Summer Sports - Bowls
“When I subsequently discussed the issue with the man at the council, he admitted the only thing he knew about grass was it should be green”
President of Surrey County Bowling Association, says that one of the main failings he sees as a Bowls England advisor is that too many clubs have a habit of watering little and often, producing a soft surface and lazy root structure. It makes a lot of difference to playing conditions and, as a Surrey County Badge Holder, he should know. He recalls one recent and, as it happens, quite amusing visit he made. “I had a call from a club in north west London after a tremendous thunderstorm had ended a long dry spell, but the surface rainwater from it had not drained away ten days later. When I arrived at the green, straight
away I noticed a huge Victorian iron roller about three feet high, with counter balances for each of the ornate handles, that must have each weighed half a hundredweight. My suspicions were aroused. Indeed, I learned from the club that contractors hired by the local council had, for some time, been using the antiquity to roll the green three times a week. I wasn’t surprised to learn that these people were not fine turf carers at all and generally dealt with cemeteries and the like. A recipe for compaction if ever there was one, and an example of no knowledge, wrong kit. They were making a road, not a bowls green.” “It gets worse. The council was
shedding out something like £15,000 a year for the contractor to maintain the green. When I subsequently discussed the issue with the man at the council in charge of awarding and supervising contracts, he admitted the only thing he knew about grass was it should be green.” Returning to the numbers game, Graham spells out some harsh statistics. “If you take a typical scenario of a club with, say, thirty members, each of whom pay £100 annual membership subscription, which is pretty standard, and you have no other source of income, such as a club bar, then your £3,000 isn’t going to get you anything like decent
80 PC DECEMBER/JANUARY 2012
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