MOLDGREEN are on the march.
The Conservative Club outfit have clinched promotion to the top flight of the Huddersfield Bowling League – the Subscription Cup – for the first time in their history.
Under the captaincy of Gary Senior the team finished runners-up in the Drayton Cup just six points behind leaders Cleckheaton Sports A.
Senior said: “It’s a very proud moment for me. I’m honoured to be the first person to captain a side into the Subscription.
“I’ve always wanted to play in the top section and to do it with Moldgreen is great after being a member for 27 years.”
He added: “I was once told by a former chairman of the bowling section to ‘move to another club if I wanted to do anything in bowling,’ because Moldgreen wasn’t a fashionable club.
“We’ve had some tough times here, it’s true, but this is a fabulous club and we’re really going places now.
“I think we’ll hold our own next year and a few teams won’t relish playing us.”
The green opened in 1922 and the first pair of measures ever used are now kept in a special presentation box, marking the occasion.
In 1993 Senior formed a junior section at Moldgreen and entered a team into the Huddersfield Junior Bowling League which he helped form a year later.
Moldgreen became a junior force to be reckoned with by winning Division I in 1995, 96 and 97.
Senior left Moldgreen for Almondbury Lib and took over at the helm to manage the Huddersfield and Yorkshire Junior home teams in 1999 and was instrumental in forming the basis of the outstanding Yorkshire junior county side that has dominated the British Championship. During that two-year period Moldgreen went through a turbulent time and almost went out of existence with only a veteran and ladies team using the venue.
Crucially, the bar next to the green, which had been opened in June 1981 by former president Derek Croxford, had closed leaving no source of direct revenue.
Senior was coaxed back to the club by then president John Condie and after receiving reassurances that he would get his full backing, he reluctantly handed over his Yorkshire responsibilities. He said: “It was a tough decision, because I only do things with 100% commitment, but I thought at the time that I was young enough to be Yorkshire manager in the future.”
After resurrecting a senior men’s team, they were Bamforth Cup runners-up in 2001, Dearne and Don League Division III winners and John Barlow Cup winners.
A year later and the success continued with a Littlewood Cup runners-up place and a Mirfield Division VIII title.
In 2001 important rebuilding work to part of the clubhouse was carried out and the bar reopened.
“At my first annual meeting back at Moldgreen, it was commented, ‘why does the bar need to be reopened after we’ve made a profit of £25 selling cans?” added Senior.
But the figures spoke for themselves when the following year £5,000 was made which has increased to £10,500 this year from April to October.
Looking ahead Senior said: “Going into the Subscription we have a great blend of youth and experience with six former Yorkshire juniors – former county captain Carl Senior, Lee Senior, John Metcalfe, Scott Fisher, Dave Fisher and Danny Walker – having a fantastic season.
“And the club has been boosted by five players who have come to strengthen our teams from Denby Grange this season, and in addition one of our players, Steve Tattersall, is deputy president of the Huddersfield Bowling Association.”
In addition to the Drayton Cup runners-up spot, the club has won the Mirfield Division VI title, Colne Valley Division II, Scott Fisher claimed the highly-prized Mirfield Merit title and Dave Fisher was runner-up in the Jack Burgin Trophy.
And a sign of the club’s promising ambitions was when former first teamer Andy Wilson dropped down to run the second team and guided them to an encouraging mid-table finish in the Beaumont Cup.
