Bowlers’ uphill battle to save their clubs over parking row
BREATHLESS bowlers fear their clubs may close because members will struggle to climb the hill from a new car park.
Pensioners as old as 90 would have to carry more than 28lb of equipment up the steep slope when the council imposes parking restrictions around the two clubs.
The council’s solution is to point members to a car park – sitting at the bottom of the hill.
Bowlers at Belle Vue Bowls Club, which shares with Windmill Bowls Club in Gravesend, Kent, fear the game is up.
Belle Vue chairman Peter Clements, 73, said he will call it a day when the parking restrictions in streets around the club come into force in May.
“A number of players suffer from shortness of breath as well as hip and knee problems, mainly due to our age bracket,” he said. “They are fine on the flat but uphill is a non-starter.”
If he has to climb the slope, he will be “straight into taking painkillers for two or three days before the pain will subside”.
His club, established more than seven decades ago, shares its green with Windmill Bowls Club, founded in 1968.
They host a home game on alternate weekends.
Windmill club chairman Geoff Lord, 71, said: “We will end up with a situation where it is death by a thousand cuts. It’s a social event as well as a sport.
“If the club closes, the social element will disappear.
“We usually have a beer or two after the game and you rely on the bowls club to be a social centre.
“A lot of people will give up bowls and others will have to play elsewhere.”
The club’s closure would also hit the local pub which annually pulls in around £50,000 thanks to bowling events.
Paul Shovlar, landlord at the Windmill Tavern, said: “We support the club – it’s a great asset to the community.”
Gravesham Borough Council defended its decision to impose parking restrictions.
The idea was supported by residents during a consultation last year.
In response to the clubs wanting to turn a disused tennis court next to the green into a car park, a council spokesman said: “The bowls club have suggested creating a vehicle access way in to the park so vehicles could park on a disused tennis court.
“This is not an option for many reasons, including it being a conservation area.
“There is also sufficient parking outside of the residential parking area that is not so restrictive, just minutes from the green.”