubs in East Kent, currently the club has 15 County “Badged” players and our members are successful in many of the local Tournaments and County competitions.

Here’s to the next 100 years of bowling at Kearsney.

Our future;

The 2010 season saw  the final combining of the Gents and Ladies section into a fully intergrated club.