CARRBROOK VILLAGE BOWLING CLUB

	History of the Club Crown Green Bowling - Match Results Crown Green Bowling - Rules of the Game Lottery Grant Improvement Works Pétanque Rules
To apply for membership please contact Rob Macmillan on 01457 83 7090. At Carrbrook Bowling Club you can also Play Pétanque - on the First Terrain in Tameside.
	Full Membership £15.00 per year OAP, Concessions and Children £10.00 Visitors can play for £1 Bowls and Boules can be hired for 50p The Season commences each year on Good Friday. The grounds are open from 9 am till sunset.
Every Tuesday Evening Bowling Lessons are held, from 6pm, with Qualified County Coaches, who are CRO checked, 50p for children, adults £1. For details about Winter Bowling in the area ring Len Stewart on 0161 303 1725.

History of the Bowling Club
The first textile activity in Carrbrook was a handloom weaving community.
	Weavers cottages can be found at Carr Cottages, Flash, The Fold and at Moorgate. Three water powered cotton spinning mills were built in the valley in the 1790's; Carr Mill in 1792, Castle Clough in 1793 and Castle Mill in 1797.

The first mill in the village, however, known as Shaw Mill was founded around 1777, on the site where the Stonemead housing estate is today. In the early 1820's Hugh Shaw and Sons left and in 1825 Smith and Haines of Hollings Vale near Bury bought the old Shaw Mill which they demolished and erected a new block-printing works. Later this became steam powered.

By 1842 the works were in the hands of Pacey and Reynolds. By 1866 this works was derelict and the Earl Of Stamford granted a new lease: the works were now being run by John Henry Gartside. In the 1870's and 1880's extensions to the works were made. As "Buckton Vale Works" expanded Buckton Grange was built, and the rows of terraced houses in the village were built for the workers in the mill.

Carrbrook Village is a good example of a small factory village of the nineteenth century. In 1899 the works became part of the "Calico Printers Association".

	By 1909 a Bowling Green had been provided, there was an active football team before the First World War and by the 1930's the mill owner provided a cricket pitch and tennis courts for the workers recreation.
	The bowling green was carefully looked after by a full time gardener who also tended the works managers garden. During the war years maintainance of the green began to fall and never recovered after peace was declared.

The "CPA" had many branches with their own bowling greens.
Each of the branches would take part in a competition with the final being held at a different branch each year.
In 1964 the Final of the "CPA" Annual Handicap was played at Carrbrook.
	With cut backs due to the competitive nature of the business the position of gardener was axed in the late 1960's and the green gradually fell into disuse.
	The old wooden pavilion was vandalised in the 1970's following closure of the "CPA" Buckton Vale Works in 1969.

In 1988 the Friends of Carrbrook was formed, who restored the bowling green, which was reopened by Cncllr Ivy Robinson on Friday 17th April 1992. The first match played was by Gordon Coxon, Vernon Heron, Lincoln Charnock and John Buckley.
FOC then raised funds over a 6 year period and using reclaimed stone from walls, garages and outside toilets from around the village built a new pavilion.
The Official Opening of the new pavilion was by his Worship the Mayor of Tameside, Councillor Frank Robinson, on Wednesday 16th June 1999, just months before Calprina Ltd closed, the last company to occupy the Buckton Vale works.
As far as the Conservation Area is concerned the Bowling Green is the most important open space in the village.

Carrbrook Bowling Club Historic Match Results

1964 CPA Result

1939 Reporter Article

1964 CPA Bowling Club Match Results

The 1964 CPA Bowling Handicap took place on Saturday 11th July at Carrbrook. The final result was 18 for A. Kirk of Buckton Vale Works who received a 25 piece Phoenix dinner service and 21 for P Woodhouse of Strines who received the Silver Challenge Cup and a gold watch, both young men at the time. The canteen staff at Buckton Vale works provided lunches and teas on the day. The shock news of the day had been that the favourite, Mr L Quinn of Buckton Vale Works, had to scratch due to illness. The Referee for the game was Johnny Dawson, who had been the 1957 winner.

Just a few days before, on 5th July, Arthur Kirk had won the John Smith Handicap Challenge Cup against Jack Horsfield.

Above: Spectators in 1964	The CPA Final in 1964	Above: The Prizewinners in 1964
	To the left: Johnny Dawson Winner of the 1957 CPA Bowling Handicap
Above To the Right: Five Cups For Buckton Vale Bowlers (left to right): J Curtis (Ashton Infirmary Charity Cup), F Lee (Tom Tweed Charity Cup), F Lawton (Calico Printers Association Challenge Cup) W Storey (Whittaker Cup) and A Collier (Buckton Vale Challenge Cup). 1934

1939 Reporter Newspaper Article

Mr F Dearnaley presided at the Buckton Vale Institute, on Friday, at the annual presentation of the Carrbrook Bowling Club prizes. He was supported by the bowling club secretary, Mr A Shepherd. Presenting the prizes, Mr J Bowden (president) regretted that the latter part of the season had been shrouded with war, but it was all for the good to keep bowling going. He was pleased that there had been an “Ernest Oldham” memorial handicap. For many years Mr Oldham had been the institute chairman, and he had won the admiration of all who knew him. The president hoped that the 1940 season would be as successful as circumstances would permit, and that in the near future the village club would return to its former greatness.

The prizes presented included: -