Club History
1990 - 2017
Our club was founded in 1990 by a group of enthusiastic people who took over the running of the new artificial bowling green that had been built the year before by the local council. The club house is leased from Fareham Borough Council but members are responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of the building and green.
Over the past 25 years the club has evolved from very humble beginnings, when our only facilities were a garden shed and a portaloo (and we were grateful for a set of six matching mugs), to the excellent club house, green and gardens we have today. All this has been achieved by the dedication and hard work of past and present members. Throughout we have maintained a close relationship with our local councillors who have always supported our initiatives.
In 2009 we were selected as Runners Up in the Bowls England Club of the Year competition and the club was presented with the trophy at the Annual Bowls England Presentation Dinner in Leicester. The following year we played Friends of English Bowling in a celebration match. In 2015 we celebrated our 25th Anniversary again with matches against Bowls England and the Friends of English Bowling.
The year 2016 was another landmark year for the club because our artificial green, which had been showing signs of wear, having been laid in 1999 was due for renewal. The project was very well managed from within the club and our financial input was matched by support from Fareham Borough Council and other sports bodies. The work started in March and our new green was opened in time for the new season.
It was also the year that saw a Lockswood Ladies Team, comprising of Maxeen Fletcher, Ann Wilkinson, Sheena Mack and Jan Collins, become Hampshire Ladies Rinks Champions. This qualified them to represent Hampshire in the National Finals at Royal Leamington Spa. A great achievement, both personally and for the Club.
In 2017 the Men gaining promotion to League One of the S&D Championship, as Champions, and the Combination Team also gained promotion to Division One of their league, as Runners Up. Lorraine Slater, was runner up in the Bowls Hampshire Ladies Singles and represented the County at Royal Leamington Spa. The Club gardeners, won Gold in Fareham and Bloom and achieved the highest classification in the RHS, South and South East Neighbourhoods award. 2017 was also the year that saw the completion of our new changing facilities and the Club were honoured to welcome The Chelsea Pensioners for a friendly.
The Club had a new path laid round the green in 2018. Our two S&D Ladies' teams, both came runners up in their respective leagues.
Lorraine Slater was Hampshire Champion of Champions and for the second year, represented Hampshire at Royal Leamington Spa. Sheena Mack was selected for the second year, to represent Hampshire in the prestigious Johns Trophy. Adrian Dadd & Andy Dawson, won the Men's Pairs District Trophy.
The Chelsea Pensioners invited us to a friendly match and dinner at the Royal Hospital. The gardeners repeated their previous success and won a gold for best in category and the trophy for overall category winners and retained the highest classification in the South & South East in bloom judging.
In 2019 the club installed a new trophy cabinet and the entrance to the clubhouse was improved. The Club also received a replacement for the Willcocks Cup in memory of a founder member.
Lorraine Slater had a successful season in the internal competitions, winning the Ladies' Singles, President's Cup and Ted Green Trophy.
Both of our Ladies' League Teams were represented in the "A" League.
Also, in the Gosport and Fareham League, Lockswood had three teams represented in Division 1.
Sheena Mack was chosen to play in the Walker Cup Team and Lorraine Slater became the Bowls Hampshire Over 55s Singles Champion.
The Men took part for the first time in the Ken Marsh Trophy where they reached the Semi - Final.
The Club were also hosts to the Friends of Bowls England at the end of the season.
The Lockswood Gardening Team were once more rewarded fore their hard work by winning a Gold Medal in the Fareham in Bloom Competition.
2020 was set to be another really good year with Neil Fletcher as the Bowls Hampshire President and Walter Metcalf as the Southampton and District President , in what was to have been their Centenary Year.
However, before the season had a chance to take off, along came the Coronavirus and all bowling was cancelled for the year.
The Mission and Vision Group kept going and the planned project for a new shed to hold the maintenance equipment and the bowling equipment went ahead. The old shed was taken apart and with the wood being in such a good condition a new gardening shed was erected in place of the old galvanised ones.
The website became a magazine for the club during this time, helping to keep members in touch and give them something to be involved with.
The Club also this year, launched an online booking system. This has had a stop start beginning because of Covid restrictions but will hopefully, help members to book their matches and events from their armchairs.
2021 began with Covid restrictions meaning that the club was closed for a good proportion of the year. However, from June onwards things began to improve and slowly everyone was able to get back on the bowling greens with restrictions in place. By the end of the year it started to feel as though things were beginning to get back to normal.
In February, Fareham Borough Council erected a barrier at the entrance to the car park with a 2 metre height restriction in order to prevent vans and caravans having access to the playing fields.
In April, a team of painters gave the the three arbors a long overdue coat of paint to spruce them up.
In order to make the website more accessible the front page was simplified in order to make it easier for people to navigate and a Bowling Commitments page was added to act as the Club Diary. The idea being that all fixtures and events would be added so that everyone could see available dates for any planning of extra matches and events avoiding potential clashes of dates.
There were also adjustments made to the Booking System in order to make it a more consistent operating system.
New competitions were included into the calendar to encourage members back to bowling. Rod Maxted introduced a Mini - Accumulator and a shortened Winter Pairs and Singles Competition.
Some competitions were back to normal across the Southampton and District with Ann Bryant and Carol Windust Runners - Up in the S&DWBA Championship Pairs.
The men's Team got through to the Semi - Final of the Ken Marsh Trophy.
2022 thankfully began as a normal year with Leagues and Competitions returning across the board.
The Season began with and Extraordinary General meeting as nobody had stepped up at the previous A.G.M. to take up the positions of President, Vice - President or Bookings Manager. the club needed these positions filled otherwise the club would not be able to operate proficiently. We were fortunate in that Joan Barton and Coleen Money stepped up to take the posts of President and Vice - President respectively. Also, Pat Downes, a new member, agreed to take on the job of Bookings Manager.
Following on from this the Booking System was reviewed and a new and a more efficient system was purchased and will begin operating at the end of the Summer Season.
Numbers were down in Internal Competitions this year and across the district, mainly, as a result of the slow uptake back to bowls after the pandemic.
This year saw the ladies struggling for players in their leagues and for the first time ever, we entered a team in the Rinks League, which was reduced to a singles league and a team in the Triples "B" League.
The Men's Combination Triples continued on from their success last year where they finished runners - up, to win their league and become the 2022 Champions.
In August another painting team was organised. This time to paint the benches, Sherborne Building and the new Maintenance and Equipment shed. The gardens survived the extremely hot Summer and at the end of the season our club grounds look very smart.
This year it is planned for the carpet, which was laid in 2016, to be stretched in September and to be completely cleaned. This will also include replacing some of the timbers underneath which are starting to wear and stitching repairs will also be carried out.
