Summer Sports - Bowls
“The sport not only keeps kids off the streets, but it keeps pensioners active and families together. Once they are gone, we will never get them back”
Gordon Walker and John Simpson S
adly, as has been reported in this magazine, council cutbacks and continuing pub closures (the traditional home of many bowls greens) has resulted in clubs losing their facilities, a scenario that is becoming even more familiar. Many bowling clubs’ existence is often down to the dedication of their members taking on the responsibility of looking after the green, the clubhouse and allied facilities. Furness Golf Club’s Greens Chairman,
Gordon Walker, is one such volunteer who works alongside another willing volunteer, John Simpson, maintaining the green at North Scale Bowls Club. The crown green is a relatively new
facility, built in 1998 and opened for play in 2000. With little more than fifty members, they are fully dependant on their willingness to contribute to the running and maintenance the club. Over the years, virtually all of the club’s sheds, tea rooms and shelters have been constructed by the members. The club have invested in their own equipment, having two greens mowers, one a dedicated Ransomes greens cylinder mower, and the other a Dennis FT510 mower with 8-blade cylinder, scarifier and sorrel roller cassettes. They also have a Groundsman aerator/spiker that is currently out of action due to a broken crank shaft, so urgent quotes are being sourced to fix it. The green is mown two or three times a week, focused on days when competitive matches are scheduled to be played. Cutting heights are kept to 4mm in the summer and 6-7 mm during the winter,
Gordon Walker’s diary of works
With such a mild start to this season, spring renovations were started early, applying some lawn sand (5:0:0) to kill off the moss and then scarifying out the dead moss some weeks later. The green is ‘properly renovated’ in September - scarifying and topdressing with a 70/30 mix. The green is also vertidrained in November to a depth of 225mm. They have also hollow tined before seeding and topdressing for the last three years. The two clubs buy their topdressing in a consortium with two other bowls clubs on the island - West Shore and Salthouse - to keep the cost down. A Vitax microbial 8:0:6 fertiliser is
currently used through the season and a wetting agent applied on a six week basis. Alick Mackay is often called on for advice, and he recommended a Barenbrug seed mixtures, moving from BAR 1 at the moment to trialing Bar Platinium later on this season, which is prescribed for use on bowling greens susceptible to wear. Watering is undertaken, as required, using travelling sprinklers or hand watering, although the club rely heavily on the weather, with rainfall in the area being generally high, so problems with the green drying out are rare. John and Gordon keep a diary of the
work carried out on the green, keeping records of products used, dates applied and recording any significant problems. Whilst at the club, I met some of the lady members who were having an afternoon social get together. I asked them what their annual subscriptions
were, and was told “between £10-15 per year, with up to a £1 charge for every game; not nearly enough money in my opinion but, as long as they all help to keep costs down and attract more members along the way, it is a blueprint that might just be sustainable. Typically, the club’s existence is down to the resilience and determination of a few individuals. Gordon thoroughly enjoys working on
the green in his spare time. He says that it actually helps him to understand the issues Alick faces on a daily basis at the golf club.
Myself, John and Gordon then headed off to meet Keith Mills, the Greenkeeper at King Alfred Bowls Club, situated a couple of miles down the road. Keith has been looking after the green for eight years and, in that time, has become very passionate about the future of bowling greens.
So much so, he started the ‘Save Our
Greens’ campaign over two years ago. He was so fed up of seeing local greens disappear he decided to get off his backside and do something about it. So, he raised a committee and went to see a number of local planning officers and councillors to see where he stood. And this is where a stroke of good fortune occurred. Whilst addressing a council meeting, his local MP, John Woodcock, was in attendance and he decided to take up Keith’s cause by introducing a ‘Ten Minute Rule’ bill in Parliament. The Ten Minute Rule, also known as Standing Order No. 23, is a procedure for
APRIL/MAY 2012 PC 63
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