Lawn Bowling Area
Ioco Memories
Chapter 10
The Ioco Lawn Bowling GreeN
The Ioco Lawn Bowling Green, at the corner of Ioco Rd. and 1st Ave, was first constructed in 1924 by a group of volunteers with funding from the Imperial Oil Company. By the middle of 1930s a clubhouse was built and it was considered one of the finest greens in British Columbia. The bowling green and nearby clubhouse hosted many social functions and was festively decorated with flags along the lampposts. They even had both hard and soft tennis courts, a horseshoe pitch, all located beside the lawn bowling area. Many traveled from around the world to play on it. Numerous activities were held such as community picnics, May Day celebrations, and sack races. When it snowed, they use to flood the tennis court and create a skating rink.
Memories
Al Sholund
The Lawn Bowling facility was the pride of the townsite. There had been a gully and when employees suggested the gully be filled the company decided they will fill it and build a lawn bowling green.
Tennis and Roller Skating
Jeanette Machan
Oh I played a little bit of tennis too, but nothing serious. Because we have the tennis courts there, you know, we’d go and hit the ball around a bit.
Roller-skate! Oh yes! That’s what we did. All around the Bowling Green area, there were all the cement sidewalks there and we’d roller-skate along the area and then we’d come down and go down along the bowling green.
Um…Okay also, um, they used to have elephants-White elephant sales I should say. At the-At the bowling club sometimes. And they always had a summer tea-Spring or summer tea. At which I played piano. I took piano lessons from Mrs. Mackenzie who lived on, uh, 1st Avenue. Tall house on 1st Avenue. As a few of the kids did and we’d have a recital at her house, but then we’d also have a tea
Imperial oil looked after boulevards, and bowling green- in the 1950’s imperial oil didn’t want to look after it anymore so members of the club did.
Fred Laidlaw
George Kingsbury was probably the best horseshoe pitcher in Canada. He never met the guy who had it but his [ring production] far ahead of the guy that-He’d go to the PNE and clean up everything. He was only about 17 years old at the time. And we had our own tennis courts. And we started to play badminton in Ioco before they ever-Hardly started in Vancouver, anyways some English guy brought it, would come to work here and he taught us all how to play and I ended up as one of the best players outside of Vancouver and he had to play against me. The Canadian Champions and-Well I was invited to play in what was called the L Club in Vancouver. In the ‘30s-In 1930 and 1940 I was playing with them and partnered with all the Canadian Champions that were out here.
“We’d have a Sunday school picnic and each family, you either took a large chocolate cake or a large potato salad or a green salad or buns and butter or a pound of ham and I’d say, ‘Oh! My goodness! That won’t be enough to eat!’ but you always found when you got there, it was. It was wonderful, you could have a beautiful picnic and you only had to bring one thing.”
Jeanette Machan
“In later years, I know some of the older fellas would freeze over the tennis court. That was by the bowling club, and we would skate but it didn’t happen too often because we didn’t get it that cold that it would keep the ice that long.”
Helen Moore
Well I knew quite a few people that lawn bowled, but it wasn't until the last year that some of us younger ones were invited to come and bowl. That was something that I heard from the time I came here was they wouldn't let the young kids bowl. And so when the older ones got too old to bowl there was no one to take over because the others weren't, I mean, they just weren't involved, so they weren't there to carry it on.
Marjory Kingsbury
There was a strong community spirit in Ioco in the early years as very few had cars and bus travel was just beginning. A bowling green was built with a club house. This (Lawn Bowling) was a popular pastime for many of the older residents. Our marriage party was held in this club house in 1941.
