New facilities should help bowlers prolong their careers

The club is proud to announce that it now has a wheelchair that members with mobility difficulties can use to extend their bowling lives.

The chair – whose cost was covered by our main sponsor, P&S Gallagher – is part of our growing array of tools aimed at making the club and its facilities more accessible, both to existing members and to potential bowlers.

Steps with a guide rail were installed at the start of the season and high-visibility jacks and coloured mats, as well as clearer scoreboards, are all now a common sight at the club.

In addition, we have a customised portable ramp to provide access for the chair to and from the green.

The total bill, of several thousand pounds, has been covered by grants from both Mid Sussex and Haywards Heath councils, as well as the sponsorship from Gallagher.

David Leach, who spearheaded the project when on the club committee, says: “The project aimed to encourage extended play participation among our members and to offer opportunity to those who wish to play but feel they cannot, regarding themselves as too old.”

Chance to carry on playing

Chairman John Milsom is determined that the measures – along with increased use of the all-weather surface alongside the green – should enable club bowlers with mobility problems to continue playing if they wish and thus maintain their links with the club.

“We had one or two players who were struggling to play,” he said. “I thought initially, the chair would be great for those people, as it would give them the chance to carry on playing.

“But also, people join bowls clubs to meet people, and some were saying, ‘I can’t bowl any more’, and then they leave. So they’re not only losing their bowling; they’re losing their friends.”

The facilities are also available to non-members, who should contact John in the first instance.

But there will be strict rules about the wheelchair’s use.

Users have to be able to get from their own chair into the specially adapted one. “The health-and-safety rules are quite strict on what we can and can’t do,” John says.

“Only trained people can work with the chair. And I want people who have been trained to actually put the ramp in place. It’s not hard but I just want to make sure the right procedures are followed.”

If you are interested in trying out the chair, or are a carer for someone who might be, contact John Milsom on 07785 782372.