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1981-1994 The Revival

In 1981 , THE REVIVAL was underway and it was perhaps appropriate that Mrs F. Rollason was the catalyst . Having served 6 years as the Ladies County Competition Secretary followed by the 4 years associated with the Ladies County Presidency, she moved on to become the National President of the English Women’s Bowling Association in their Golden Jubilee Year of 1981. This was probably the pinnacle of her bowling career and a tremendous honour, too, for Three Spires.

In anticipation of this milestone in the history of Three Spires, the car park and the driveway had been resurfaced and both pavilions had been repainted made possible, in part, by interest free loans from members to an improvement fund.  Mrs. Rollason’s first official match was against the English Women’s Indoor Bowling Association at Atherley in Hampshire and she held her President’s Day at Morningside on 6th May 1981.  

As ever, National Presidents were kept very busy during their year of office and Mrs. Rollason’s year was no exception. She travelled the length and breadth of the country, leading representative sides against clubs celebrating special anniversaries. She attended the Internationals and British Isles Championships at Colerton Park in Edinburgh before returning to Three Spires for the annual “grudge” match against the English Bowling Association in fortunately pleasant weather. The official record  of the day mentioned “ perhaps not a win but we narrowed the gap”.

Doubtless, the highlight of her presidential year was leading the National Team and delegates to the World Bowls Championships in Canada in July where England won gold medals in the singles and fours, silver in the triples and bronze for the pairs with gold again in the team event. There can be little doubt that “Fran”, as she was affectionately known, had distinguished herself in her year of office and, moreover, had put Three Spires well and truly on the national bowling map.

By contrast in 1981 W E Knox had died in unhappy circumstances when he had been elected Junior Vice President of the County Association. A legacy in his name helped swell club funds destined for the modernisation of the club’s premises, while the following year, club membership had reached “the dizzy heights” of 174.

In 1982, the green was used as part of the Men’s County Jubilee Celebrations and a year later Mrs C. Lambert was honoured with the Ladies County Presidency at a time when we were at war again in the South Atlantic protecting the citizens of the Falkland Islands .

There had been a close and friendly working relationship between Three Spires Ladies Section and the Warwickshire Women’s Bowling Association since the Association had been first formed in 1935. As mentioned earlier, the Club’s Morningside premises came to be referred to as the Association’s “Headquarters” where all County meetings were held.

In addition, the County Ladies were also allowed to use the Club’s car park when they were playing their away games but, on the 13th June 1985 , when the County Ladies returned from one such game, they found that they could not retrieve their cars because of an evening game that was in progress. 

”Rude” words were allegedly exchanged ( although by whom it is unclear ). As a result, the Club reluctantly withdrew the use of their facilities to the county Ladies, leading sadly to the severing of the cordial relationship that had existed between Club and County over the preceding 50 years.

In 1986, Three Spires began their preparations for its 75th Anniversary and many fund-raising events were arranged. By coincidence, D L T Williams was elected the County President for that year and various celebratory matches were added to the usual fixture schedule.

The men hosted the Warwickshire County Bowling Association on the 7th June and the English Bowling Association on the 27th July while the Ladies Section had invited the Warwickshire Women’s Bowling Association on 12th May and the English Women’s Bowling Association on the 12th June .  There were numerous guests attending all these occasions , one of whom was a Mrs J. Gale .

It was Mrs Gale’s grandfather, W Hamilton, who had been one of the original Directors of the limited company and also one of the leading players in the county of the time. She wrote afterwards that her grandfather had lived at 12 Morningside and she had been allowed to watch him practising on the green provided that she was “on her best behaviour”. She had kept the County Presidential Medal presented to him in 1928.

Following the lifting of the green edges in 1978, the 1980s saw a planned and concerted programme of improvements to the club’s facilities. In 1981, the sum of £3,817 was expended in “refurbishing the premises” including the aforementioned resurfacing of the drive and car park , while in 1983 the pavilion was re-roofed at a cost of £1,531. The next year £2,014 was spent on installing a central heating system and in 1986, an extension to the main club house was erected to accommodate a kitchen, new toilets, a bar cellar and a new bar costing £7,096.

1988 saw the inauguration of the “100 Club” and 1989 saw the first playing of the Three Spires Gala following the demise of the Coventry Gala which previously had been played at Three Spires, The 100 Club still operates today, providing much needed additional income for the Club, while the Three Spires’ Gala still flourishes and is only one of two in Coventry where originally there had been many being held almost weekly  .

Whilst the Berlin  Wall was being dismantled n 1989 , Three Spires were improving the paths and surrounds and all the work undertaken in the 1980s was all the more remarkable because, during that time (  but for one year ) , the club was still able to earn annual profits albeit at minimal levels. It was also in 1989 that Fran Rollason was honoured with Life Membership of the Club.

Into the 1990s now, and a new watering system was installed in two phases for the sum of £4,932 and the renaissance continued with the improvement and renovation of the pavilion. An extension was created to house new changing rooms for both men and women and the existing timber floor was replaced with concrete. The toilets were also amended and the kitchen refurbished with new fixtures, all at a cost of some the £21,000.