The Pavilion
The history
The club was established in 1969; the first membership list is dated 1973, and amazingly some of the original members are still around.. We are affiliated to the Sharnbrook Playing Fields Association (SPFA), which owns the land on which the bowls club is situated. Our first season of bowls was in 1972 after the SPFA encouraged the formation of the club and the facilities changed little since that until 2016. Although our green was deemed one of the best in the county, the lack of adequate facilities, changing rooms, toilets, disabled access etc. prevented us hosting the more prestigious county and national games.
In 2016 our new pavilion was completed after 5 years of constant fund-raising. Before we had our new facilities, we had to manage with the original pavilion, a dilapidated porta-cabin and the use of the SPFA's disabled toilet on Lodge Road. The new pavilion has made a great difference to us, as we use it for meals after matches, for meetings and social events during the winter months, and we let it out to community groups in the "off" season.
The future
Encouraging new bowlers to the club of all ages and abilities is integral in our plans and in consultation with the local community, we plan to make full use of the facilities year round rather than the current April to mid September. The gross internal area will be 120sq.m. and apart from the social facilities, there will be a covered club entrance and viewing area for spectators.
Use by Sharnbrook Bowls Club:
We believe the provision of high quality, modern facilities is important to the long term future of the club. Bowls England and Bowls Bedfordshire are fully supporting our project and would provide them with another potential venue for the latter stages of county and national events.
The club/community room could be used to play carpet bowls etc and that will be part of our consultation with the local community. We have also received encouragement from the national and county carpet bowls association.
We have already been in talks with education establishments in Sharnbrook and we have indicated that the club would provide initial training and support to the youngsters and it is hoped they will eventually create their own leagues.
Use by other community groups:
We have also spoken to a number of groups locally and they have shown an interest in using the facilities and we will contact them as the construction progresses. The SPFA and its affiliated clubs (cricket, football and tennis) have already confirmed their wish to use the facilities for meetings and events throughout the year.
Disabled access and provision is important to us and we have been in contact with the Rotary Club of Bedford Park which has given tremendous support to the disabled to see how we can work together to achieve the best results.
The challenge:
Raising funds for this project presented a major challenge to us. Excellent fund raising efforts over the last few years, together with our reserves, allowed us to accrue a building fund which demonstrated to funding agencies that we were serious in our intentions. Our applications for funding needed to demonstrate clearly that there is a real requirement for a new bowls pavilion and that our community groups would be able to make use of our facilities throughout the year.
We have to thank the following for their generosity in awarding grants to help us towards attaining a huge proportion of our ambition:
Sport England - Inspired Facilities Funding
Bedford Borough Council - Rural Grant Assistance
Wixamtree Trust
Garfield Weston Foundation
Mrs B. L. Robinson’s Charitable Trust
Harpur Trust
Sharnbrook Parish Council
We have really enjoyed using our new facilities over this first playing year.
Apart from being able to use the clubhouse for meetings and social functions, we were able to use it for our ‘after bowls teas’, which was great.
We still have a number of jobs outstanding so our fundraising is ongoing.......
Thank you all for the support you have given.
Mavis I Harper Hon. Treasurer