Gourock 1865
The population of the village of Gourock in 1865 was over 2,000 although at the height of the coast season the figure was reputed to double and at times even treble. In the Summer of that year there was talk in the village of forming a Bowling Club and it could be that visitors, who may have been members of clubs in Glasgow and elsewhere, stimulated this discussion. On the other hand the villagers would be aware that clubs already existed in Greenock: Ardgowan (1841), Wellington Park (1853) and Grosvenor (1855), and in Port Glasgow (1860). The outcome was that a public meeting was held on 16th August to discuss the subject at which a committee of ‘influential gentlemen’ was appointed to draw up and issue a prospectus to form a bowling club and to collect subscriptions for that purpose.
The newly formed committee set about their work with considerable vigour and just eight days after the public meeting they met and adopted a prospectus for the formation of the club. An important provision was that no action was to be taken until three-quarters of the estimated cost of laying the greens, about £300 had been subscribed. Early in September, just a month after the project was first mooted, the sum subscribed had reached £175 and a further £25 had been promised. This early success of the Club was assured.
The club entered into possession of the ground at Martinmas 1865 and the first lease is hand-written and titled ‘Tack between Duncan Darroch Esquire of Gourock and George Boyd, Ironmonger of Glasgow, President; Andrew Dougall, Physician and Surgeon in Gourock, Vice President; Robert Kinross, Feuar in Gourock, Treasurer; and George Strachan, Joiner in Gourock, Secretary, as Trustees for the Gourock Bowling Club’ (Tack being an old Scots legal term for a leasing or rental agreement). The rent was one shilling per annum and the agreement ran for 21 years from the Martinmas term 1865 with the first payment due at Martinmas 1866.
The lease was renewed from time to time over the years with the rent remaining nominal; indeed in 1982 it was only £10 per annum. In that year the club completed negotiations with the Trustees of the late Lt. Col. Duncan Darroch of Gourock for the purchase of the ground for the sum of £5,000. The price put on the ground is further evidence of the Darroch family’s generosity in their dealings with the bowlers. At the club’s request the title deeds incorporate a clause stipulating that the grounds are to be used ‘in all time coming’ as a bowling green.