Our Story
MEMORIES from Peter Keeble
The Club began in 1935 using the garden of a big house in Livermere Road, Great Barton. When this house was sold (1947 'ish) and changed owner they moved to the garden of the Old Rectory for a little while and then had the chance to use present site in East Barton Road.
Members just took the corner of the recreation field and started to mow it regularly (no proper preparation of soil).
Then around 1960 they closed the green for a year and luckily were able to use 'away greens' for leagues and competitions etc. 5 Keeble brothers: Geoff, John, Don, Ronald (Sam) and Peter, and Alan Mills and Les Borley set about improving the surface.
They had the turf stripped and sold it. Alan tried to plough it up but the ground was too solid, so a chap from Place Farm came and managed to break it up with a different machine and rotavated the ground. They added top soil, raked it down and leveled it as accurately as they could. This is the existing green which has not had such great renovation since ................
At that time the 'facilities' were an open front shed with dirt floor!
A 'new' wooden Clubhouse was built in 1983
This was done very much on a 'do it yourself' basis with mostly secondhand furnishings, including cinema seats acquired from the closed down Odeon in Bury St Edmunds, but it did have W.C.'s and kitchen and bar area and everyone was very proud of it.
Brick built Clubhouse opened in 1993
In the early nineties money was raised, borrowed and granted for the present Clubhouse which was built by Mothersole builders (with much benefit of Derek Mothersole being a member). In recognition of this Derek Mothersole became the first President on opening day of this lovely new building in 1993.
During 2012 a sub committee has been working on planning for the future.
First they have considered what is needed in the short term. The furniture in the clubhouse was secondhand when bought in 1993. Some items are broken and no longer fit for purpose. It was decided to apply for a grant to St Edmundsbury BC for help to purchase new tables and chairs.
This was an easy application and 50% of cost was quickly promised. This enabled the club to purchase said furniture and a good quality secondhand cupboard for storage.
All the items were delivered in early December; just in time for the Annual Presentation Dinner.
From 2013 A.G.M. : Bryan Ellis has spent many hours working on various applications, phone calls, letters, talking to various people, getting support and advice. Bryan was thanked very much for all his hard work.
The main application was to build a new changing room but this sadly was unsuccessful.
The Club next looked forward to the possibility of extending the building to incorporate a changing area, and the green in the future, together with some dedicated car parking space.
2014 : 27th October - It has been announced today that Bryan Ellis' recent grant application to Sport England has been successful. This was for extension for changing area plus kitchen enlargement and refitting.
- see photos. CHEERS !
So at last the extension begins ...
Gazebo
In 2022 we decided to have a gazebo put up on the north side of the green. It will be used as outdoor changing room and viewing area.