WINSLEY Bowls Club has come a long way since its foundation in 1903 and to celebrate the 100th birthday members played host to a representative side from the English Bowling Association yesterday afternoon.

The match against the EBA, formed 100 years ago by the famous cricketer WG Grace, provided both sides an opportunity to celebrate their centenaries in style.

Jack Swinburne, the Winsley club president, believes the match is a fitting way to mark the occasion.

He said: "It's a case of the governing body of bowls playing against the grass roots of bowls and what better way to celebrate?

"It gives us all a chance to raise a glass or two to our respective founders; Fred Forster and for the EBA, that great English and West country sportsman Dr W G Grace, who after a phenomenal cricketing career, took up bowls in favour of that 'effeminate' game of tennis."

Swinburne said the Winsley village club was formed in strange circumstances by a group of local men, led by local builder Fred Forster and his two brothers, Bert and Tom.

During the 1890s Fred Forster was an active sportsman with a keen interest in cycling and football, but after suffering a badly broken leg during a football match in Frome he was unable to work and decided to go on holiday.

While on holiday in Portsmouth, Forster saw the game of bowls being played and found out all he could about it. On his return he sounded out some of the village men, got some kit together and asked the owner of Winsley House if they could try it out on his lawn.

The owner of Winsley House was keen and laid out a three rink green in his grounds on the opposite side of the road from the present green.

Forster became the club's first captain, a position he held for a record 53 years, until he was forced to resign in 1957 due to ill health. He continued to serve the club as the president until his death in 1964.

Swinburne stressed the importance of remembering people like Forster who helped make the club what it is today.

He said: "Like many village clubs throughout the country, we have to thank the men who had the courage to take a parcel of land and make a level area of turf to enable the game we take for granted now to develop.

"Our winter and summer dressings arrive at the green in plastic bags and so unlike our predecessors we don't have to borrow a horse and cart to collect sludge from the sewage works in Trowbridge or to collect the chicken manure from the local poultry farm."

Winsley now has 54 member, 19 of them women and Keith Tomlinson, the club secretary, believes it is important to remember the past in order to ensure the club keeps moving forward.

He said: "We are one of Wiltshire's oldest clubs and we would not be here if it wasn't for our past members. It is believed the club remained open during the war which would make us Wiltshire's longest running club.

"This year has seen ladies welcomed as full members for the first time in our history and who knows in the future we may even see a female president. We are trying to change into a more forward thinking club which is necessary for the club to continue to grow."