NEWS
Bowling INDOORS is CLOSED
5 March
Bowls England latest update - click on link for full report
UPDATE | 2021 season planning
Covid-19 Contingency Plan approved at Board Meeting
5 March
National Competition entry forms for 2021/22 are now available on the EIBA website.
However any entries that were submitted last year for the 2020/21 season will be automatically carried forward.
Any Queries please contact Hilary Sharpe
Entry form - http://www.eiba.co.uk/competition-dates/entry-form-a.doc
Rules http://www.eiba.co.uk/.../winter-national-championship...
2 March
Full report of the BOWLS ENGLAND AGM and Counties meeting with useful information for the start of the season
https://www.bowlsengland.com/agm-counties-2021/
BREAKING NEWS (Feb 4 2021)
STATEMENT: BRITISH ISLES BOWLS EVENTS – 2021The British Isles Bowls Council (BIBC) and British Isles Women’s Bowls Council (BIWBC) have today announced the cancellation of all events for the 2021 season. The decision reflects the challenges related to the ongoing Covid-19 restrictions and has been made to enable more grassroots bowlers to enjoy the sport this summer.
Whilst we remain positive that people will be out on the greens this summer, the international series and championships necessitate an extra level of logistical planning and delivery for players, spectators and officials. Given these extra considerations, particularly around international travel and the varying restrictions across Britain expected to continue for months, it was not viable to continue without damaging the integrity of the events.
Bowls England statement: “It was with a heavy heart that we supported the decision to cancel all of these events, however it is undoubtedly the right one. The concerns over travel and accommodation for large numbers of people made this decision inevitable.
“Domestically we remain confident that, thanks to the rollout of the vaccine and our experience from last season of bowling taking place in a Covid-friendly manner, people will be out playing in England at an early date. We are still planning for a full competitive season including national competitions and national championships, however we are working on a number of contingencies should there be a need to delay the start date. The cancellation of the British Isles events will provide opportunity for more flexibility in the calendar should the need arise.
“We also recognise that it is important for us to provide opportunities for new people to try our sport and enjoy its many physical and social benefits, and we are continuing work on our first-ever National Open Weekend from Friday 28th to Monday 31st May. We were one of the first sports to ‘open’ in 2020 and we will be working with clubs to help people get back to bowls and welcome newcomers into our sport.”
National Competitions 2021
As we look forward to the 2021 season, and hopefully a return to some form of normality, we are pleased to provide you with an update on National Competitions.
Bowls England offer a wide variety of competitions, please visit www.bowlsenglandcomps.com to view what we have on offer. Please note that all early rounds are played off within your local area first to reduce the need of travelling.
Highlights:
- The closing date for National Competitions will be 5pm on Monday 1st March 2021 – there will no extension
- All entrants must be affiliated to a Bowls England club on 1st May 2021 in order to participate – should you plan to change clubs from that on your original entry for 2020 please notify me not later than 1st March 2021
- Should the National Competitions not take place in 2021 due to Covid-19 a full refund will be offered
- The qualification categories for the Family Pairs has been extended to enable partners through marriage/civil partnership to enter
Your entry/entries in all events that you/your club entered in 2020 have been carried forward.
A full list of all entries in each competition is available to view on our Competition Portal under each competition heading. Please log-in to your account to view all of your entries (to date) for the 2021 season. If your contact details are different from those on your original entry please update your account accordingly in line with current ‘Test and Trace’ requirements.
BREAKING NEWS (Nov 12 2020)
Due to ongoing COVID situation the AGM is postponed to a date to be decided in March 2021
OFFICIAL WORLD BOWLS MAGAZINE - INSIDE BOWLS (NOVEMBER)
Here is your link to the November 2020 edition of Inside Bowls, the official publication of World Bowls: https://www.insidebowlsmag.com/Nov2020
LATEST UPDATE OCTOBER 16 re LEAGUES (POSTPONED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE)
Please spread the news to all our players
GOOD NEWS!!
INDOOR LEAGUES will be starting w/b 2 NOV
MON am
TUES am, pm and Evening (6.30 league starting 27 Oct)
WED am
THURS am
FRI am, pm and Evening
All Team Captains have been emailed Fixtures
Any queries please contact your Team Captain
Roll Up availability contact Hils on
07377 993179 between 9.00am - Noon
RETURN TO INDOOR BOWLING (Sept)
Hello Everyone and Thank You for your patience and understanding during closure.
It is the time of year to renew your indoor bowling membership. Membership fees have not been increased and your Renewal Form has been emailed to you. We look forward to your continued support of your Club and welcoming you back. Since lockdown back in March, we have been working to maintain the building and completing risk assessments to make it safe and secure for our members to return. The July bulletin gave you some details of the changes implemented and we are regularly reviewing guidance we receive from the controlling body of the EIBA and the Government. If you have any questions or concerns about returning to bowling indoors please email the club or come and speak to a club officer so that we can assist. Stewards will be on duty when you first return, to help you.
We are pleased to say that we will be starting to gradually open our indoor green for casual roll ups from Tuesday 8 September. New formats will be introduced to ensure social distancing on the green as well as arriving for play and moving around the indoor green and the Club house.
Indoor green initial opening times:
Tuesdays and Fridays and Sundays*
Session times:
Tuesday and Fridays - 9.30am – 11.30am / 12.00 – 2.00pm / 2.30pm – 4.30pm / 6pm – 8pm
Sundays 10-12, 12.30-2.30 and 6-8pm*
Triples, pairs and singles will be available to book.
Please ring 07377 993179 between 9am – 12 noon to book a rink
Subject to demand, we will consider extending these times. Further volunteers for stewards would be welcomed, so please contact Hilary Sharpe if you would like to help.
Do not come to the Club if you have any COVID19 signs such as high temperature or fever, persistent cough or respiratory problems or have been in contact with any possible source.
Arrival at the club
- Please come ready for bowling, bringing your bowls and bowling shoes with you to change into at the end of the rink.
- Before entering the club, sanitise your hands using the automatic hand sanitiser at the entrance. *Face Masks are now mandatory.
- Sign in on the daily sheet, on the small table by the desk, with your name and contact number and time of arrival to comply with NHS Track and Trace requirements.
When bowling, please wear a face mask, unless there is a medical reason you cannot. We will review this requirement regularly.
Changing rooms will not be in use
Lockers You will be able to access your locker, by the one-way system in place. Please follow the arrows you will see on the floor.
Toilets will be open for use, one person at a time. Signs are in place to remind everyone. Outer doors are propped open to avoid the need to use the handles.
Hand sanitiser It is essential that you wash your hands after using equipment and regularly sanitise your hands. There is an automatic hand sanitiser at the entrance to the club alongside where you show your card for entrance, also in the toilet facilities. The disabled toilet will have a bottle of hand sanitiser in situ. There will also be hand sanitiser bottles on the rink tables.
Rink fees Please bring the exact money for your green fees as there will be limited cash available and to reduce the need to handle cash. At present we cannot accept payment for rink fees by card.
Bar The bar is open Tuesday and Friday evenings, and Sunday lunchtime. Full
details can be found on the website.
Catering Our caterer Martin will be opening limited times – see his board for details and also on our website. A one-way system will be in operation to reach the kitchen hatch order point - please follow the directional arrows.
Spectators and visitors will be allowed but they must be at least a social member and abide by the Club COVID19 rules and also enter their name and contact number on the daily list to enable track and trace.
We are currently looking into having an online booking and payment system for indoor bowling and obtaining equipment to enhance our safety measures, so we will keep you advised. We assure you that the safety of our members is paramount and we will continue working to ensure you can safely bowl indoor.
Please help us to keep the club premises safe for all our members and observe social distancing measures
Thank you for your support - the Management Team and Indoor Committee look forward to welcoming you back to indoor bowling
All our plans will be subject to change, depending on the prevailing advice
from the Government
Our newsletters and communications are sent via email. Due to the workload to hand deliver newsletters and the cost of postage, we will not be sending out paper copies of newsletters. If you are aware of a fellow bowler you play with who does not get emails, we would be grateful if you could encourage them to contact the office with their email address.
* added from 27 Sept
Your Questions and Answers re
INDOOR BOWLS
National Competitions 2021
Following several enquiries, please note that all entries received from County Associations for the Inter-County Competitions the the White Rose Trophy, the Amy Rose Bowl and the National Champion of Champions
Entered for 2020 will automatically roll over to the 2021 season (utilising entry fees paid for the 2020 season).
If you have any questions regarding this please email lee@bowlsengland.com
The Bowls England Programme of Events and National Championships Schedule for 2021 have also been published and may be viewed on the Bowls England website.
***********************
Following several enquiries, please note that all entries received from County Associations for the Inter-County Competitions the the White Rose Trophy, the Amy Rose Bowl and the National Champion of Champions
Entered for 2020 will automatically roll over to the 2021 season (utilising entry fees paid for the 2020 season).
If you have any questions regarding this please email lee@bowlsengland.com
The Bowls England Programme of Events and National Championships Schedule for 2021 have also been published and may be viewed on the Bowls England website.
***********************
JON COCKCROFT: A LETTER TO THE BOWLS ENGLAND COMMUNITY OCT 2020
As the winter woollies are dusted off, our radiators stir into life and the lawn gets a final cut, it’s timely to reflect on the 2020 bowls season. For some it never started, for others it was their first season. Some felt frustrated not to play competitively, others felt invigorated by a means of meeting up with friends. Nobody imagined a season like the one that is now drawing to a close, and our hearts go out those who have experienced personal loss from Covid-19.
Whatever your experiences and circumstances, I wanted to share a few thoughts on behalf of Bowls England. I am particularly eager to thank all those of you who had the energy and spirit to make the very best of this unusual season – the green-keepers, the sanitizer-buyers, the book-keepers, the bar staff, the coaches, the equipment cleaners and many more. You are the lifeblood of our sport and your efforts are appreciated. To all the players who made it out onto the greens, I trust you enjoyed being out in the fresh air, spending time with friends and renewing your challenge with the game. To those who didn’t play this summer, we will be here when you are ready to return.
Four months into the role of Bowls England Chief Executive, I am hugely positive and optimistic about what’s ahead for our sport. Benjamin Franklin once said, “Through adversity comes opportunity” and I believe it won’t be the adversity of Covid-19 that determines our destiny, it will be the manner in which we react to it.
In spite of the effects of Covid-19, this season has evidenced bowls’ capability and capacity to grow. Many clubs have seen an influx of new players as the way people consumed our sport changed. The Let’s Roll campaign has delivered hundreds of new club members and raised the awareness of our sport among thousands of prospective players. When we surveyed non-bowlers, 86% of people had heard of bowls and 37% of those would be interested in playing in the future. Most want to play for a couple of hours each week, many purely on a social basis. We have a massive opportunity to increase our participant base by enabling people to enjoy our sport in bite-sized chunks, complementary to their work and family commitments.
Furthermore, the global pandemic has forced us all to do things differently and, whilst that has sometimes been difficult, it has also been eye-opening. Remote working, more time spent locally, a greater focus on health and wellbeing and an increase in digital communications are some of the many changes to which we have all become accustomed. I believe bowls has to embrace these developments and try to take advantage of this new environment. Whether it be building on our wider use of technology to save the sport time and money or harnessing our natural strengths of being family-friendly, local, non-contact and relatively Covid-safe, let’s come together and make the best of it.
This summer has evidenced the value of National Governing Bodies across sport. We regulate the environment in which a sport is played, develop its volunteers and infrastructure, promote its qualities, manage competitions and international teams and channel external funding and support, amongst many other things. Bowls England is proud to have received so much positive feedback on our response to Covid-19, and we will build on this platform of engagement to heighten the regard in which we are held by our members. We take our responsibilities seriously and want to live up to the high expectations people rightly have of us.
To this end, Bowls England has plenty planned for the off-season. We will be exploring the broadening of our member services, developing a National Open Weekend concept for the 2021 Spring Bank Holiday to recruit new bowlers, planning for the competition season, progressing our governance work with advent of a new Working Party, improving our communications and identifying how we maximize Birmingham 2022. If your club has not completed our Annual Club Survey, we hope you will spare a few minutes as your input will help shape this work and also contribute to the Bowls England strategy which will be launched in the New Year.
Thanks again for all your efforts during what will hopefully prove to be a unique summer for bowls. Please stay in touch with Bowls England over the coming months by following our social media channels or by signing up to our e-newsletter. Whether it be club finances or website development, the off-season provides a great opportunity to make progress in areas of club management and mitigate some of the damage that Covid-19 has done. Our staff team are only an email or phone-call away, and are here to support.
To close, in the short time I have been at Bowls England, I have been inspired by the passion and energy that so many within our sport display. The richly-deserved MBEs for Ellen Falkner and Maggy Smith shine a light on just that. At club, county and international level we are united by our desire to see bowls flourish and are proud of the compelling, friendly, addictive and accessible nature of our sport. It’s time to let more people in on our secret!
Stay safe, winter well and ‘roll on’ 2021.
Jon shared thoughts on a range of topics for a podcast recorded this summer. Click here to have a listen.
As the winter woollies are dusted off, our radiators stir into life and the lawn gets a final cut, it’s timely to reflect on the 2020 bowls season. For some it never started, for others it was their first season. Some felt frustrated not to play competitively, others felt invigorated by a means of meeting up with friends. Nobody imagined a season like the one that is now drawing to a close, and our hearts go out those who have experienced personal loss from Covid-19.
Whatever your experiences and circumstances, I wanted to share a few thoughts on behalf of Bowls England. I am particularly eager to thank all those of you who had the energy and spirit to make the very best of this unusual season – the green-keepers, the sanitizer-buyers, the book-keepers, the bar staff, the coaches, the equipment cleaners and many more. You are the lifeblood of our sport and your efforts are appreciated. To all the players who made it out onto the greens, I trust you enjoyed being out in the fresh air, spending time with friends and renewing your challenge with the game. To those who didn’t play this summer, we will be here when you are ready to return.
Four months into the role of Bowls England Chief Executive, I am hugely positive and optimistic about what’s ahead for our sport. Benjamin Franklin once said, “Through adversity comes opportunity” and I believe it won’t be the adversity of Covid-19 that determines our destiny, it will be the manner in which we react to it.
In spite of the effects of Covid-19, this season has evidenced bowls’ capability and capacity to grow. Many clubs have seen an influx of new players as the way people consumed our sport changed. The Let’s Roll campaign has delivered hundreds of new club members and raised the awareness of our sport among thousands of prospective players. When we surveyed non-bowlers, 86% of people had heard of bowls and 37% of those would be interested in playing in the future. Most want to play for a couple of hours each week, many purely on a social basis. We have a massive opportunity to increase our participant base by enabling people to enjoy our sport in bite-sized chunks, complementary to their work and family commitments.
Furthermore, the global pandemic has forced us all to do things differently and, whilst that has sometimes been difficult, it has also been eye-opening. Remote working, more time spent locally, a greater focus on health and wellbeing and an increase in digital communications are some of the many changes to which we have all become accustomed. I believe bowls has to embrace these developments and try to take advantage of this new environment. Whether it be building on our wider use of technology to save the sport time and money or harnessing our natural strengths of being family-friendly, local, non-contact and relatively Covid-safe, let’s come together and make the best of it.
This summer has evidenced the value of National Governing Bodies across sport. We regulate the environment in which a sport is played, develop its volunteers and infrastructure, promote its qualities, manage competitions and international teams and channel external funding and support, amongst many other things. Bowls England is proud to have received so much positive feedback on our response to Covid-19, and we will build on this platform of engagement to heighten the regard in which we are held by our members. We take our responsibilities seriously and want to live up to the high expectations people rightly have of us.
To this end, Bowls England has plenty planned for the off-season. We will be exploring the broadening of our member services, developing a National Open Weekend concept for the 2021 Spring Bank Holiday to recruit new bowlers, planning for the competition season, progressing our governance work with advent of a new Working Party, improving our communications and identifying how we maximize Birmingham 2022. If your club has not completed our Annual Club Survey, we hope you will spare a few minutes as your input will help shape this work and also contribute to the Bowls England strategy which will be launched in the New Year.
Thanks again for all your efforts during what will hopefully prove to be a unique summer for bowls. Please stay in touch with Bowls England over the coming months by following our social media channels or by signing up to our e-newsletter. Whether it be club finances or website development, the off-season provides a great opportunity to make progress in areas of club management and mitigate some of the damage that Covid-19 has done. Our staff team are only an email or phone-call away, and are here to support.
To close, in the short time I have been at Bowls England, I have been inspired by the passion and energy that so many within our sport display. The richly-deserved MBEs for Ellen Falkner and Maggy Smith shine a light on just that. At club, county and international level we are united by our desire to see bowls flourish and are proud of the compelling, friendly, addictive and accessible nature of our sport. It’s time to let more people in on our secret!
Stay safe, winter well and ‘roll on’ 2021.
Jon shared thoughts on a range of topics for a podcast recorded this summer. Click here to have a listen.