OUR HISTORY
The club grounds and buildings are owned by the Isle of Wight Council. The ground was originally part of the Ward Estate and bought by J Samuel White & Co. Ltd in 1952.
The company constructed the ground in 1953, with construction being funded by subscriptions from employees of the company. The ground officially opened on 25th April 1953 with a cricket match against the Hampshire County First XI.
Hampshire first played first-class cricket there three years later in 1956, when Worcestershire were the visitors in the County Championship.
Hampshire played a match there each year until 1962, playing seven first-class matches. However, J. Samuel White & Co. Ltd. fell on hard times, with the company's Cowes shipyard closing in 1963, bringing to an end Hampshire's use of the ground.
The ground was sought after for development, but planning was refused, and the ground fell into disuse. The ground was later bought in 1978 by the Isle of Wight County Council. The council sought to offload the ground to a community-based organisation in 1984, the only stipulation being that, as landlord, the council would only grant a lease to a registered company.
At a meeting held at Cowes High School, interested parties debated the best use of the twelve and a half acre site. Three or four interested groups put forward proposals. The County Council agreed to lease the grounds to the Plessey Club. The Milne Memorial Sports Ground Co. Ltd (named after Sir James Milne, C.B.E. 1896–1966, J. Samuel White Managing Director 1941–1962 - pictured below in the dark jacket) was formed in 1985 to acquire the lease and delegate the day to day running of the facilities to the Plessey Club. The local authority and the Island Sports Council were represented on the Milne Board along with representatives from Plessey. When first acquired, the clubs membership was open only to employees and ex-employees of Plessey's and J. Samuel White & Co.
When the Club took over the site they found that the two bowling greens had trees growing on them. The cricket and football pitches were used for haymaking and of the six tennis courts only one was barely playable.
Club members spent the first year clearing away shrubbery to see what they had before bringing in contractors to relay the bowling green and the cricket square.
The club borrowed £65,000 to extend the pavilion and £10,000 to building a new clubhouse for the bowling greens. Hampshire returned there for a match in 1987 in aid of Malcolm Marshall's benefit, though the game didn't carry first-class status. Today, the cricket ground is used by Cowes Cricket Club. More recently, the club was able to acquire National Lottery funding to the tune of £330,000 to install a four rink indoor bowls facility, though this was only possible by club members lending £100,000 themselves.
The club is registered with Companies House and consists of the Milne Board, which was set up when the company was registered, and a Management Committee to oversee the day to day running of the club.
In 2015 we renegotiated the lease with the Isle of Wight Council and increased it to 36 years to allow us to install solar panels on the club roof.
The club is open to members and non-members and in 2021 a two-tier pricing system we introduced which gives members a discount on drinks.
Today the club is home to Northwood Football Club, Cowes Cricket Club, Plessey Bowls Club, Gurnard Youth Football Club, Cowes Community FC and Plessey Petanque teams.
The club holds the Island's Petanque tournaments holding a national tournament at the end of May each year. It also hosts the IOW Marathon in October along with the IOW Honey show.
The club plays host to the Sporting Opportunities who use the Indoor bowls facility and hold their annual open day here.
The club also has a Dance section, with ballroom and sequence dancing, Line dance section, Craft group, Panto group, Bridge group, Crib, two pool teams, who play league pool each Thursday, and two darts teams who play in the Friday darts league.
Entertainment is a big part of the club with Bingo twice a week, an annual Fireworks display, Christmas Fayre, Children’s Christmas Party, a monthly family disco, annual Pantomime and Easter Egg Hunt.
The Club has an in-house caterer who caters for club members and private functions such as weddings, parties, presentation evenings and wakes.
The club has an open license which facilitates more private events. Members of club sections are required to become members of the club and all sections are self-sufficient.
The Isle of Wight Community Club is open to all residents of the Isle of Wight.