Lawn Tennis
One of the original names for lawn tennis was spheristicke. It failed to catch on – the spheristicke championship has a good ring to it. Tennis was played in the twenties on 5 courts south of the east end of Filands. In 1935 land was bought at the present site off Tetbury Hill; two hard courts were installed and in 1938 the pavilion was transferred and the old site relinquished. War meant the end of tennis and after the war it took much effort to re-establish the courts. But it was done; membership grew and in 1995 two additional all weather courts were installed.
The Adye family have long been associated with the club. David Ayde whose family owned Adye’s, a wonderful old-fashioned grocers in the High Street, helped to buy the present site and Mrs Adye was able to open the new courts in 1995.
For more information see the Malmesbury Tennis Club website.
Cricket
This seems to be the oldest sports club in Malmesbury being founded in 1890. Matches were played on the Worthys. After the First World War, like the football club, it fell on hard times.
In 1932 the club became active once more but World War II stopped play; cessation of hostilities saw the club revive and after a nomadic period they became established on their present site in 1948. In the sixties they ran very successful dinner-dances which were a must for the people of Malmesbury.
For more information see the Malmesbury Cricket website.
Malmesbury Victoria Football Club
This was founded in 1897 but seems to have had no fixed abode. In the thirties support dwindled and in 1936 the club was closed down. After the war in 1947 it reopened as Malmesbury Town Football Club, although the name was changed to Malmesbury United in 1968. The present name was adopted in 1976 when the club took over the fixtures of Swindon Victoria club. The club played at a variety of locations but are now firmly established at the ground between the junior school and the river. There is a thriving junior section and their teams play and train near the Red Bull on the Bristol Road.
Malmesbury Bowls Club
The Malmesbury Bowls Club was founded in 1908; it is the third oldest in Wiltshire. It is situated by Goose Bridge on an island “Little Mead” formed by the sweep of the river and the mill race for Wynyard Mill. Over the years and as the club grew improvements were made. In 1964 the present clubhouse was built and in the seventies two more rinks were added on land reclaimed from the river.
The club enjoys substantial success and there is a thriving social side.
