Cowplain Social Club has a rich history dating back to 1923 ~ read along further to hear the story of how we were formed and how we got to where we are now!
Our Founder Members:
Mr. H. Heath, Mr. R. Pyle, Mr. H. Howe and Mr. W. Durant. You can see photographs proudly displayed on the back wall of the Richard Pyle lounge!
Our Story:
The first discussion about forming The Cowplain Social Club and Institute took place at 149 London Road, Cowplain. Four men were in attendance when it was decided to launch the club. These founder members purchased £5 bonds, repayable when the club became solvent.
The land for the club was purchased on the 29th March 1923, for the sum of £124 from Mr. Borrow who owned Padnell Farm which stretched along the A3. The builders were Howe and Bishop. Building commenced immediately and the club opened on the 23rd May 1923. The present lower lounge (now named in Harry Heath’s honour) formed the body of the club. As stated, the founder members put forward the money, and help for the furnishing was forthcoming by means of a share scheme. The club was an immediate success and in 1924 an extension was necessary. This was used for whist drives, dances and badminton. These activities proved popular and attracted many people from outside the Cowplain area.
One way of raising profits was an inclusion of a penny fruit machine, unfortunately this was confiscated by the police as it was deemed illegal!
There were many alterations in the early years but the main hall was built in 1931 to give extra room for more activities: dancing, badminton and whist drives. This allowed the first extension to be used as a billiards room which originally had three tables.
During the Second World War the club was used by the army and then as a school, and latterly as a rest centre for Portsmouth people fleeing from the air raids. It remained open during the war years on a restricted basis as alcoholic drinks were hard to come by. After the war membership grew to around 450 patrons and the Club was slowly growing and holding its own financially. In 1957, the Club managed to get an interest free loan and they installed central heating and refurbished the building. With a warm and welcoming atmosphere and with Cowplain growing, so did the club.
Over the years Cowplain has had snooker, billiards, darts, crib, football, cricket and pool teams and have won many trophies.
Pictures of the Club and areas in Cowplain can be found on the following website:
http://www.palmantics.com/photo_web/cowplain_gallery1.html
Fast Forward to 2024:
Cowplain Social Club has survived and thrived for over 100 years now! In May 2023, we celebrated our centenary and held a whole host of events to commemorate such a special time. We celebrated with an extra special Bank Holiday weekend which included a much-loved ABBA tribute band and Trip for Biscuits!
Our Christmas Raffle in December 2023 was a record-breaking day for us and we hope to continue this tradition into coming years. 🎅🎄
So far in 2024, we’ve held our first ever Mock Vegas night which went down a storm as well as consistently striving to offer some of the best entertainment in the local area at accessible prices. Keep an eye out for our Upcoming Entertainment and all the exciting things we have lined up for Autumn and the Christmas and New Year season!
And finally, a much deserved thank you to our members who are the core of who we are and what we do. We wouldn’t be here without you!