Picketts Lock Indoor Bowls Club, Indoor bowling in Edmonton, London, N9


	Club History
	Club History - 1973 to date.

	Picketts Lock Indoor Bowls Club was founded in 1973. Twenty six miles of the Lea Valley was handed back to the residents of North and East London in 1967 and the Lea Valley Regional Park was established. It was decided to build a park for an array of leisure, pleasure and sporting activity. The area ran from Temple Mills in Hackney (now the site of the new Olympic Stadium) through the Lea Valley to Ware in Hertfordshire. The terrain used for this project was essentially to give back to North and East London much of the land that had been used to excavate ballast and hardcore to rebuild homes after the 1939-1945 war.		Picketts Lock

	In the last 40 years the wasteland area has been transformed into country parks with athletic stadiums, velodromes, swimming pools, golf courses and nature reserves (SSSI's) - one of which is the beautiful Fishers Green nature reserve, noted for its Bittern and Otter sanctuaries and often mentioned on Bill Oddie's nature programmes.


	Picketts Lock Sports and Recreation Centre was named after one of the many locks on the Lea Navigation Canal that ambles alongside the Centre. The Canal runs between Hertford and Bow and was renovated in the 18th century. Lightermen and haulers used the canal to trade their wares with man and horse power propelling river craft. Business was traded with coal, timber and corn to and from the City of London.		A Lighter


	Whilst building the canal, the workers found an ancient Viking Ship which proves that the trading on the River Lea went back many centuries before the canal was built. Picketts Lock Recreation Centre (now the Lee Valley Leisure Complex) used the Viking Ship as an emblem for their focal point and a restaurant has been built shaped with the Viking theme. The Viking Ship emblem is also used on our Bowls Club Badge.


	Disaster struck in 2001 when the Picketts Lock Recreation Centre was named as the site for the 2012 Olympic Stadium and was set to be demolished. The Bowls Hall was attached to the main centre, so it seemed like curtains for the club. Eventually a new site was found for the stadium and we all were relieved. The Multi Sports Centre was demolished and severed from the Bowls Hall. A new Athletic Stadium was built and recently opened by Tessa Jowell, the Government's Culture Minister. The Bowls Hall and Golf Course remained, due much to the efforts of the Committee and Chairman at that time. The Bowls Club had to close for 18 months during the demolition work, but re-opened in 2004 and is now an independent leaseholder of the facility. Since being self sufficient, the club has built new changing rooms, kitchen, bar and lounge areas.		Roll-up coffee break


	We are hoping to attract more members to our vastly improved facility. Ethnic or indigenous, and all ages, we welcome all (our youngest member is 15; the oldest is 93). Please see Interested In Joining? on the Home page.		Tom and Stan