So the Hampden story continues. This week we made the papers and all for the right reasons. On Wednesday there was an article in The Scottish Sun about Queens Park FC 150th anniversary coming up and about the mission to track down where the first Hampden was. An interesting article by Craig Stewart. Where it comes from is that Keith from the Queens Park Supporters Club has been planning a whole series of events to mark this historic milestone for the football club. Where better to kick off the weekend than to have a night at the 1st Hampden? There is going to be a whole series of events over the weekend (the anniversary is on the Sunday) and we will be holding an event at our club on the Friday night.
For those that don't know Queens Park FC was started from a meeting at 3 Eglington Terrace, Victoria Road on 9th July 1867. I have been doing a little research and there is a fantastic book available online by Richard Robinson written in 1920 on the history of Queens Park -
http://www.scottish-football-historical-archive.co.uk/HistoryoftheQueensParkFC.pdf
I love the opening to the book -
"The Story of the Queen's Park is so interwoven with the history of Scottish football that the two cannot be dissociated"
What a story and its great that our club can proudly be part of it. There is a whole section on the First Hampden, which is a great find. In the book it talks about how the original papers relating to the 1st Hampden were destroyed and the only information that is left is from the papers from the Council relating to the lease of the land. I have now scoured every map of the district and have located what I think is the original pavilion and now looking into the National Archives to see what I can find. We are confident of our story and we have a lot of evidence supporting this (see the Our History Video). I have a couple of ideas that myself and Jim Neil have kicked about to see what we can come up with. Keith has met with Richard from the Hampden Museum and Phil from Archaeology Scotland and its a great project. A bit of a "Who do you think you are?).
We will put this to bed once and for all. So if you want to follow it - have a wee look at #1stHampden on twitter. I sent a wee tweet to Craig yesterday of Our History Video. That will hopefully get it really cooking. The race is on to get this researched in time for our night on the 7th July. Can we do it? Well there is going to be a lot of fun in trying to find out :-)
So what else have we been up too. Well on Friday night John treated us to another quiz. A great event that is getting ever more popular. The big message - First Friday of the Month is Quiz night at Hampden. Once that is etched in the brain the rest is easy. My turn next month as we rotate it around and gives us the chance to have a go at each other's quizzes. Thanks again John and Yvonne for running it! Also thanks to Pat today for helping me with the hill - its getting there.
On Thursday night Hampden hosted a training session arranged by Bowls Scotland on volunteering. These sessions are a great test for any club. How do you attract volunteers into a club? What roles do you have open to them? How accessible is your club to the outside public? Do you have Meeters and Greeters? Is the club exclusive or inclusive? What links do you have to the institutions around - colleges, universities, local businesses? Only two clubs turned up - us and Titwood. Although 9 clubs were signed up their reps didn't show - it just shows the challenge clubs have. For me it was refreshing to meet Colin from Titwood. A local resident of his club and I learned what he has being doing with his club. He is on a similar mission to ensure that his club will be there for the long term.
These training sessions are a great forum to share ideas, frustrations and learnings of how you move a bowling club into 21st century. Its such a shame that bowling clubs are not taking advantage of them. There have been training courses cancelled due to the lack of take-up. This is far from a complaint because I know how difficult it is. It's actually quite the opposite. Bowling Clubs need help and they need people to get involved. So if you overlook a club or have one nearby just pop in. Once your through the door you will find a warm welcome and then ask a few questions. How is your membership doing? Who runs the place? Is there something I can do to help? The key is doing something - not everything.
Anyway my big takeaway is finding a local club that is trying to do everything we are doing but doing it in a different way. So here's hoping we can make something off it. Thanks to Laura for organising the course - Bowls Scotland is doing its best! We just need everyone to pitch in and these beautiful greens and buildings will be preserved for another century.
So to finish off the fourth reason to join our bowling club. Well everything above :-)
Please go to our website for more information
www.hampdenbowlingclub.weebly.com/join
Cheers
HBC Secretary
For those that don't know Queens Park FC was started from a meeting at 3 Eglington Terrace, Victoria Road on 9th July 1867. I have been doing a little research and there is a fantastic book available online by Richard Robinson written in 1920 on the history of Queens Park -
http://www.scottish-football-historical-archive.co.uk/HistoryoftheQueensParkFC.pdf
I love the opening to the book -
"The Story of the Queen's Park is so interwoven with the history of Scottish football that the two cannot be dissociated"
What a story and its great that our club can proudly be part of it. There is a whole section on the First Hampden, which is a great find. In the book it talks about how the original papers relating to the 1st Hampden were destroyed and the only information that is left is from the papers from the Council relating to the lease of the land. I have now scoured every map of the district and have located what I think is the original pavilion and now looking into the National Archives to see what I can find. We are confident of our story and we have a lot of evidence supporting this (see the Our History Video). I have a couple of ideas that myself and Jim Neil have kicked about to see what we can come up with. Keith has met with Richard from the Hampden Museum and Phil from Archaeology Scotland and its a great project. A bit of a "Who do you think you are?).
We will put this to bed once and for all. So if you want to follow it - have a wee look at #1stHampden on twitter. I sent a wee tweet to Craig yesterday of Our History Video. That will hopefully get it really cooking. The race is on to get this researched in time for our night on the 7th July. Can we do it? Well there is going to be a lot of fun in trying to find out :-)
So what else have we been up too. Well on Friday night John treated us to another quiz. A great event that is getting ever more popular. The big message - First Friday of the Month is Quiz night at Hampden. Once that is etched in the brain the rest is easy. My turn next month as we rotate it around and gives us the chance to have a go at each other's quizzes. Thanks again John and Yvonne for running it! Also thanks to Pat today for helping me with the hill - its getting there.
On Thursday night Hampden hosted a training session arranged by Bowls Scotland on volunteering. These sessions are a great test for any club. How do you attract volunteers into a club? What roles do you have open to them? How accessible is your club to the outside public? Do you have Meeters and Greeters? Is the club exclusive or inclusive? What links do you have to the institutions around - colleges, universities, local businesses? Only two clubs turned up - us and Titwood. Although 9 clubs were signed up their reps didn't show - it just shows the challenge clubs have. For me it was refreshing to meet Colin from Titwood. A local resident of his club and I learned what he has being doing with his club. He is on a similar mission to ensure that his club will be there for the long term.
These training sessions are a great forum to share ideas, frustrations and learnings of how you move a bowling club into 21st century. Its such a shame that bowling clubs are not taking advantage of them. There have been training courses cancelled due to the lack of take-up. This is far from a complaint because I know how difficult it is. It's actually quite the opposite. Bowling Clubs need help and they need people to get involved. So if you overlook a club or have one nearby just pop in. Once your through the door you will find a warm welcome and then ask a few questions. How is your membership doing? Who runs the place? Is there something I can do to help? The key is doing something - not everything.
Anyway my big takeaway is finding a local club that is trying to do everything we are doing but doing it in a different way. So here's hoping we can make something off it. Thanks to Laura for organising the course - Bowls Scotland is doing its best! We just need everyone to pitch in and these beautiful greens and buildings will be preserved for another century.
So to finish off the fourth reason to join our bowling club. Well everything above :-)
Please go to our website for more information
www.hampdenbowlingclub.weebly.com/join
Cheers
HBC Secretary