Brockham Bowls Club - Further progress
Further progress
Kath Briggs can claim the record for length of membership of Brockham Bowls Club - and has several other claims to club fame too. The club vice president Kath, who contributed much information to this account, joined in 1970 and, although she can no longer play, still takes a keen interest in the club's activities. She watches matches whenever she has the opportunity and should she find an area where she can give practical help - doing the washing up, for example - she is in there like a shot. Kath took up bowls on doctor's orders, she says. She was caring for her bed-ridden father-in-law at the time and explains: "Dr Newton said, 'Mrs Briggs you have got to get out and about. Get involved in something', so we wrote to the bowls club. We heard nothing, but decided to go down one Saturday afternoon. "Talk about being chucked in at the deep end. There was a drive on and we were told 'You are both playing'. We did pretty well. "We used to watch a lot of bowls when we went on holiday to Eastbourne. Not that we thought we would get to play." Both Kath and her husband Ron not only became skilled players but stalwarts, prepared to turn their hands to any job that wanted doing. They were well-respected officers with quiet, unassuming manners, and valued friends. Kath still is. Ron died in October 1996 and his ashes were scattered over the green.
When Ron and Kath began bowling they never wore whites, only greys, and lady players were something of a rarity, though eventually their number rose to about six and Kath started a ladies' team, which she captained for many years. She still cherishes the vase that the ladies presented to her when she relinquished this role. Over the years she had other vital but less prestigious roles too: "Lavatory Kate," for example, which is what Harry Knight dubbed her.
In those days the only facility available to the ladies was an Elsan, which Kath emptied. This was installed in a tiny closet. "So small you could hardly shut the door," says Kath.
In fact Syd Budd always laughed about the retort he received from one lady member when he tried to help her back her car into a parking space. "If I can back myself into the ladies' loo, I'm sure I can back myself in here," she told him.
There was no hand basin but Kath would place a green metal chair round the back and put a bowl of water on it with a towel over the top. But first she had to get the water both for washing and for teas. For a while she carried a big yellow container up the village to Leighs Farm to fetch it, but later the club had permission to get it from Poland House.
While the ladies' facilities were basic, the men's were non-existent. Two sheets of slate laid behind The Robin's Nest (as the small pavilion is now called) served as a urinal and were hosed down before a match. It would appear that the gentlemen did not get their Elsan and closet until 1984. The following year flush lavatories were provided for both sexes at a total cost of £79.99 and were fitted by George Newland. Of course, the pavilion had no electricity in Kath's early days though they did have bottled gas to heat the water for tea and washing up. Happy to turn her hand to anything, Kath even watered the green on one occasion. It took her all day, she says. "I wore a raincoat and Paul's (her son's) sou'wester, and Wellington boots." but the job she liked best was that of team secretary. When Ron became captain Kath assisted by checking that selected team members were available to play. If a full team could not be produced she even borrowed players from Pippbrook on occasion. She also kept detailed records of the games played and who played in them.
It was during the early 1970s that the green was expanded from three rinks to four. Kath's memory of the work it entailed is rather sketchy and the records of meetings for the period 1967-75 are no longer available.
But Dorothy and Bill Beesley, now members of Dorking Bowls Club but for many years (1968-87) members at Brockham, recall the operation more clearly. They also recall the fact that it cost £1,200 to carry out, much of it raised through jumble sales.
The work was done in May when the water level was low as it included reinforcing the riverbank at the southeast corner of the green in order to extend southwards. This would have cut off the footpath that ran along outside the south boundary and was originally the route by which the paddling and boating pool was reached. At the same time more of the bank in front of the pavilion was cut away to extend the green northwards.
The Beesleys' memories of those days match Kath's account of water carrying and Elsans. Bill recalls how later a hosepipe was run over-ground from Poland House and how they dug a trench and buried it the following season.
The changing huts were built in the late 1970s. Dorothy was handed the key to the ladies' room, and a photograph of the presentation appeared in the Dorking Advertiser.
Syd Budd and "working party D" (as the minutes record) were the builders. Syd recalls being assisted by Ron Briggs and Ted Wren and, for the men's room, using timber from Michael Cheetham's redundant garden shed plus some dumped on the village green for the bonfire that he considered too useful to burn.
Bowlers sat along forms at two trestle tables for tea in the early days, which was a bit of a hot crush at times. So when Beechams, for whom Bill Beesley worked, was refurbishing the staff canteen, he took the opportunity to acquire tables and chairs. He also recalls Eric Bright ringing him to say, "I've won a window" and asking him to come down to the green early one Sunday morning to fit it. This was the window in the back wall, which is more important for ventilation than the view it offers onto Poland House grounds. He also recalls the installation of the pavilion's first sink.