WOOLSTON begin their centenary celebrations right at the very top with a visit from Bowls England (BE) tomorrow afternoon.

The Temple Road club will welcome BE president Rosemary Ellman-Brown and her team for a six-rink friendly and renowned Woolston hospitality starting at 1.30pm.

Although the BE president has made the short journey from Sussex her bowlers will be coming from as far afield as Herefordshire and Cornwall for a match against a club synonymous with the Southampton and District BA.

Among the BE party are Bowls Hampshire senior vice-president Ken Sutton, Isle of Wight president David Fredericks and Islander Ian Morrill, the 2004 England BA president.

Woolston hold a unique record within the S&D as not only were they one of the five founder members in December, 1919, but they are the only one of that pioneer quintet to have remained ever since at their original premises.

David Ockwell, whose links with Woolston stretch back to the late 1950s, has compiled the club’s history in a booklet which outlines the major role played by founder Harry Kneller.

Sholing-born Kneller was a self-made entrepreneur who renovated a pair of condemned cottages on Sholing Common in 1898 and ended up owning more than 500 houses 15 years later.

Among the assets of this keen sportsman was a disused sand pit which had been excavated to provide ballast for ships built in the Thornycroft shipyard and on this site at Temple Road Kneller laid out four tennis courts and a bowling green complete with clubhouse at his own expense.

The official founding of the Woolston and District Bowling Club was on Saturday, July 5, 1913, with a meeting held in the clubhouse.

The club’s roots are remembered today, first by the Harry Kneller Cup – presented to the club by his widow after he died in 1952 – and then by Ladies’ Day which commemorates that founding day on the first Saturday in July every year.

Traditionally this is the only day of the season when the ladies of Woolston are permitted on the green. It is a rare privilege since Woolston is an all-male club though the fairer sex are allowed these days when visiting clubs field mixed teams.

David Briers' bowls review is in today's Daily Echo