History behind the Club

Ten acres of land, which now includes New Beckenham Bowls Club, was originally purchased, jointly, by London Joint Stock Bank, National Provincial Bank of England and Union Bank of London, to be used as a sports ground for their employees.  The ‘Lower Sydenham’ site (or as we now know it today, the site on Copers Cope Road) was opened on 8 July 1899, by Lord Harlech, with three cricket squares, six lawn tennis courts and a bowling green, and was known as Three Banks Athletic Club.

Between 1919 and 1924, various bank mergers took place.  London Joint Stock Bank merged with London City & Midland Bank (who had just purchased a nearby sports ground) to form Midland Bank (now HSBC).  The London Joint Stock Bank’s share was bought out and National Provincial Bank and Union Bank of London merged.  With a further seven acres of land being acquired at the Lower Sydenham site, the sports ground now had one owner, and the National Provincial Bank period was ushered in.

Therefore, the National Provincial Bank sports ground at Lower Sydenham was opened before the end of the Nineteenth Century (in 1899), with a bowling green, whilst the London and Westminster Bank sports ground was opened at Norbury on 5 May 1900, again with a bowling green.

With a bowling green in place at the opening of Lower Sydenham, the early participants appeared to have been mainly casual players.  Whilst early records of the Bowls Club are sparse, it was reported that W G Grace was a visitor to Lower Sydenham, not to play cricket, but to play bowls as a member of Crystal Palace Bowls Club.

The outbreak of the First World War effectively brought a halt to sporting activities at Lower Sydenham and, following the end of the First World War, sports clubs took a little while to resume activities.  Prior to 1927, records of the Bowls Club at Lower Sydenham are minimal.  However, in that year, the Bowls Club (known then as the National Provincial Bank Bowling Club) became affiliated to the English Bowling Association and the Kent Bowling Association, and, although falling membership became a challenge, the fixture list included Croydon, Cyphers, Forest Hill, Midland Bank, Norwood and West Wickham.  Sadly, the question of disbanding was considered in the early 1930s, but, thankfully, it was decided to continue.

Meanwhile, at Norbury, in 1919, London County and Westminster Bank took Parr’s Bank into their fold, becoming London County Westminster and Parr’s Bank, which, in 1923, was shortened to Westminster Bank.

Early in 1935, a letter was received from the Midland Bank Bowling Club, seeking to set up an Inter-Bank Bowling Association, to which the National Provincial Bank Bowling Club gave its full support, and it became the Banks Bowling Association.  In 1935, the bowling green was re-laid and bowls matches and club competitions continued, with membership now on the increase again (with thirty members), until the outbreak of the Second World War brought another halt to sporting activities at Lower Sydenham.

After the end of the Second World War, sporting activities at Lower Sydenham recovered slowly, and it was not until 1947 that a meeting was held to reform the Bowls Club.  Eventually, bowls matches and competitions resumed, with the 1949 season ending with a match at Lower Sydenham between the English Bowling Association and the Banks Bowling Association.  In 1950, with membership increasing, there were 27 matches, followed by 41 matches in 1951, and it was also decided to join the Beckenham Bromley & District Bowling Association.  In 1952, a joint Kent and Surrey County Team played a Canadian touring team at Lower Sydenham, such was the growing reputation of the bowling green.

With the Bowls Club now well established, players were progressing in Kent County Competitions and internal club competitions were being keenly contested, with names that are now well established in the history of the Bowls Club and also remembered in the club’s internal competitions.  In particular, one can only imagine the jubilation in 1954 when H E Glibbery (known to all as ‘Glibb’) and G Belcher (Geoff Belcher) won the Bowls Club’s first ever County badges.

In 1952, the Bowls Club went on its first tour with a weekend away, playing matches at Hove and Oxted, which, over time, gradually increased to a full week, as it is today.  In 1966, there was the first President’s Day.  In 1967, the first ladies match was played at the Bowls Club, between Surrey and Middlesex, with the bowling green again receiving much praise, whilst the Bowling Club itself was achieving its best results for several years.

Whilst the Bowls Club was the National Provincial Bank Bowling Club, in the 1960s, there were the first sounds of a merger between National Provincial Bank and Westminster Bank.  In 1970, following the merger, the National Provincial Bank Bowling Club became the National Westminster Bank Bowling Club, but, because of separate county affiliations, the Bowls Club would have two sections - National Westminster Bank Bowling Club (Kent) at Lower Sydenham and National Westminster Bank Bowling Club (Surrey) at Norbury.  It was intended that the two sections would, eventually, merge to form a single club.  However, the endeavours to combine the two sections into a single club were always going to be challenging, given the separate locations at Lower Sydenham and Norbury, different affiliations, different traditions and separate loyalties.

The 1970s saw the Bowls Club well established, but with membership fluctuating and challenges with the maintenance of the bowling green.  However, in 1974, the Bowls Club celebrated its 75th Jubilee Year at Lower Sydenham, with a match against an English Bowling Association side led by President Eric Marsh, supported by Norbury’s Senior Vice President D’Arcy Drayton.  In the 1980s, membership at Lower Sydenham was beginning to dwindle, until the introduction of an internal Tuesday Triples League saw numbers playing bowls at Lower Sydenham increase again, with membership of the Bowls Club increasing to sixty.

In 1985, the Bowls Club established a Ladies section at Lower Sydenham (a Ladies section having been previously formed at Norbury in 1977), with the Ladies celebrating their 40th Anniversary at Lower Sydenham in 2025.  Meanwhile, the ‘Great Storm’ of 1987 saw the bowling green’s changing accommodation badly damaged, with the need for temporary changing facilities until National Westminster Bank provided replacement facilities in 1989.

The 1990s saw the Bowls Club progressing, with successes for the club, for its players in competitions, and a membership strong in depth, together with a reputation as a friendly place to play bowls.  In 1989, it had been agreed to move forward with providing for a Centenary of the Bowls Club at Lower Sydenham (in 1999), with a visit from the English Bowling Association, a Club Tour to Canada and a Centenary Dinner.  A brochure, to celebrate the Centenary of the Bowls Club, was also produced, with details of its history, its successes, competitions and competition winners and club administrators and personalities, together with many photographs from the Bowls Club’s history.

In 1997, National Westminster Bank disposed of the sports ground at Norbury, although the Bank ensured the bowling green was retained.  With this, the Surrey section withdrew from the National Westminster Bank Bowling Club and reformed as Norbury Bowls Club.  The Kent Section became the National Westminster Bank Bowling Club, based at Lower Sydenham.

In 2006, the Bowls Club changed its name to reflect another change in Bank ownership, with the Bowls Club becoming the Royal Bank of Scotland Bowls Club.  However, Royal Bank of Scotland disposed of the sports ground at Lower Sydenham in 2007 and withdrew its subsidy for sporting activities in 2013.  Thankfully, the Bowls Club continued, and was able to remain at Lower Sydenham when Crystal Place Football Club, having taken out a lease, started to develop the site for its football academy.  In 2020, the Bowls Club was able to overcome the challenges of the Covid Pandemic, and, whilst matches were cancelled, limited internal competitions were played.  Then, in 2021, with banks no longer involved, the Bowls Club changed again and became New Beckenham Bowls Club, as it is today.  The Bowls Club has a lease with Crystal Place Football Club for the bowls green and clubhouse facilities, whilst still maintaining links to its banking history, with Coutts Bank continuing to hold its annual bowls day at Lower Sydenham.

In 2024, the Bowls Club celebrated its 125th Anniversary at Lower Sydenham and a 125th Anniversary brochure was produced, providing details of how the Bowls Club celebrated its Centenary Year, plus details of note-worthy events at the Bowls Club since 1999.

The history of the Bowls Club at ‘Lower Sydenham’ (Copers Cope Road) is a long one and we are proud of our history and reputation in lawn green bowls - long may it continue.