About Us
Welcome to Haywards Heath & Beech Hurst
Come and meet us on either of our open days - on May 17 and June 6. You would be most welcome. More details here.
We're a friendly club, affiliated to Bowls England and Sussex County Bowls. We currently have more than 60 playing members as well as almost 50 family and social members.
The club plays around 70 home and away friendly mixed matches and some ladies' matches every season (late April to late September) against other clubs within a 15-20-mile radius. We also enter teams in the Mid Sussex League, John Spriggs League and Nicholas Soames Trophy.
The club plays in the delightful setting of Beech Hurst Gardens, with the miniature railway running around the green and views as far as the South Downs.
The club has a bar, runs regular social events through the year and can accommodate one short mat used for internal leagues over the winter.
We welcome membership enquiries from new or previous bowlers, and have several qualified coaches, who can help people who are new to bowls and those looking to improve.
For more information, please visit our Membership page. We’d be delighted to hear from you!
We are also glad to receive approaches for matches from clubs who may be arranging a bowls tour in Sussex.
History of the club
Haywards Heath & Beech Hurst Bowls Club was established in 1977 from the merger of two previously separate clubs, Haywards Heath Bowls Club and Beech Hurst Bowls Club, who had played on adjacent greens in Beech Hurst Gardens and shared the same clubhouse from 1954, when the gardens were opened as a public recreation area.
Beech Hurst Bowls Club was newly formed at that time but Haywards Heath – whose green was, until 1953, at the top of New England Road - already had a long history, having been founded in 1905.
The gardens had been part of the Beech Hurst Estate before being gifted in trust to Cuckfield Urban District Council in 1950 for the benefit of local people. Mid Sussex District Council now administers the trust and the gardens.
The original shared clubhouse was constructed from a Beech Hurst Estate stable/piggery, the pitched, tiled roof of which can still be seen at the centre of the clubhouse today.
The latter has been extended twice in the past 25 years, first to create a bigger bar and improved changing facilities, and subsequently to extend the tea/dining room. Meanwhile, a new kitchen was fitted by a small group of our members in early 2016. We now have an excellent facility that members and visiting bowlers enjoy.
The club occupies the clubhouse under a lease from Mid Sussex District Council, the trustees of the Beech Hurst Gardens charity.
Sponsors
The Club is most grateful for the continuing financial support provided by our sponsors: P&S Gallagher Funeral Directors paying for scorecard holders, providing a regular supply of scorecards and our club shirts, as well as sponsoring the Millennium Cup; Specsavers Haywards Heath sponsors our David Johns Trophy and other events, as well as attending some of our evening social events.
Other sponsors include Aria Legal and Steve Korniotis of Responsible Life.
Sponsors are able to offer discounts or other benefits, so please mention that you are a club member when contacting them.