Menstrie Bowling Club was formed in 1925 when the Hillfoots District Council purchased a field from a local farmer and made in to the local park . The south east corner of the field was offered to the village to make a bowling green.  The Johnston family of Broomhall funded the project and to keep the cost down the men of the village volunteered to lay the foundations.

The rubble and stones needed were supplied by the local distillery where most of the men worked.  There was an overgrown cart track, which was cleared to allow the horse drawn carts access to the construction site.   The General Manager, Bob McGregor, took a keen interest in the project. When the foundations were complete a specialist company were called in to lay the Cumberland turf.

The green was officially opened in 1925 and the first president was Bob McGregor who encouraged the Distillery workers to join the Bowling club and so the membership grew.

The first green keeper was “Wull Reid” followed by some well known names – Dunc McGrouther, Peter Baird, Willie Thomson, Jimmy Buchanan, Joe Geddes and so on. One that comes to mind was Bert Brown who had a rope tied to the front of his mower and had two of his sons pulling while he pushed.  Needless to say one of his sons, John is now a member of the club. In the early days the mowers had a 12” wide cut and were hand pushed which must have made the task of the greenkeeper difficult compared with the 20” wide motorised mowers nowadays.

The weekly rink was held each Wednesday and to help the club funds members were asked to donate prizes. There was great competition to win some of the fabulous prizes eg a pound of sugar or a packet of tea. Club fixtures were much the same as they are today except that the players had to travel to away games by bus, no cars in these days.

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