So what an enlightening day. Although today was focussed on Third Lanark it revealed some amazing facts about the local community and just how important the Southside of Glasgow was to both football and bowls. For our bowling club a number of mysteries were solved. Yes Hampden Bowling Club is on the site of the original Hampden Park. However what we didn't know was that this was the was the first purpose built international football stadium in the world. Which makes it pretty special, unique and also incredibly important landmark in world football.
We are also always keen to point out is that the pavilion is the original changing rooms that were used for these matches. Yup legend has it that the existing Ladies changing room housed the travelling England side 3 times, all of which they went home a beaten team. Ged was a wee bit sceptical on this claim however he was coming round to our way of think when I showed him the original picture of the first Hampden Pavilion. You'll see the picture in the attached link from our history page. I think you will agree with us that its one and the same.
http://hampdenbowlingclub.weebly.com/hampden-history.html
And from a bowling perspective the rules that are used today were created in Glasgow. William Wallace Mitchell created the first 'Manual for Bowls Playing' in 1864, which became the basis of the rules of the modern game. Furthermore the concentration of bowling greens in Glasgow is testament to the love of the game. Even in our area that are 6 bowling clubs within a mile radius our own club.
Okay so enough of history. Back to the present day. Its the Committee on Monday night as we gear up towards our AGM next Sunday. Our Facebook page has hit over a 100 friends from Scotland to South Africa to Australia. We hope you like it. We were also sorting out our fixture list earlier on and had two firsts. Sorting out our trip to Millport via twitter and a friendly with Bankfoot by Whatsapp. Wow that is revolutionary. And Laura from Bowls Scotland is coming back on Tuesday to help us with our Development Plan. All in all a busy week ahead and the bowling hasn't even started yet :-)
So there will be plenty to talk about for the next blog!
Cheers
HBC Secretary