Cheadle & Gatley District Bowling League

Callison Cup

The Callison Cup was presented in Coronation year by Councillor Frank Holden Callison, chairman of the Cheadle and Gatley Urban District Council in 1950/51. The competition was at first run by the UDC and was open to all clubs within the boundary of the council. Each club nominated four players for the final day (some clubs ran their own competition to select these players).

Following local government reorganisation in 1974, the new council (Stockport MBC) asked the Cheadle and Gatley League to take over the competition. At first the league continued the same format, but with entries limited to clubs in the league. Later, clubs were allowed to enter four players per team. There was a steady decline in entries, so the competition was converted to a handicap, and clubs could enter as many players as they wanted. This increased the entry, but it was drawn from a small group of clubs.

In 2002 the entry was so low that the competition was cancelled. For the following year a new change was tried to stimulate interest: the cup was played for as a pairs handicap knockout. Even so, in this year and 2004 the entries only just made up a final day, with no need for qualifying rounds.

Meanwhile, the Stockport Bowls Festival had started up, with the encouragement of the borough council. The league has offered the cup to the festival, and they have accepted. This returns the cup to its roots as a trophy for a municipal competition.

Previous winners of the Callison Cup are as follows. Winners’ clubs are not engraved on the trophy, so with a few exceptions these are not known until recent times.