Club encouraging community to follow in the footsteps of Drake

IT IS regularly seen as a stuffy old sport trapped in ages-past tradition.

Now a Hinckley bowling club is trying to distance itself from outdated rules of flat green bowls to get more Millennials involved in the sport.

In a bid to stop dwindling numbers of players taking up one of the country’s oldest sports Hollycroft Park Bowling Club has come up with a new approach.

Alan Pilkington, a member of Hollycroft Park Bowling Club said he wanted “to bring bowls into the 21st century from the days of Sir Francis Drake and sailing ships”.

It is claimed that the English sailor and privateer said, after being told the feared Spanish Armada was sailing towards England in 1588, that there was enough time to finish a game of bowls at Plymouth How before he defeated the foreign navy.

But Mr Pilkington feels that many new bowls players are put off by old and stuffy regulations which date back hundreds of years, possibly even to the time when Drake was alive, the Elizabethan age.

He said: “Although the game has changed in some ways to reflect the requirements of modern living, these changes have not been sufficient to prevent a slow but persistent reduction of people taking up flat green bowling certainly throughout Leicestershire.

“Much of this is down to the demands of the young and notso-young people, who aren’t prepared to comply with the old traditions of the game which are prevalent, such as dress codes, regularity of organised matches, up-front annual subscriptions, unnecessary regulated breaks in play for food, etc.

“People these days want a more relaxed and flexible approach to what they do in their spare time; play when they want, dress as they want.”

Alan believes he has developed a game that will appeal to both young people and also the established bowling fraternity.

“This new game is named ‘three-aside team bowling’ and forms part of the open house bowling concept, embracing all of the playing features of regulated club flat green bowling, but with a difference,” he said.

“No expense on look-alike uniforms, all you need are bowls and flat shoes, freedom to organise matches to suit yourself not having to comply with fixture dates set in stone, just organise with your teammates and opposition – and go and play.”

Further details are available by emailing threeasidebowling@ btinternet.com.