I have been a keen supporter of the Bowls Daventry initiative which was “Bowls England” inspired for over 3 years now. Over this period:
- I have played bowls in Daventry outside Waitrose and HSBC bank.
- Last year I supported the team when they showed us how bowls could be played on “astroturf” sports services to show how more people could participate in bowls.
Last week, I attended an event at Daventry Indoor Bowls Club where a CWG18 medal winning bowler David Bolt was invited by the Bowls Daventry team to help the club promote bowls, its new junior section, meet members of the club and other bowls clubs in the area. I met with a bowls international umpire and the past President of Bowls Northamptonshire who all came along to support the event.
It was also good to see the latest idea from the award winning Local Disability Bowler, Ian Litchfield, to promote bowls to those with disabilities via “indoor petanque” which is now on offer at Daventry Indoor Bowls Club as well.
This event was the culmination of a busy week for David who visited, met and talked bowls with:
- 2 Daventry schools presenting to circa 400 pupils who found his talks inspirational with David stressing the importance of hardwork & effort in his bowling success.
- 6 bowls clubs across the county meeting circa 200 bowlers and non-bowlers, who were able to see his medal and talk bowls plus take the opportunity to have their pictures taken with David.
- Daventry Community Centre Short Mat Bowls club were delighted to be the first club to show David how to play Short Mat Bowls.
- Daventry Town Bowls Club was honoured to provide the venue for David’s first ever game of short mat bowls against Ed Sawbridge who is a top 15 player on the semi-professional Short Mat Players Tour “SMPT”. Ed managed to just beat David BUT was amazed by how well David played in a format he had never played before.
So we could all experience the thrill of bowls, on the night we played in a bowls Gala with 8 teams of 3 which I understand is called “triples”. My team captain was Daventry Indoor Bowls club President Sue Pernyes who with the Chairman John Sach worked hard with the Bowls Daventry team to make this event possible. I never realised how difficult bowls is and what a great sport Bowls is to allow people to meet & make new friends, socialise, enjoy each other’s company and have fun. I enjoyed meeting up with and engaging in the bowls banter with all those present, talking bowls with David Bolt and catching up with Daventry Town Council Mayor, Lynne Taylor.
To see members of the local community coming together with support from David Bolt, a England International CWG18 medalist, N-sport, Daventry Town and District Councils in such an impressive facility as Daventry Indoor Bowls Club with such enthusiastic and committed volunteers made me feel honoured to be invited and be the MP for 'Daventry'.
Talking to those at the event I was also pleased to hear the club is also the venue for Daventry Bridge Club, the “English Short Mat Bowling Association” and “Northamptonshire Short Mat Bowling Association” making sure the facility is being used by as many people as possible.
It has opened my eyes to what is on offer from Bowls and the Bowls clubs in the area. I am delighted to continue to support Bowls Daventry in its work to promote bowls in our area and wish Daventry Indoor Bowls Club all the success in continuing to develop the club to improve the facility (its is already air conditioned so an ideal venue for Summer Bowling), increase participation and give our youngsters the chance to play bowls, like David Bolt did when he started as a ten year old.
I also saw David demonstrate his idea for a future world record attempt, again to promote bowls across all formats including indoor lawn bowls, outdoor lawn bowls, short mat bowls, carpet bowls, crown green bowls, petanque. I will be following David’s progress in the game with interest and I am already looking forward to the CWG22 when the Bowls will be hosted down the road from Daventry in Leamington.
For more information about bowls in the area please see http://www.daventryeagles.co.uk/ and www.astrobowls.co.uk.