During the mid 1970s the Pinehaven community decided to establish a lawn bowls club on the Pinehaven Reserve.  Because the land designated for the green was too small, the Pinehaven Committee asked that a new location be allocated by the Hutt County. In 1979 a block of land at Silverstream in Dunns Road was provided for the establishment of the club. The new land was some distance from Pinehaven which forced the original group of residents not to proceed with the project. Subsequent to a public meeting organised by Bruce Kerse (a local resident) held at the Silverstream School in 1979, a new committee was formed to establish greens on the Kurth Crescent Reserve.  With $3,000 in the bank (passed over from the former Pinehaven group), the new committee set forth to lay the foundations of a new club. Sufficient funds were obtained through debentures and bank loans to proceed with the venture. The original management committee ably led by the first President Russell Donaldson also included David Burt and Don McMurray (construction of green), Jim Grant (Secretary/administration) Gordon Raikes (Finance), Bernie Williams (games).

The sod for the first green was turned in December 1980, with full construction commencing in January 1981. On the recommendation of a turf culture specialist Peter Rankin the green was sand-based and was modelled on the Island Bay club which had constructed a sand-based green in 1979. 600 cubic metres of sand was transported by truck and trailer to Silverstream from a farm in the southern Wairarapa. For several days five trips per night were undertaken by the trucks over the Rimutaka’s. The entire construction was achieved using wheelbarrows by a band of strong members rostered through each weekend. Planting commenced in April 1981. Except for the original excavation and drainage installed by the Hutt County the entire project was achieved by voluntary labour. Many hours of toil by the original band of 50 members resulted in a green being opened for play on the 8^th December 1981. Of the 50 new members only two members had transferred from other clubs.

A club house (a former prefabricated classroom) was given to the club by the Ministry of Works (ex Police College) at Trentham which at that time were moving to their new facility at Porirua. With the assistance of Milan Kljakovic, a local builder and club member, the building was quickly turned into a working clubhouse for members. The clubhouse remains on the site to the present day although several extensions and improvements have been completed since the first sitting in 1981.  

Members will recall storing flagons of beer on a Friday for consumption at the weekend. As a temporary measure, an old fridge about to be disposed of by the Whakatiki Club was installed in the bar area. With funding at a premium, this arrangement served the club for its first few years of operation.

The somewhat bumpy first green having been built and played on during the summer of 1981-82 was not the ideal surface. Having not been exposed to other Hutt Valley greens members did not complain. A relic “Ransome” greens mower together with a large hand roller were given by the Upper Hutt club. This equipment was used until sufficient funds could be found to purchase new modern greens equipment. By the following season the playing surface had improved to a better standard with the Centre using the green for a day during the Men’s national championships held in Wellington during the 1982-83 season. The club was granted affiliation to the Wellington Bowling Centre (NZBA) at the beginning of the 1982-83 season and at this time remains the second youngest club in Wellington. The first and only representative fixture known to be hosted by the club was a Wellington Men’s fixture against Wairarapa in 1988.

 

A further increase in membership of both men and women encouraged the club to expand its facilities with the addition of a second green. The construction commenced in 1983 and was completed by the start of the 1984-85 season. Although there were some lessons learnt from the construction of the first green the second was not plain sailing. A front end loader instead of the wheelbarrow may have had an effect of the overall drainage of the green and the stolons (cotula stolens) received were inundated with a foreign weed (commonly known as tillea). It was seven or eight years before the weed was finally eradicated from the green.

Further membership drives resulting and an increased membership, provided the club with a suitable financial base to initiate further improvements to the property. An Umpires block between the two greens was constructed in 1988 and a further two extensions to the clubhouse were completed. A new implement building was completed in 1993. The building served as a locker room, storage of sand, and also a storage for greens maintenance machinery.

 

Following the World Bowls tournament at Auckland in 1988 and the resultant 70 hours of TV air-time 60 new members joined the club. By 1990 over 200 men and women members were playing bowls and plans were being devised for even greater extensions to the club. However with a change in the country’s social climate, six day shopping, changes to drinking laws, employment contracts, the introduction of further TV channels and changes to the working environment, membership became stagnant. From 1993 as with other clubs in the country the Silverstream membership started to decline. Sadly the membership in 2005 stands at 60 members, this relates to the membership when the club was first formed in 1980. Of the 60 odd foundation members only five remain fully active members of the club, three of which are living life members Jim and Joyce Grant (Tauranga) and Don McMurray. The other two active foundation members are Rod Tindall, and Milan Kljakovic.

The clubs first patron was Trevor Young QSO MP who remained in the position until he retired from politics during the mid-1990s. His position was taken over by Patricia Christianson, an Upper Hutt City councillor who remains the present Patron.

The first trophy to be won by the club was in 1985 when a Men’s team skipped by Dennis Coombe, with John Gansbauer and Bob Miles won the Hutt Valley Colts (3-years and under) triples trophy (Gibbons Trophy). The same trophy was again won by the club in 2005 and 2008.

The club has had varying success with several centre titles being won by members. In 2002-03 the club won the “Dominion Cup” as the best performed club in Wellington. Ben King a former NZ representative (from Dunedin) was with the club between 1998-2001 won three Centre titles, Mark Noble who transferred to the club from Central Petone in 2003 also attained his Centre Gold Star and won Wellington “Player of the Year” in the 2003-04 season while at the club.  Sue Grimstone, Jo Coombe and Margaret Opray also won important Centre titles for the women’s section during the 1990s.

In 2006-07 the club celebrated its 25^th centenary year and in recent years the club has embarked on a project to modernise the clubhouse. Stage one was a complete refurbishment of the kitchen and stage two and three is to replace the toilet facilities, provide a new entrance and make the clubhouse disabled friendly. Stage two and three are expected to commence shortly.

In the 2006-07 year the Club won the Wellington Premier Interclub title and Claire McCaul who joined the club in 2003-04, having graduated through the college bowls system, was selected for the New Zealand under 25 team. Since 2005-06 Claire has continued her winning ways being a Wellington representative and in 2008-09 making the New Zealand team.