Sway Short Mat Bowls Club

Aim

Replace damaged unplayable Mats and buy Electronic Mat Handling Machine so members may continue to enjoy the pleasure of indoor bowling.

Who are we?

We are Sway Indoor Bowls Club giving everyone, young and old alike, the opportunity to enjoy this excellent social activity. It helps build friendships and wellbeing for everyone within our Community at Sway Village Hall.

Why are we crowdfunding?

Due to unfortunate circumstances our mats have been damaged and deformed to the extent of being unplayable.

Having intended to resume bowling following our summer break, this is now impossible so we are forced to revert to fundraising in an attempt to address this problem.  We must buy new mats without which our club will be forced to close and our village community will lose a valuable asset.

Due to the mature ages of our members we have had to pay for the help of stronger hands to set up and return our mats to storage after use.  

However, we have since identified the enormous benefits and vastly reduced health and safety risks offered by use of the “Electrowind” Electronic Mat Handing Machine which is already used by almost 300 bowls clubs, many having similar maturity amongst their membership.

Comments by existing user’s. 

How we’ll spend the money raised

Purchase the “Vertigo" Electrowind Mat Handing Machine pictured above together with two new 45ft indoor mats and a substantial cover for this unit.

This will enable present and future members of Sway Indoor Bowls Club to fully enjoy their bowling without risking health and safety issues involved when having to manoeuvring very heavy mats manually. 

Help in this way will greatly benefit current members, regardless of age or gender, enabling them to even enjoy setting up and storing mats away themselves by not having to rely upon others and save money whilst doing so!

As part of a long term solution we applied to Sport England and have been successfully awarded a provisional 50% grant towards the cost of the machine and two mats, subject to this Crowdfunding scheme to raise the balance. 

With your additional help we can achieve our aims to provide bowls to a far wider audience and offer evening and weekend bowls to those in work whilst also helping existing members who may wish to bowl more regularly. 

We always welcome new members and beginners will receive two "Free Taster" sessions. Should lady bowlers wish form a new group they will be very welcome, as will children whilst supervised by parents or guardians. 

Community impact

Bowls can be played in our warm Village Hall all year around if required and our aim has always been to offer the additional evening and weekend times which are now available to us to accommodate those unable to bowl during the day. 

Our current member ages range from 50’s to over 90’s and this activity improves everyone’s physical and mental wellbeing, whilst making us happier and healthier. We make many new friends along the way playing indoor bowls with family and friends all year around!

Our venue is the only village facility large enough to accommodate indoor bowls so our aim is to continually attract new players of all ages. (Under 16’s are encouraged but must be accompanied by a parent or responsible adult club member).

Bowls is enjoyed by thousands of players worldwide from ranging backgrounds and abilities - fellowship abounds amongst bowlers.

Our club will be affiliated to the ESMBA (English Short Mat Bowls Association) and our aim is to restart bowling in January 2026 so if you would like to bowl with us please contact our Secretary Barry on 07380 352 100 or [email protected]  

How you can play your part

There are four simple ways to help us reach our target and make this project a reality, thereby enabling us to commence bowling in January.

1. Make a pledge. Don’t delay if you can support us because momentum is key to our success!

2. Spread the word. Share our project on your social media pages and with family and friends telling the world to get behind us! The more people we can reach the nearer we get to winning!

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

4. Fundraise for us. If you would like to run your own fundraiser – maybe a sponsored activity or similar – please use the 'contact project' button at the top of our page to let us 

Thanks so much for reading about our challenge and we sincerely hope you can be a part of our success! 

Funding method

Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made