Page 35 - Spring 2012

Wiltshire 2:Layout 1 16/05/2012 09:57 Page 1

34

Singles Champion Neville Doel Pairs Champions
with finalist Geoff Lane Denise Wiltshire & Tom Bright

There was no space for the above photos in the last issue but both reports were included.

Bellinger Bowls Club continues to flourish with a healthy mixture
or disappointments and victories as will be common to all Clubs.
We are however concerned with the difficulty in recruiting new
or lapsed players.
Our Club is in a rural situation, being a village on the edge
of Salisbury Plain and surrounded by a number of villages within
about a ten mile radius. We decided to promote the sport by hir-
ing a near-by village hall and inviting residents from four sur-
rounding villages to attend a taster in the exhilarating sport of
bowling. An extensive advertising campaign was launched
many weeks in advance of the event, and in anticipation of a flood of participants we hosted
…… FIVE persons! A great evening was experienced by all but a bitterly disappointing result.
Similarly, we are finding it more and more difficult to arrange friendly matches with neigh-
bouring clubs, mainly because of the rapidly escalating travelling cost involved for the away
players. Do any other Clubs have a solution to these problems?
Happy bowling
Alan Leslie

ED - attracting new members to the sport of bowls is an increasingly difficult problem. We
seem to suffer less than the other forms of bowls but nevertheless it is a growing problem
with us also. There is of course no simple “add water” solution and in the end I believe in the
long term, and I do mean the long term, we have to change the view of bowls on a National
scale. Bowls is often still seen as an old man’s game and not sexy enough.
We do have a lot of “luddites” who won’t accept change at any price and fight tooth and
nail against any change. Look how long it took to get ladies trousers accepted into our sport
(outdoors) and colour is only creeping in slowly. Some of this is probably due to the fact that
our sport is predominantly played and organised by “older” people, especially those who wan-
der around, or should that be strut around, with too many badges of office and high opinions
of themselves, although this is mostly outdoors. Yes, I know these offices are necessary but
I only give respect to those who have earned it and not because they wear a particular badge.
I know that some clubs have had great success locally with youngsters but others have
also had some success with older age groups. Why not write your suggestion so that Alan
and perhaps others can review any suggestions you may make?