Ten areas of the country have been working closely during the course of 2009 - 2013 funding with the Bowls Development Alliance to assist clubs with recruitment and get more people aged 65 and over playing the game of Bowls.

Bowls North of the Tyne, Cornwall, Devon, Hampshire, Hertfordshire, Kent, Lancashire, Shropshire, Surrey, Yorkshire

These groups consist of volunteers from across the different bowls codes, working together to encourage local clubs to apply for funding which could support local recruitment. They have worked with their local clubs to record attendance figures and new members, and this information has been forwarded to the Alliance where figures have been collated across all ten areas.

They have generated over 4,000 new bowlers aged 65 and over and raised awareness of bowls for all ages through running a number of Play Bowls Road Shows in their county where people can turn up and try the sport often for the very first time.

With the initial funding coming to an end in March 13 work has begun to help sustain those groups who wish to continue. This support involves the BDA Development Officer working with the group and the County Sport Partnership to identify external funding that could be used to bring young people into the sport, provide bursaries for coaches or set up new activities for new groups of bowlers. The groups would no longer be tied to just targeting people aged 65 and over.

If further funding is secured by the Bowls Development Alliance then there are plans to work in new areas of the country thus ensuring that other counties benefit from any new money coming into the sport.

It is hoped that as part of this funding there will be a small pot available to each of the Intervention areas for one further year to help with the running and delivery costs of the group subject to each group’s decision to continue as self- contained development groups.

All the groups have done an excellent job and we do hope they continue to meet and act as a voice for bowls in their counties.

There are still four months to go until all their funding needs to be spent but we hope that for some of the groups this is just the beginning of even better things to come.

Susan Cooper
Bowls Development Alliance Manager