Llandudno Bowling Club Centenary Commemorative Badge
Llandudno Bowling Club 1906 - 2006
100 years
A bowling club in Llandudno was first proposed as early as 1895. The Club's first president, Mr J.L. Mayger had consulted with the then president of Llandudno Cricket Club, Mr. T.T. Marks, about the formation of a bowling club on a part of the cricket ground (the Oval). Despite favourable talks, the scheme was not realised and it was some years later that Llandudno Bowling Club first came into being playing on a green opposite (and owned by) the North-Western hotel (today's Tudno Castle). Friendly matches were arranged against Rhyl Bowling Club, the oldest fixture in North Wales, and the Club started to build up it's membership.
Reports from the Llandudno Advertiser, friendly matches v. Rhyl 1906.
After a few years, however, Llandudno Bowling Club finally found a proper home for themselves on the Oval, as they had always wanted. This came about through the great kindness of the then Lord Mostyn, who actually donated the green to the Club. With a proper playing area, the Club attracted visitors and new members alike, with membership rising steadily.
With other club's forming and the game proving to be popular, it was decided to bring competitiveness into bowls. In 1919, the North Wales Coast Amateur Bowling League was formed, with Llandudno being among the five founding members.
Llandudno Advertiser 1919
The following year, Llandudno achieved a milestone at the expense of old rivals Rhyl.
N.W.W.N. June 1920
The league proved to be a success, and that year a cup competition was inaugurated, Llandudno winning in 1921.
Llandudno Advertiser 1921
This was Llandudno Bowling Club's first honours. There would be more.
1921 - N.W.C.L. 'Pioneer' Cup Winners
1934 - N.W.C.L. Section 'B' Champions
1940 - L.D.L. Champions
1949 - N.W.C.L. Section 'B' Champions
1960 - N.W.C.L. Section 'C' Champions
1962 - N.W.C.L. Section 'B' Champions
1964 - N.W.C.L. Section 'A' Champions
1965 - L.D.L. Knock-Out Cup Winners
1966 - L.D.L. Champions
1970 - N.W.C.L. Section 'A' Champions
1978 - N.W.C.L. Section 'B' Champions
1983 - N.W.C.L. Section 'C' Champions
1989 - Llandudno 'A' N.W.C.L. Section 'B' Champions
1992 - Llandudno 'B' L.D.L. Section 'B' Champions
1994 - Llandudno 'A' N.W.C.L. Section 'C' Champions
1998 - Llandudno 'A' N.W.C.L. Section 'B' Champions
2001 - Llandudno 'B' L.D.L. Section 'B' Champions
2005 - Llandudno 'A' N.W.C.L. Cup Winners
The Club continued to play friendlies, and a special annual match against Craig-y-Don was initiated in 1926. Called the 'Hospital Jack', it's aim was to raise money for Llandudno Hospital.
Visitors to Llandudno were a source of revenue not only to the town, but to the Club aswell. Therefore, it was decided to hold an Open competition which would attract bowlers from the rest of the country. The Baxter Cup was first competed for in 1932.
Llandudno Advertiser 1932
At this period, the Club still had some of it's founding members playing. Mr William Williams had been the Club team's first captain back in 1906; he also had won the Club's first competition, the Llandudno Challenge Cup, three times between 1906-08 and had been allowed to keep it. New competitions were then instigated. Individual members of the team were winning Coast cup competitions and Merit trophies, such as Mr Tom Roberts, Mr D. Owen and Mr F.O. Jones.
Llandudno Bowling Team 1936 (N.W.W.N.)
With the success of the Coast Bowling League, it was proposed that a more localised league be formed for club's in the Llandudno area. So, in 1937, the Llandudno District League was formed. Llandudno won the title in 1940, but throughout most of the first ten years of the new league, the team that captured the title was Colwyn Bay Cons. The captain of the Llandudno team at this time was Mr R. Lloyd Jones.
Mr R Lloyd Jones 1937 (N.W.W.N.)
The Club continued to grow in membership, as did the two leagues. Play continued throughout the war years.
Llandudno Bowling Club 1943 (Courtesy Mr B Martin)
Into the Fifties, and the Club kept on expanding in members and made improvements to the banks of the green and the clubhouse. However, it was a lean decade for bowling success.
Mr J E Rowlands 1950 (N.W.W.N.)
Llandudno bowlers at Queens Road c.1950 (Courtesy Mrs F Forrest)
The Sixties saw the Club's team finally achieve prominence. Five titles in the decade with back to back success during 1964-66 certainly made this the Club's best era. The North Wales Champions in 1964 and 1970 crowned the Club with a title that was long sought after in going with it's pedigree.
Llandudno. N.W.C.L. Section 'A' Champions 1970.
Standing l to r: D. Williams (Secretary), K. Jones, A. Osborn, T. Constantine, C.E. Davies, G. Griffith, G. Morris, T. Owen, S. Davies, A.D. Jones. Seated l to r: W.P. Roberts (Captain), H. Owen (Chairman), A.E. Vollam (President), C. Gill, J. Schofield. (Club photo)
The 70's and 80's saw more titles, and then the Club split into two teams: this had happened to other club's. There were more players than just one team could hope to play, and so the formation of a second team seemed perfectly logical. Both 'A' and 'B' teams subsequently met with success. Paradoxically, interest in the club's competitions seemed to wane and today the Club holds half it's tournaments one year, with the other half the next. By the early-00's, even the Open competitions were struggling for interest, but recently they have shown a resurgence of entries.
Extracts from the Llandudno Advertiser June 2nd 1989
Llandudno 'B' L.D.L. Section 'B' Champions 2001
Standing l to r: G. Shillingford, A. James, G. Roberts, G. Ball, R. Foster, G. Telford. Seated l to r: R. Bradley, R. Quigley, F. Forrest (Capt.), M. Ball, B. Lomas.
Clockwise from top: D. Edwards, M. Squire, J.T. Roberts, P. Warren, G.W. Hughes, D. Hughes, J. Cowan, R. Foster, M. Hughes, G. Williams, D. Williams. Centre: C. Armor (Capt.)
Llandudno Bowling Club, in it's one hundreth year, is still going strong in membership and it's teams are among the best in the leagues. It has a fine history and rightly should feel proud of it's past members, their achievements, today's members and what they have accomplished. The Club can look forward to the future with satisfaction and confidence.
Llandudno Bowling Club Centenary Day
The Centenary Day was celebrated on Sunday, August 6th. The Club house was decked out with bunting and various stalls had been set up which included games, quizzes, history of the club and raffles. Mr W.P. Roberts , Chair Conwy County Council (who used to play for the club) and Mr and Mrs Alan Barrett, Deputy Mayor Llandudno Town Council, kindly attended. A competition, the Centenary Cup was held and attracted 40 entrants. So members would be able to have at least a couple of games each, the format was a first round of six groups of six or seven with timed 15 minute games of each player meeting each other in the respective groups. The winner on aggregate of each group plus the best two runners-up overall , qualified for the knock-out quarter finals. These games were 11 up until the final which was the normal 21 up.
Centenary Cup group stage
There were one or two surprises who qualified for the quarter finals, but then the tournament seemed to revert to the usual club competitions' players. The final saw Chris Armor against Gareth Williams.
The Final
A very hard fought match saw Chris Armor narrowly win.
Chris is presented with the Cup by Mrs Frances Forrest who donated the trophy
An excellent day was had by all, with plenty of food and drinks available and various games played. The Chairman, David Williams, expressed the hope that the Club had done justice to its history and to the aspirations of its founding members:
I have often wondered how and why the bowling club was designed and who had the vision to lay the green the way it is, banked on four sides with probably the soil required to form it. What material was used to lay its foundation? Probably cinders from the old works at Maesdu when Llandudno used to generate its own electricity. What a great deal of work it must have taken to prepare the area......
.......I feel today we have a very special club, and often think to the past and the individuals who had the foresight and vision to form this club, and to the hard work that went into making it a successful club. It is astonishing to think that through two World Wars and numerous other events in the past one hundred years, this club has been in existence.
(part of) Llandudno Bowling Club 2006
Llandudno Bowling Club Officials Board 1906-2006
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