Middlesex County Bowling Association Centenary
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1911 2011 Middlesex County Bowling Association Centenary Selections from the archives compiled and written by Michael Rosenthal 1911: Winners of first National Inter-Counties Championship 2 CONTENTS Foreword ................................................................................................................ 3 A greeting from H.M. Queen Elizabeth II ................................................................. 4 A message from the 2011 County President ........................................................... 5 A message from Bowls England .............................................................................. 6 The History. The Founding of M.C.B.A. ...................................................................................... 7 The Birth. ................................................................................................................. 9 1911 and The John Bull Cup Won .......................................................................... 10 E.B.A. Inter-Counties Championship Winners 1911 ............................................... 11 1912-1918: The Association Consolidates and the “Great War” Intervenes. ......... 12 The Post War Years: 1919-1929. ........................................................................... 16 1930-1939: The Pre W.W.II Years. ........................................................................ 22 The War Years: 1940-1945. ................................................................................... 24 The Post War Years: 1946-1954. ........................................................................... 26 1955-1969: The Peak Membership Years. ............................................................. 29 1970-1980: The “Nearly “ Years. ............................................................................ 34 1981-1990: The Modern Era. ................................................................................. 39 1991-2000: Towards the Millennium. ..................................................................... 44 2001-2010: Towards the Centenary. ...................................................................... 48 The History of the M.C.B.A. Benevolent Fund. ....................................................... 55 Affiliated Clubs: .................................................................................................... 58 Middleton Cup Winners 1962 ................................................................................. 101 County Competition Winners. Singles, Middlesex League..................................................................................... 102 Pairs, Mixed Pairs .................................................................................................. 103 Triples ..................................................................................................................... 104 Fours ...................................................................................................................... 105 Double Fours .......................................................................................................... 106 Whisky Pairs, Under 25‟s Singles ........................................................................... 107 Unbadged Singles .................................................................................................. 108 Officers‟ Competition .............................................................................................. 109 Presidents: 1912-1950 ........................................................................................... 110 Presidents: 1951-1976 ........................................................................................... 111 Presidents: 1977-2001 ........................................................................................... 112 Presidents: 2002-2011 ........................................................................................... 113 Association Officers: 1911-1960 ............................................................................. 114 Association Officers: 1961-2011 ............................................................................. 115 County Internationals.............................................................................................. 116 County Honours ..................................................................................................... 117 Defunct Clubs ......................................................................................................... 118 Defunct Club‟s Honours.......................................................................................... 120 Bannerette Winners: 1926-2010 ............................................................................. 121 Greeting Song ........................................................................................................ 122 County Trophies ..................................................................................................... 123 Early Documents .................................................................................................... 125 Annual Dinner Menu: 1916 ..................................................................................... 126 Emergency Committee 1927 .................................................................................. 127 Financial Statement 1917 ....................................................................................... 128 Don Dorling ............................................................................................................ 129 Eric Prior ................................................................................................................. 130 Acknowledgements ................................................................................................ 131 A Message from our Patron……………………………………………………………..132 3 For Malcolm Cinna, whose inspiration made it all possible. FOREWORD At a meeting of the G.P.C on November 1st 2006, it was proposed that a history of the Association in booklet form be produced for the centenary year 2011. It was suggested that Assistant Secretary Malcolm Cinna should administer this project. In his reply Cinna agreed to oversee the project but was unwilling to write the history himself. Past Association President Tony Paulley of Harrow B.C. approached a fellow club member, Mike Rosenthal, who agreed to write the history as he had al- ready had undertaken a similar project when compiling the history of Harrow Bowls Club for their centenary in 2002. Having found an author for the project, Cinna, in January 2007, formed a small working party com- prising himself, Tony Paulley and Mike Rosenthal. All the administration for the project would be supervised by Cinna, acting as a link between the Association members and the author, providing him with information gathered from all affiliated clubs. Paulley would write biographies of notable former and present Middlesex bowlers as well as supplying the author with additional information gathered during his Presidential year in 2008. It was initially agreed that the booklet, as well as including the story of the development of the Asso- ciation, should also include a brief history of all clubs currently affiliated to the Association together with images of their club badges. One of the tasks undertaken by Malcolm Cinna was to contact each club requesting relevant information. This request was initially posted on the Association‟s web site. In the event, this task turned out to be more difficult than it first appeared. Many clubs repeated- ly ignored his phone calls, emails and letters and consequently there are gaps in the information published for some clubs. Many clubs had lost all the documents relating to their early history and could only provide brief details of the current state of their club. With dogged determination Malcolm eventually managed to get some information from all 112 affiliated clubs and must be congratulated for his persistence. Most of the information for the history was provided by current Association secretary, Don Dorling. Stored in his garage was much of the early history of the Association, including minute books (notably Minute Book No.1), Year Books, scrap books of the first 27 years of the Association and photograph albums. Other members provided some Year Books for the last 40 years. The majority of clubs provided brief histories and club badges. The scrap books, compiled by ex-secretary Harry Thompson, turned out to be the most valuable source of information for the early years of the Associ- ation. It is interesting to note that almost all the information for the years after 1938 came from the Year Books and minutes. The minutes, though factually useful, lacked the personal details that the scrap books gave to those early years. Many other members (whose names appear in the acknowledgements at the end of this booklet) provided valuable anecdotal and documentary information and without their input, this history would have been a much less interesting document. On the 12th October 2010, Malcolm Cinna passed away after a gallant struggle with cancer. Malcolm was determined to see the publication of this document and was working on this project right up to the end. It is tragic that he was not present to witness the launch of the publication. Born on 13th November 1928, Malcolm ran a dry cleaning business for 30 years. On retirement he took up bowls and in 1991 joined Stanmore B.C. and was a lifetime