EAST PARK, also known as Eastbourne Park, was opened on May 17, 1902. A large wagonette of councillors drove out from the town hall for the ceremony, with the macebearer “resplendent in crimson plush breeches, white silk stockings, laced blue coat and cocked hat” riding in the box seat.

The Northern Echo:
The East Park Ladies’ stamp, found on all the club’s minutes

The seven-acre park cost the council £3,500, and Councillor Robert Seymour Benson, chairman of the parks committee and managing director of Ashmore, Benson and Pease and Company of Stockton, opened the gates with a silver key.

“The council gasworks and waterworks, although they bring profits, are not better investments than those which bring health and sanitation to the borough,” he said.

The civic party returned to East Park on September 27, 1908, to formally open the bowling green.

The Northern Echo:
The grand beginning of the first minute book on December 3, 1907

In those innocent days before the First World War, every municipal park had to have a bowling green.

The oldest bowling green in the country is in Southampton and it was first used in 1299. But it was the advent of the lawnmower in the Victorian era which allowed the game to catch on.

The first clubs were formed in the late 1860s; the first one in Darlington, in 1896, in South Park, and the English Bowling Association was formed in 1903.

So East Park in 1908 was very much part of a national trend. The mayor that year was Charles Starmer, the managing director of The Northern Echo and later a Liberal MP for Cleveland, and his wife was allowed to throw the first jack “amid loud applause”.

The green must have been in the offing for some time, as the East Park Bowling Club was formed on December 3, 1907. The first president was Mr R Newton, and one of the committee men was Mr JR Rocket.

Mr Rocket was obviously a fiery fellow. The minutes for July 10, 1908, reveal: “The secretary reported that after a meeting of the Match Committee on July 6, Mr Rocket had made use of abusive language and, on being requested to apologise, refused to do so, but confirmed his remarks.

The Northern Echo:
The East Park Bowling Club Ladies Champion Trophy, presented to the club in May 1928, by The Northern Echo and now returned to the paper.

“After some discussion, Mr Bethell proposed and Mr Whitfield seconded that Mr Rocket be asked to withdraw his remarks or hand in his resignation as a member of the committee. Mr Rocket refused to adopt either course and his name was therefore taken off the committee.”

Despite this rocket, Mr Rocket was soon let off and he returned to the bowling fold, playing an active part in the club until the late 1920s.

Indeed, he was part of the committee which took a momentous decision at its annual meeting on October 20, 1926. “It was agreed to allow the lady bowlers to form a section of their own,” record the minutes.

It was a momentous decision because in her first annual report on October 27, 1927, the ladies’ secretary, Mrs J Eckford began: “I have no hesitation in saying that this is the first report of a Ladies Section carried on in an organised manner in this town and probably in the whole country.”

However, the men might not have been entirely altruistic in allowing the ladies onto their green. They may just have been thinking of their stomachs.

The Northern Echo:
East Park Ladies in the 1938-39 season, and the only picture for which we have names. All the ladies were married. Back, from left, Brown, Eckford, Brooks, Aitken, Turner, Dodds, McKenzie, and Piggles. Front, from left, Dunn, Smith, Hunter, Prior, Adams, Lester, and Horley

One of the ladies’ first minutes, dated June 30, 1927, reads: “A request was made by the gentlemen’s committee that the ladies undertake to provide tea for them at a jumble competition.

“It was decided to do so at a cost of 9d per head, tea consisting of salmon paste and cheese sandwiches, teacakes, scones and cakes.”

While their teas were undoubtedly first class, the ladies’ first summer on the grass was not an unqualified success.

Mrs Eckford in her annual report said: “I understand from the Gentlemen’s Section that this has been the most wretched season from a weather point of view for a number of years. We were only able to fix up one fixture, namely with the Darlington Police, and this unfortunately had to be cancelled because of the rain.”

The ladies in those early days were obsessed by spoons, which were “bought at the cost of 5/- each” to reward the winners of their competitions. Every month, the ladies bowled for a spoon or two.

The Northern Echo:
East Park shortly after it opened in 1902. The Bowl House can be seen in the distance.

Mrs Eckford concluded her inaugural report with fighting talk: “These competitions have contributed in no small measure to raising the standard of our play, and the time is not far distant when the Gentlemen, I feel sure, will need to look to their laurels, or they will have to acknowledge that even on the bowling green, we are their superiors.”

HOWEVER, it appears from the minutes that the ladies had bought so many five shilling spoons that they had more spoons than they knew what to do wit A motion dated September 4, 1928, says: “It was decided to run the spoons competitions each week to clear the spoons off.”

However, women being far more fair-minded than men, they liked to ensure that the spoons were being shared round rather than being hoarded by one lucky bowler.

“September 19, 1928: Members who had not won a spoon this year to have three points start in the final spoons competition.”

Perhaps the allure of the spoons was fading because other silverware was being bowled for.

The Northern Echo:
East Park Ladies in 1930. The lady second from the right, on the back row, is wearing a fox fur around her neck

The minutes for May 28, 1928, record: “The secretary handed over to the club a Silver Rose bowl, presented by The Northern Echo as a championship trophy, the condition being that should the club ever be disbanded, the cup reverts to the ownership of The Northern Echo.”

And so it has now been handed back.

The pile of handwritten minutes reveals decades of whist drives in the Temperance Institute, of smoking concerts, of “jumblies”, and of league titles, spoon successes and trophy triumphs.

The Eckford Trophy, for instance, named after East Park’s first secretary, was presented to the winner of the Darlington and District Ladies League for the first time in 1953.

The winner then was Nellie Hakin from East Park, and the winner in 2005 was Linda Scott from East Park, the 14th time the club had taken the town title.

The Northern Echo:
What was probably the first East Park Ladies line-up from 1927, wearing a splendid collection of hats.

But, as well as the ups, there were the downs. From at least the 1960s, the greens received unwanted attention from vandals and then in May 1980, the pretty Bowl House, complete with clock, was burned down by arsonists.

With classic understatement, president Mr F Donaldson said in his annual report on October 1, 1980: “The year started off very badly when fire destroyed the Bowl House causing quite a number of problems for all, but we managed to struggle through, and congratulations to the B team for winning the 4th Division championship.” A fading photo album reveals how a functional brick and rollershutter house rose from the ashes.

But no more.

The last minute is dated February 11, 2014. It says the green needs more than £4,000 of work and the club had only six players to register. A team needs eight, with several more on call to cover illness, holidays and grandparent duties.

“The decision was made that we would withdraw from the Darlington Veterans Bowling League,”

The Northern Echo:
An action shot from East Park in 1997.

recorded president Peter O’Toole.

“I have enjoyed playing and also the friendship of the members. I wish you all good bowling in the future.

“There is one last issue that needs addressing – the bank account.

“The ladies section, over the years, have cleaned the club, made tea at home games, brought cake and other goodies, so I propose to thank them by offering them £50 to help with an evening out.

“I propose that the rest goes to a charity. My choice is the Great North Ambulance Service.”

The Northern Echo:
East Park’s men’s team in the 1970s, with the pretty Bowl House, from 1908, in the background. It was burnt down in 1980

Then there’s a final note: £253.09 in the bank, plus £8.90 cash (after secretary’s expenses), makes a total of £261.99. And there the minute books of the East Park Bowling Club come to an end.