Buckden - a Huntingdonshire Village

8 remuneration from £12 to £6, apparently without consulting him. From the beginning, ladies were allowed to bowl and become active members of the club, the first lady president being elected as early as 1934. (At that year’s AGM a tennis section was also formed: see under tennis in Buckden ).) The purchase of a motor-mower in 1939 shows that the club was willing to embrace new technology, although the year war broke out and a decade of petrol rationing began was perhaps not the most auspicious time to demonstrate this! The club carried on throughout the war; one of the few references to prevailing conditions was the rejection of a proposal to let evacuees use the garden grounds of the club. The war was still casting its shadow long after hostilities ended, however: in 1952 the club had to ask for fats and sugar coupons to hold a social function. By 1956 the facilities had deteriorated, in part no doubt because of long neglect during the war: in 1940, complaints had led to the groundsman being paid off and relieved of his duties for not fulfilling his obligations, leaving members to maintain the greens and pavilion. In 1972 the Playing Field Trust offered the bowls and tennis clubs the use of land at the village playing fields, and this offer was accepted. From then until 1976 the new green area was drained, prepared and levelled and a green was laid. The cost ran into several thousand pounds, paid for by social events and weekly lunches as well as the membership fees. An official opening match took place in 1977 against a county team. Professional help was used and the green, maintained by the members, is of an excellent standard. This was underlined on the club’s 75th anniversary, when the President of the Bowling Association visited with a team. See also Price, James. Bowtells of Buckden, High Street, was t he village’s own department store, founded by Mr Percy H. Bowtell. The business had previously been managed as a grocery and drapery by Dennis Russell Hardley (‘Sole agent for Ceylon tea and Lifebuoy Royal Disinfectant Soap’). Hardley had taken it over from the Langley family in the 1880s but in 1902, after having seven children, he decided to emigrate to New Zealand. Mr Bowtell later wrote that the premises looked ‘not much more than a cottage village shop’ but that the books revealed an unexpectedly thriving business. Under his guidance it continued to flourish and in 1911 he was able to buy the building. In 1922 he built the post office – now the ladieswear shop Elouise Lingerie – and in 1923 had the main centre building rebuilt and faced in an Elizabethan style. ‘Thus,’ he wrote, ‘modern, up-to-date business premises were erected, adapted to the surrounding architecture.’ The work was designed by Huntingdon architect William A. Lea and carried out by Buckden builders George Page & Son. The premises were further modernised in 1936 when fire destroyed a barn at the rear, making room for new warehouses and garages. The firm continued to expand after Mr Bowtell sold out to his son, Albert Edward, in 1946. Its fiftieth P.H.Bowtell Barry Jobling “The first drive” by Mr Robinson 3rd May 1930 Photo courtesy of Ken Spencer