TORQUAY UNITED INDOOR BOWLING CLUB

A new bowling green was laid down by the Recreation Ground Company in June 1894.  However, the first formal steps to create a bowling club in the town did not materialise for nearly five years, until May 1899, when a club, provisionally called the Torquay Bowling Club, was formed. This club first played at the Recreation Ground until an elephant, which had escaped from Wombwells Circus, completely wrecked the green and play had to be transferred to Princess Gardens. In 1907 matches were taking place on the Princess Pier green where the recently-erected pavilion was only a small structure with sawn timber roof.  Torquay Bowling Club did, of course, keep it’s original name and has played at Belgrave Road since a new green was opened there in May 1912.   Kings  Bowling Club’s fine rinks replaced the grass tennis courts in front of the Recreation Ground.  A thatched pavilion was put up at the same time.  This caught fire later and the thatch was replaced with tiles.  The Torquay Bowling League was formed in 1932.  Another early arrival on the bowling scene was the St. Marychurch Bowling Club, as it was then known, which played at Cary Park before 1911.

An exert from  “TORQUAY The Place and the People” by John Pike