Craigentinny History

As told in the Centenary Booklet (1996) with recent addition added

Since the early records of the Craigentinny Bowling Club were lost in a fire which ravaged the Clubhouse in 1950, we can do no better than quote from an account of the Club's Jubilee Celebrations which appeared in the "Edinbutgh Evening News" in 1946 and which accurately traced the Club's beginnings from 1896.

The launching of a a new bowling club is a small thing in its way, but it was the urge for something better that brought the progenitor of the Craigentinny Bowling Club into being. There were grumbles about the state of the corporation's Regent Road green in the late 1890s and a number of players who frequented it decided that the one way to secure the conditions they desired was to aquire a green of their own.

They do not appear to have wasted much time on talk and after an unsuccessful quest for a piece of ground at Croft-an-Righ, they took to the heights and Parsons Green Bowling green came into being in 1896, at the back of the big mansion house which gave the club its name. Three rinks were laid out to begin with and three were added after a couple of years, so the club was already firmly on its feet. Then the question of the lease arose and a hint that a move for a new green was contemplated was contained in the minutes of a special meeting of the members held in November 1905, when Mr (later Counciller) Moscrip submitted a report regarding a suitable site west of the Craigentinny Mausoleum, just off Portobello Road.

The descent from the breezy lower slopes of the Queen's Park was agreed upon, subject to certain preparatory work being undertaken by the superiors of the Craigentinny Estate. Terms were ultimately arranged and after numerous meetings concerned with the financial commitments of the move, the green and its accessories were sold to the Postal Bowling Club in November 1907. Work at the new green at Craigentinny had meantime been going ahead and it was formally opened on Saturday 2nd May 1908 by the late Baillie (later Sir Alexander) Stevenson, SBA President that year. A change of hame brought a change ofname, Parson Green becoming Craigentinny Bowling Club, and about a month before the opening ceremony, three die-hards vote against the altered nomenclature.

The authenticity of this history article id further substantiated by an excerpt from the Postal Bowling Club minutes which state - "In 1908 the Club took over the present private green from Parsons Green Bowling Club, who had moved to Craigentinny to be reconstituted as the Craigentinny Bowling Club".

Unfortunately, the only tangible momento left from the Club's early days is the Parsons Green Bowling Club Championship Cup presented by Harry G Younger in 1897. This cup was in constant use until 1963 when sadly there was no more space left to inscribe winners names and a new Champions Cup was purchased.

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