A bowls club has been told to leave the pitch it has called home for nearly 30 years.
The end is nigh for Swakeleys Bowls Club, which has played on the grounds of Swakeleys House in The Avenue since 1984.
Last week, the club committee received a letter from CES Properties (Ickenham) Ltd, which is developing Swakeleys House, giving them just two weeks’ notice – until 5pm on Wednesday next week – to vacate the pitch and clubhouse.
Following negotiations, and pleas by the club’s committee to CES Properties (Ickenham) director Richard Frischmann, the bowlers were granted a stay of execution, and now have until April 12 to leave the green.
Plans to turn the empty Grade I listed house into a private home, demolish Vyners House within the grounds and develop the land with seven new buildings, including guest accommodation and a banqueting suite, were approved in September last year.
The club’s lease expired in 2006, but it had been allowed to stay while the future of the house remained uncertain. Now the axe has fallen.
Doreen Burchett, club captain for the past nine years, said: “It takes a long time to pack up 30 years.
“There are a lot of sad faces, not just at the club but in the whole community.
“For members it has been a lifesaver, really. The club has been together for so long, and it will be the splitting up and finding new clubs that will hurt.”
Members were aware their days were numbered once the proposals were rubber stamped, but club greenkeeper John Wilkinson said the eviction has come as a ‘bolt out of the blue’.
“This is a vibrant community facility that cannot be replaced,” he said.
“Hundreds of people will be disadvantaged. I need it personally, like many others, for exercise and because of the social network it provides.
“We have always kept our part of the ground well maintained, and the green is a picture.
“We have been asking for a lease for years but haven’t been given one.”
The club has about 90 members, and has been running since 1982. Club secretary, Norman King, said: “It would have been impossible for us to get all our equipment out in two weeks, so this extra time is more convenient and I appreciated getting a call personally, but we are still being thrown out the door and we haven’t really had any explanation.
“We thought we might have been able to stay until a buyer was found for the house, and then we could negotiate with them.
“There is a family atmosphere here, and people are very upset.”
CES Properties (Ickenham) Ltd was unavailable for comment, despite approaches by the Gazette.
