1966 – Centenary Year
In 1966 the club celebrated its first hundred years of bowling in Gourock and at the same time the extension to the clubhouse was completed and available for members. Johnny Sharp was elected President for this important year and a better choice could not have been made.
Johnny joined the Club in 1921 and had an outstanding record of service both on and off the green. He won almost every club competition including the championship in 1952, 1965 and 1975. His most important success was in winning the Scottish Pairs Championship, partnered by David Munro, in 1935.
In 1929 he was elected Match Secretary and continued in the office until 1963. This long period included his first term as President in 1943, when he combined the two offices. At the presentation of prizes in 1954 Johnny was presented with a television set to recognise 26 years as match secretary. He was elected an honorary member in 1964 and the first honorary president in 1981, a position he held until his death in February 1985.
At the opening of the greens in 1966, Provost Robert Finnie said ‘It is a heartening thought that when it is possible in the not too distant future there might be no burgh of Gourock, there will always be a Gourock Bowling Club and members’. Mrs Finnie unfurled the flag gifted by the town council to the club, which included the lettering ‘Gourock Bowling Club 1866-1966’.
The first of the centenary games took place on Saturday 7th May, when six rinks from the Scottish Bowling Association visited Gourock. The following Wednesday three rinks from the Renfrewshire B.A. and three from the Greenock and District B.A. combined forces to join in the celebrations. By a happy coincidence a well known member of the Club, Duncan Jenkins, was also President of the District Association in 1966. The District Championship finals were played at Gourock on two occasions in 1966.
The ladies were very much involved in this very busy and important year and they rendered invaluable assistance to the parent club. They also had a centenary game with the Scottish Ladies Bowling Association.