Ashford(Middx) Bowls Club Renewal watering system

Who are we?

Ashford (Middx) Lawn Bowls club is a friendly club, open to all, that has been around for over 100 years. We provide a great community club that is very welcoming and friendly. At the heart of this club is our bowling green. A great forward thinking club. Very successful 2022 season with many bowlers getting to the National finals at Royal Leaminton Spa. Many volunteers working on the green and surrounds and the social side of this sport. An excellent green keeps our reputation high and our hospitality is great. A sport for all ages and abilities. Please help us to protect our green. thankyou

Vision

Our vision is to continue to grow, and expand participation to younger players by starting a youth section, as well as encouraging disabled players. We want to be able to cater for all levels of play, and to provide the best playing surface possible to allow all members and guests to obtain the highest possible standards. However, one of our main drives is to ensure everyone has fun, no matter what level they play at.

Action

The green needs constant care and attention which is provided in the main by club volunteers. To keep improving the green and keeping it alive we need to have a good watering system, our current one is over 25 years old and has failed so we need to urgently replace it as a failed system results in a dead green which means no club.  Something we wish to avoid as we have survived over 100 years so far and have nearly doubled our membership in the last couple of years providing a great community asset.

How our project will be United by Birmingham 2022

Following the great success of lawn bowls at Birmingham's Commonwealth Games and the fact that it's profile was raised in the media, particularly on television, we have had a number of enquires from new members. We are planning to take advantage of this for the start of next season. We are fully committed to continue to provide a service to our local community by always welcoming and encouraging participation in the sport of Lawn Bowls.

Why help

All of the above is however,  totally dependent on a quality green and to be able to provide this we need to replace the watering system before the start of the 2023 season, all funds raised will go to this project, if there are spare funds these will also go to further improve the green and its surrounding area. So thanks you in advance your support will ensure Ashford Bowls club can survive for another 100 years

Community impact

Lawn bowls has been proven to be great at helping with mental heath across all age groups. Ashford Bowls club have a great team that is growing the club locally and is providing a friendly open environment to all welcoming new and experienced player at all levels of the game from casual player to national completions. We provide one evening per week where all members and potential members get together for drawn games ensuring that we mix the new with the old players which is very successful and continues to be very popular

Why are we crowdfunding?

Like all clubs we struggled during the pandemic and our funds have taken a blow . We desperately need to replace the current watering system to enable the green to survive long term and ensure we can give our members and visitors the best possible playing surface. The current system is over 25years old and has failed. This means unless we can replace it our green will die as soon as the spring summer returns. Replacing the system is a major project and an expense requiring funds that we don't currently have so hence we are making this crowd funding appeal.

How we’ll spend the money raised

The money will be spent replacing the watering system which includes digging all the way around the green (approx. 250 meters), laying new pipe ,installing new sprinkler heads and connecting to the water tanks, then infilling and reinstating pathways.

How you can play your part

There are four simple ways to help us reach our target, and make this project a reality.

1. Make a pledge, it does not matter how small everything helps. Please don’t delay because momentum is key to our success!

2. Please spread the word. Share our project on your social media pages and tell the world to get behind us! The more people we reach, the more support we will get. WE want to continue to support our community and provide a place to come and have fun and be competitive if you want to.

3. Offer rewards. Get involved if you are a local business by donating things we can offer to our supporters. We will give you a shout out!

4. If you want to run your own fundraiser to support us, maybe a sponsored activity or similar, use the 'contact project' button at the top of our page to let us know. Setting up your own page only takes a few minutes and you won’t need any bank details. Just a fun idea!