Cheltenham Spa Bowling Club are celebrating their centenary and it’s guaranteed to be a right royal year.

That’s because one of the clubs they are playing to mark their anniversary are the Royal Household at Windsor Castle.

That match will be played at Windsor in June and is just one of a number of showpiece matches to celebrate the club’s very special birthday.

They are also very excited to be playing the Island Bohemians Bowls Club from Reading.

“They are actually based on an island in the Thames,” said John Salmon, Cheltenham Spa’s president.

“We’ll have to catch a boat to play them, that should be fun.”

The club also have fixtures against the Barbarians Bowling Association, the Gloucestershire Bowling Association and Bristol St Andrews.

“We’re playing Bristol St Andrews home and away,” explained Salmon, who has been a member of Cheltenham Spa for the past 12 years. “They’re celebrating their centenary as well.”

Cheltenham Spa, who can be found in St George’s Square in the heart of the town, boast 80-plus playing members and another 50 social members, so they are in pretty good health.

“As a club we try to be as self-sufficient as possible," Salmon said.

“We do all our own greenkeeping, our own catering and our clubhouse maintenance.”

And the clubhouse is used all the year round because in the winter the club host quizzes, bingo, dominoes, crib and whist.

The bowls season got under way in April and runs until September.

And despite their busy schedule Cheltenham Spa are holding an open day on Saturday 11th May with anyone interested in bowling  very welcome to go along and give it a try.

This season will be just that bit more special for Cheltenham Spa, of course, a club that caters for social and competitive bowls.

And, as you’d expect, they are also a club with a very proud history.

“The club has its origins in the United Services Club that played on the bowling green in Imperial Square after the First World War,” explained Salmon.

“Our green in St George’s Square was constructed in 1924 as part of a job creation programme for ex-servicemen.

“The club became Cheltenham Spa when they moved to the new green on our present site.

“St George’s Square as we know it today was created by a road-widening scheme in the 1880s to improve access to the growing Great Western railway station in St James’ Square.”

The scheme saw houses on the Ambrose Street side of the Square acquired by the council and them demolished to create the street that we see today.

“This gave the council part-ownership of the Square,” continued Salmon, “and led to the Square being handed over to them in 1924 by the then owners of the houses that now face our green.

“It is a credit to the workers who laid the green that the County Bowling Association played on it just three months after it was laid.”

The very first game on the green was played against a team from the Cheltenham Borough Council and the club wants to re-enact that match this year.

“We’re planning a community day when we’ll invite businesses in the area to enter a team,” said Salmon. “We’d like to get a team of local councillors to enter as well.”

And those that do take part in the community day are sure to be impressed by the club’s surroundings.

“The pavilion that forms part of the building that we now call the clubhouse was built at the same time as the green,” continued Salmon.

“It has been improved and extended several times over the last 100 years, firstly by the council but also by the club, mainly in the 1980s.”

Anyone who  would like more information about the open day or joining the club should e-mail admin@cheltenhamspa.org.uk.