Welcome to the Surrey County Short Mat Bowling Association
Welcome to theSurrey CountyShort Mat Bowling Association

History of Surrey Short Mat Bowls Association

The game of Short Mat bowls was introduced into England in the North East and quickly spread through the country and was formalised in 1961.This all led to a meeting in London in 1984 with delegates from the North Staffs League, Crown Green, Flat Green, Carpet Bowls and the Sports Council and the ESMBA was formed.

Clubs started popping up in Surrey in the late 80s with the SHAB League being formed in 1990 closely followed by the formation of our Association in 1992. People involved in setting up both these organisations include Tony Reynolds, Jason Reynolds, Ernie Phipps all from Cheam, Mike Fitzpatric and Sylvia from Effingham, Reg Rapley, and myself from Lions and Trevor Mawhinny from Ripley. All the people I mentioned laid the foundations for us to build our great association.

We took another step forward in September 2010 when we moved to our home venue at Wey Valley.

               Norman Crawley - Past President

 

 

 

 

(picture: Norman Crawley with Derek (Del) Johns, Premier team capt. 2013 - 2016)

 

History and Explanation of the Surrey County Crest

Top Left:

This is the 'Holand Crest' of the Duke of Surrey - three gold leopards with a silver bar.

 

Top Right:

This is the Howard family crest - Lord Howard, the present Earl of Surrey, is also the Duke of Norfolk. His crest has the family coat of arms of red with a silver band across it between six crosslets of fitchy silver. It was inside this silver band that I decided to place the word 'Surrey'.

 

Bottom Left:

This is the shield of Sir John de Warren which is chequered gold and blue. It has been the Warennes family shield since 1347. Imposed on top of this is the arms of John de Montfort (John of Brittany), the Earl of Richmond who died in 1399. This is simply a plain white ermine shield but because of his "Earl" title, he was entitled to display the arms of Brittany which later became his personal seal. 

 

Bottom Right:

The Fitzalan family crest of a silver lion on a red background. The Fitzalans were a wealthy land-owning family in the 15th century who had land stretching from Godalming through to Reigate.

The badge was designed in the summer of 1992 by Tom Rogers from North Cheam SMBC and I researched the heraldry behind it. I came across a note that Tom sent to me which accompanied the final draft and it's so appropriate I thought I'd share it with you. The note concludes: "it seems quite apt that many of the composite parts of the design are taken from nobility stretching back to the time of the Conquests. Troops engaging in battle would gather around the colours or flag of their Commander awaiting instructions. I hope, in this case, the bowlers will feel the same passion and desire when sporting this flag before they engage in their own battles"

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