‘Stay home, stay safe, stop the spread’.
That’s the message from Bowls England to its members and clubs in response to the latest Government guidance on the Coronavirus outbreak.
Bowls England last week announced the cancellation of all its domestic events ahead of the 2020 lawn bowls season including its National Championships, and now wishes to ensure that members and clubs play their part.
Tony Allcock OBE, Bowls England Chief Executive, said: “Understandably Bowls England has been inundated with enquiries from clubs and county associations regarding the Coronavirus outbreak. Within the past week we have made decisions regarding our events that would have been unimaginable only a month ago. However, from the enquiries we continue to receive there is clearly still some confusion within our membership as to whether they can continue to participate in the sport of lawn bowls at club level during this period.
“At this stage, we must urge our members to follow the Government’s latest guidance, which clearly asks every person within society to stay at home if at all possible to help to stop this disease from spreading – and this is an appeal to everyone, not just those aged over 70 or the 1.5 million of the most at-risk people who have been told that they should stay at home for 12 weeks.
“Again, we encourage our members to keep an eye out for everyone within the bowls community during this time, for example by maintaining contact and undertaking shopping for those who are isolated, with special thought for those members who may live on their own. A telephone call, e‐mail or Skype to another member of the bowls community will, I am sure, be welcomed at this time. We are also in the process of producing a ‘Bowlers’ Workout’ in order to keep members fit and active during isolation and/or working from home, so we’re all ready to play when bowling resumes. We would also encourage members to support their club financially by continuing to pay their annual subscriptions in order that the clubs will be there for them when we are able to resume bowling.”
Bowls England will be providing support and advice to clubs and county associations over the coming weeks and working on a number of initiatives including club recruitment and a potential ‘Festival of Bowls’, which will be subject to Government guidance.
Message from the Bowls Club
Hi everyone, not the start to the Bowling Season anyone could have predicted but The Committee and I hope this message is received with you all in good health albeit some of you in isolation or lock-down.
We held our scheduled Committee meeting on Wednesday 18th March and Debs will circulate the minutes of that as soon as it has been approved by the members that were present.
Our main focus at the meeting was of course the Corona-virus outbreak and the effects it will have on our members, the Bowling section and the main club.
I'm sure most of you will be aware that the main club AGM has been cancelled this Sunday, 22nd March. In addition the Short Mat Bowls on Tuesday evenings has also been cancelled until the Autumn.
In respect of the Bowling Section we have made the following decisions.
a) The green will be open to members on Wednesday 15th April onwards but only on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Mondays from 12.30pm - 8.00pm. This decision was taken as only 3 members present were able, at this stage, to commit to being available to unlock and lock the Clubhouse on these days. If anyone else can commit to other days please let me know.
b) Obviously it will be down to individual members to decide if they wish to attend in view of their own personal circumstances in respect of the virus.
c) All fixtures with other Bowls Clubs have been cancelled up to and including Sunday 14th June. Fixtures following this date will be reviewed nearer the time.
d) Subscriptions for this year's membership will be reduced to £30. (If anyone wishes to help club funds and pay extra you would be more than welcome to do so).
e) In light of the reduced subscription, for those members who wish to bowl before we open fully we would ask that you pay £1 per person per session into an Honesty Box which will be inside the Clubhouse.
f) All Bowls Section competitions will be cancelled this year with the possible exception of the Members Wednesday Evening Competition, dependant on when we resume full bowling.
g) All other events have been cancelled until further notice, although the green and grounds maintenance will continue as and when members are available
h) The Committee will not meet again until an appropriate time when it is advisable to do so. In the meantime if you have any issues you wish to discuss please contact me.
If anyone who is in isolation or lock-down as suggested by the government, have any difficulties with shopping etc. please do not hesitate to give me a ring and I will provide whatever assistance
Please take care of yourself and your loved ones over these next few weeks and hopefully we will see you all in the not too distant future
Kind Regards
Marcus
01604 905764
07710826647
Bowls England News:
How to stay active while you're at home
More and more of us are spending time at home and thinking about other ways of being active.
Official advice recommends against non-essential contact and all unnecessary travel - including working from home if you can - which means our routines are going to be changing.
But staying active is more important than ever right now, and even if you’re mostly in your house at the moment, there are plenty of ways you can still do so.
Sport England has produced the guidance at: www.sportengland.org/news/how-stay-active-while-youre-home
Bowls England is working on some dedicated ‘keep fit’ guidance for its members and will ensure this is available at the earliest opportunity.
