Summer Sports - Bowls
“Local councils are, often as not, saying you can have your green for an annual ground rent, but we won’t look after it anymore. You’re on your own”
Graham Robinson, Bowls England Coordinator
shortfall. The choice is either to lease the green and do DIY maintenance with no kit to hand and little know-how, or put membership fees up dramatically - by as much as 300% - and seek a reliable contractor. This definitely puts a club’s future under strain. The body that represents and governs the game, Bowls England, is making positive moves to redress things. It was part of the Sport and Recreation Alliance, an umbrella voice for 320 bodies which, in autumn 2011, lobbied Parliament to do more to protect sports clubs up and down the country from being squeezed by economic conditions and by local council austerity.
The Alliance is doing what it can to get
MPs and Peers to support clubs’ futures across a range of issues, but it’s surely a bit strange that this is necessary as politicians have been talking endlessly about the wonderful sporting heritage the Olympics will bring this country. Tony Allcock, one of bowls’ greatest ever players and Chief Executive of Bowls England, sees the Alliance’s effort as, at the very least, a good opportunity to raise the profile of the game of lawn bowls as it comes under pressure at grass roots level. On a more practical front, part of what Bowls England offers member clubs - its
Greens Maintenance Advisory Service - is doing what it can to help its 2,700 member clubs look after their playing surfaces. It’s a service that has been in place for about thirty years and was set up by the English Bowling Association which, in 2007, amalgamated with the English Women’s Bowling Association to form Bowls England as part of the government backed Sport England effort to strengthen all sports, especially in the area of fund raising and development. Initially, the service was set up purely as a first aid to clubs, but nowadays, as outside help from councils begins to dry up and clubs are having to fend for themselves over greens care, its role has a bigger value.
The service has advisors for each
county. They are experienced bowls greenkeepers whose role is to respond to requests for assistance from member clubs on matters relating to the state of their green. They are literally ‘on call’ and all clubmen themselves, so have the interests of the bowls club fraternity at heart.
I spoke to 78 year old Graham
Robinson, who’s been a greenkeeper for over thirty years, has Level 2 National Certificate in Sports and Amenity Turf, and is, these days, coordinator for the Bowls England service in Surrey, Kent
and Middlesex, about how it works. I visited the Cranleigh Club in Surrey, where he is also secretary. “The service is, primarily, a first port of call for a club finding it has a problem with its playing surface,” he said. “It’s getting to be more and more the case that clubs don’t have someone who knows what they’re doing keeping the green in good order. Local councils are, often as not, saying you can have your green for an annual ground rent but we won’t look after it anymore. You’re on your own.” “For many clubs this is a big, big
problem and perhaps the beginning of the end for some of them.” Barry Baker, President of the Cranleigh Club, coincidentally, earns his living as a bowls green contractor and looks after fifteen clubs in Surrey, one of which, of course, is his own. No surprise that, with the two of them seeing that the bowls run smoothly, the green looks in immaculate fettle long after the playing season. Barry often looks to Graham for advice on latest thinking and techniques in greens care because, even as a professional, he values Bowls England’s up to date word on things. They frequently discuss ideas. Cranleigh is one club that is fortunate to have professional help on hand. The vast majority do not.
DECEMBER/JANUARY 2012 PC 77
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156