FROM THE BEGINNING

 

From the Beginning  :  EBACT’s History

As Told by Bob Jack MBE

 

I was appointed Hon. Treasurer of the EBA in September 1974. At that time the EBA President usually had two Tours during his year of Office: one overseas lasting about four weeks and one at home lasting only one week.

As I was then a working man, with a young family, I could not afford the time or the money to go on the overseas tours but I very much enjoyed being included on the home tours.

Although Max Engel was not a National Officer within the sport of bowls, he was a ‘regular tourist’ on the EBA Presidential tours – often acting as ‘bag man’ - and, because he and I were both pipe smokers (fortunately I gave it up in 1991!), on the home tours we usually sat together at the back of the Tour Coach, smoking our pipes, and spent the daily journey doing the crosswords in both The Times and The Daily Telegraph newspapers; Max was much more of a ‘classical scholar’ than me, though, and more often than not knew most of the answers!

It was only natural that, on these journeys, we also discussed the topics of the day and put the world to right : it was during such discussions that the idea of a Bowlers’ Charity was born. We both felt that, with the large number of men and women playing the sport, if a properly organised and administered charity could be established with the approval and support of the National Bodies, a lot of good could be done in the name of the bowlers of England to help those less fortunate than ourselves, both bowlers and non-bowlers.

Max, who was a solicitor with his own practice in Northampton, also was a Trustee and Chairman of The Sudborough Foundation – a long-established charity with a history of helping establish other, new charities. He undertook to progress our idea with his fellow Foundation Trustees and I undertook to speak to other Officers within the EBA. Both of us were successful and at an inaugural meeting held on 5 November 1980 the English Bowling Association Charity Trust was born (note ‘Association’ in the singular), and received its first endowment of £10,000 from The Sudborough Foundation (a few years later a second endowment was received from that Foundation).

The first Trustees were : Max Engel, Bill Hyde (1980 EBA President), Roland Moore (1978 EBA President), John Rodwell (1979 EBA President), and Bobby Stenhouse (then EBA Team Manager). At the meeting I was appointed Clerk (i.e. Secretary/Treasurer), subsequently being appointed a Trustee in March 1982, along with David Bryant CBE; David resigned as a Trustee and became Honorary President in June 2002, a position he still holds today.

Early on it was decided to try and raise income and attract support by staging one or two ‘charity matches’ each year and by donations from ‘Patrons’, both county associations, bowling clubs and individual bowlers; individuals being given the option to donate by Deed of Covenant over four years, although that option was withdrawn a number of years later.

From the outset Max, with his legal hat on, emphasised that EBACT must remain independent from the EBA and all other bodies but, right from the start, it was always our hope that eventually the Trust  also would be supported by the existing three other level-green National Bodies – the EWBA, the EIBA and the EWIBA – and, to that end, over the years a number of women were appointed as trustees;  also the Presidents or other representatives of those bodies were always invited to attend the annual general meetings of EBACT. In due course the three other bodies did give their support and Max was delighted when he was able to change the title from the singular to the plural (English Bowling Associations Charity Trust).

 

RJ  
22/04/2012