Our History

Margaret started at Hampton Bowling Club in 1964, in the initial 5 years she volunteered in various roles until joining as a bowling member under the Victorian Ladies’ Bowling Association at the age of 28 years.

The Margaret Radford green was named in 2002 in recognition of the years that Margaret has dedicated to the Hampton Bowling Club and her role in supporting women in bowls at Club, State and National level. From 1997 to 2002 Margaret was an integral part of the inaugural VLBA Coaches board and was Chairman of the Board from 1999 until 2002 then from 2005-2007. Her Chairmanship saw the development of Coaching Committees throughout the State and the formation of processes for the ongoing accreditation and re-accreditation of coaches.

Margaret has attained various levels of achievement throughout her bowling career that have contributed to the development of bowls in Australia. She has held Executive, VLBA Committee roles and various positions at both District and Club level.

• Board Director of Bowls Australia 2004-2009
• Victorian Ladies’ Bowling Association President 2003-2005
• Victorian Ladies’ Bowling Association Vice President 1999-2003
• AWBC/Bowls Australia National selector 2000-2003
• AWBC/Bowls Australia Delegate 2000-2004
• Darebin Sports Centre User Advisory Committee 2003-2005
• Level 1 National Umpire 1997-2009
• Level 1 Coach 1985-1997
• Level 2 Coach 1997-2011
• Official historian/archivist for Bowls Australia 2007-2011
• Volunteer at two Commonwealth Games held in Australia 1983 and 2000 as an Umpire and Marker
• Commonwealth Games Volunteer 2006 scorecard distributor.
• Australian Government Sports Achievement Award 2004
• Vice President Hampton Bowls Club 1973-1975
• President of the Hampton Bowls Club 1975-1976
• Life Member of Hampton Bowls Club from 1998

The Claude Wood Green
(1923-2007) 

Claude maintained the Hampton Bowling greens and grounds for a number of years.

He was responsible for pulling up, relevelling and treating the centre green. Claude
took on the responsibility for consistently caring for the greens and in producing a
very well run, Bent grass, centre green over his time at the club.

The middle green was dedicated to Claude for the enormous amount of voluntary
work he put into developing and maintaining the greens for the club.

Last year, the green was again relevelled, treated and sown, this time with tiff dwarf. This new Claude Wood green was officially opened in October 2023 with his members of his family present.

Claude came from a family of Nurserymen and was widely known for his breeding
and production of the Pacific Giant Polyanthus.

He enjoyed regular club bowls and competed in several competitions between 1983 to 1987. Claude was made a Life Member of Hampton Bowls Club.

Sporting achievements:
1983-84 RVBA – Group 15 – Triples, Winners – C Wood, L Morton and L Mason

Men’s Triples
1982-83 C Wood L Morton L Mason
1984-85 C Wood L Morton L Mason

Champions Four
1986-87 T Witte C Wood R Hansen E Melling

Bill had a lifetime interest in sport, in his younger days excelling in football and tennis. He had always shown an interest in lawn bowls, joining his father who was President of the Cobram Bowls Club as a young boy on the rinks for a roll up and later playing unofficially from the age of 18. He later joined the Hampton Bowls Club in 1950. He helped build the Club’s first Green and played on the opening day of the same year.

The W.S “Bill” Quick green was first dedicated to Bill in 2005 and later in 2021, this was again acknowledged when the Club officially opened its new synthetic green, each time with his family present.

On both occasions, the Club formally recognised Bill’s years of involvement with the Hampton Bowls Club and his role in playing, coaching, promoting the sport and encouraging the participation of young people, including his grandsons.

As well as being a great clubman, Bill, a left-hander, was a fierce competitor on the greens. He attained various achievements throughout his bowling career at both a Club and State level. Bill also contributed to the coaching of players as a member of the RVBA (now Bowls Victoria) Coaching panel and as a Coach of Group 15 (the then equivalent of the Sandbelt region), and was later accepted by the RVBA and ABC (now Bowls Australia) as a professional Bowls Coach. Bill was made a Life Member of Hampton Bowls Club.

Summary of Bowls Achievements:

• 1966 State Championship Titles – Metropolitan – Singles, Eq 3rd.
• 1967-1970 Member of open Victoria State team – (31 appearances).
• 1974-1975 Group 15 – Pairs, Winners.
• 1975-1976 Group 15 – Fours, Winners.
• 1981 Skipped and won the Triples Championship in the prestigious Madza tournament.
• 1968-1979 Won the Club Champion Men’s Singles five times.
• 1971-1982 Won the Club Men’s Pairs six times.
• 1977-1984 Won the Club Men’s Triples three times.
• 1987-1988 Won the Club Fours.
• 1985-1986 Winner of the Club Men’s Handicap Singles.