Our Vision

The club’s vision is to be the premier outdoor Bowling venue in the Brentwood district area, and to proactively grow its membership, and the range of facilities it can offer, to be accessible to all sectors and age groups of the local community.

We see a long term future for the club remaining at King George’s Playing Fields, providing a sport which needs to modernise in order to grow in popularity.

We will work closely with Brentwood Council, Bowls England, and collaborate with other clubs and organisations to achieve our vision.

 

Current Position

 

The club has been proactive in seeking to promote Bowls locally, through local radio, and advertising at the club itself. In 2022, there was been an uptake of 15-20 new playing members, the majority having had little previous experience. In 2023 we have grown further, and welcome players joining us from the former Hutton Poplars club for 2024 season. We will start the 2024 season with between 150-170 members.

 

The club has provided coaching on our regular club “roll-up” mornings, twice each week. We have very experienced bowlers some of whom have undertaken formal coaching courses, and the new recruits’ skill levels have improved considerably! We have benefitted from having users of the Council’s development of the new pavilion and restaurant in the park, who overlook the bowls rinks, and continue to have a number of membership enquiries from that source.

 

Members play in a variety of local leagues, men’s, women’s, and mixed teams compete in the Brentwood, Romford, Gidea Park, Warley Woods and Basildon leagues, as well as members entering Essex wide competitions. We play around 15+ friendly matches per season as well.

We have improved our standing in some leagues and competitions, and are keen to improve further in future. As part of our ambition, we want as many playing members as possible to have exposure to playing competitively, if they wish to participate in this way.

 

The club is actively examining opportunities to expand its social activities for members. This is in part linked to our development plans.

  

Future Membership growth

 

We are proud to have had a sustained growth in our membership over the last two years.

The club has the potential to grow to over 200 playing members, with there still being plenty of rink time available across the week. This is because we are in the unique position locally of having two greens, both maintained to a very high standard, and with scope to be further improved, and given wider usage, without any detriment to existing members.

 

Developing the Club further as a Community Asset

 

The club can demonstrate that it adds “community value” to the area.

It provides an opportunity for improved social interaction and exercise for all ages, with a focus on the recreational and sporting interests of the community, which contributes to improved health and wellbeing. It contributes to the range of facilities available at King George’s playing fields.

Also, its social members have the opportunity to participate in club social activities, and enjoy watching the game and competitions.

 

To maximise this potential, the club is investigating the potential to upgrade some of its facilities, pathways, and access ramps to facilitate disabled bowlers. At present like most outdoor natural grass greens, our bowling season is limited to spring and summer months.

     

Funding our Ambition

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The club has a unique position in Brentwood, and needs to have an affordable financial plan, to deliver its Vision.

The club is actively investigating what grants may be available, both from Bowls England, and from other sources nationally and locally. The club will actively seek to fundraise, and welcomes any offers of sponsorship or donations from local companies that uphold the principles of health and wellbeing that we offer.