How to save bowls clubs and grow the game by changing the role of our bowls clubs in our communities. Although it seems futile to think we can make a drastic change to the way things are in many bowls clubs, I know that many clubs are overlooking or possibly ignoring golden opportunities on their doorstep.
Further to my recent post about the success being experienced by Bowls Victoria in recruiting members from the junior to 30 year old age bracket, here is a video that shows one way in which this success is nurtured. Can this be used to good effect in the UK?…of course it can, and all year round into the bargain.
Have a look at the Bowls Victoria website for more great ideas like this from a very forward looking and pro-active Bowls Association
Bowls Central, although very popular now in relation to when I started the site 5 years ago, is still what could be termed a “niche” website. The audience for a site like Bowls Central is never going to be easy to find online. Due to this fact, I now spend a lot of time promoting the site on social media such as Twitter to get the site in front of new readers.
To monitor the success (or otherwise) of these campaigns I use software that allows me to see how many people interact with the messages I put out there. When I tweet about an article on bowls central I can usually be sure of between 5 and 10 people clicking through to read the article, some of whom might become regular readers or maybe even join as a free member of Bowls Central which gives them full access to nearly 300 articles on the site.
I also monitor the news being released about lawn bowls and sometimes tweet links to articles that I think my Twitter followers might like.
Imagine my surprise then when Read more
Now that the green is closed for winter (but not forgotten I hope!), thoughts inevitably turn to the condition of the club itself.
How is your club doing?
How are the membership numbers looking?
How can we get people in to spend some money in the winter months?
I’m a bit of a Twitter enthusiast and I find that it’s a good barometer for seeing how things are going in the bowling world, even though only a tiny percentage of clubs seem to be using it so far. Same goes for facebook; not many clubs using it for club communications and/or marketing.
Yesterday on Twitter I saw this tweet:
That seems like a terribly good deal. Membership for a whole year for just £20 or £40?
But is it a terribly good deal for clubs to be giving away membership for such low fees? Let’s speculate that an imaginary club with similar fees to this one has 50 Ladies and 80 Gentlemen members. That’s a total membership income of just £4200 for the year. Now I know that I’m dreaming here because a high percentage of clubs have far fewer members than that, but even allowing me my poetic license this is barely enough to cover the costs of maintaining the green and having the lights on in the clubhouse of an evening. Of course there are other income streams, like the bar and social events but many clubs are in borderline survival mode.
I know the pressure is on to keep membership fees low and I know that many members view these fees as if they are for the summer only. I also know that members have to bear additional costs to participate in the sport such as petrol, equipment, competition fees etc, so I’m not advocating any drastic increases to membership fees.
So what does that leave? It leaves the fundamental way in which we think about our club’s role in the community. Is it the damp, cold place that the old fuddy duddies go to in the summer, to be avoided at all costs, or is it a vibrant, bright hub of the community where the members will welcome you to participate in their sport or even bring your own interests along to share with others? Is it a place that seems off limits to me as a non-member or that seems to be closed up all winter long, or is it a magnet for locals, who relish the warm and buzzing atmosphere in the dark, damp days of the closed season?
At this time of year many clubs slip routinely into survival mode. Put the green to bed, batten down the hatches, set the radiators to “snowflake”, cross fingers and hope all the members come back next year.
It doesn’t have to be like that.
Let me know how things are going at your club.Meantime I’ve popped two of our most popular winter reads into a special offer so that hopefully clubs can make a start on getting the ball rolling on change.
Get them now and start the march to abundance for your bowls club this winter.
Historic England have published a new, lavishly illustrated book by bowls historian Hugh Hornby that is the first study of its kind. The book explores the history and architecture of some of the UK’s oldest bowling pavilions.
This fascinating book chronicles the the game over the centuries and looks at the emergence of the different codes that are followed around the UK.
More photos in this BBC article
Get the book here:
