Category: Indoor bowls

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Indoor Bowls December Newsletter

14th December 2020

Hi All,

An update for you and a request. We are seeking someone who could do keyholding duties on a Monday, Duties are locking at 1245hrs and Thursday open at 1230 and close at 1545 full training will be given. Please contact Steve Lewis for further information.

Our season ends on December 20th and reopens on January 4th, Steve has planned all the fixtures and team captains will have received their copies and a copy is up on the board in the hall.  Team captains please remember to pay the £3 team entry fee and can the members who have not yet their membership fees please do so as soon as possible. The club fee is £35 and £3 if you have a locker. 

A new Wednesday morning league is being considered, starting on January 6th We have some teams already showing an interest should you wish to enter a team, please contact Steve Lewis.

Finally, The Committee and myself wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, and of course a bowling 2021.

Best Regards

Tony Downs

Secretary

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Indoor Bowls 2020/21 League Game Guidance

Fixtures have only been completed as far as Christmas 2020 but they will continue after Christmas until March 2021. These fixtures will be available from mid December. This is to allow adjustments to be make should the club go into lockdown or we move up to Tier 2 where only 6 people from the same household may play on the same rink! 


Tony is sending out extra info re Covid Rules and Protocols, membership, fees etc. Each Player will require 3 bowls per game!


This year we are relaxing the club rules to ensure games get played as there is no room to replay a game that may have to be called off.


In other words the game must be played at all costs!


So if you find the day before a game you only have 2 players you may contact any player who is a member of our indoor club / main club and ask them to play even if they are in the same league as you. We would ask however they do not come in as Skip.


If on the day of a game, someone does not turn up for an unexpected reason, we would like the game to go ahead in the following manner:-
(1) the team with 3 players play Skip: has 2 bowls: the Two has 3 bowls: and the Lead has 3 bowls.(2) the team with 2 players play 4 bowls each.(3) the team with 2 players loses one quarter of the shots score and indicates this on the scorecard.(4) the team with only 2 players must make up the rink fees to £6


Paper copies of the League fixtures will be available in the Indoor Bowls Hall from 6pm Friday October 24th.


Dress code is grey below the waist: any bowls top / bowls shirt or white polo shirt above the waist.You do not have to purchase a special club bowls shirt to play.


The rink fee is £2 per person per league game: £1.50 per roll up session.
Don’t forget your mask around the building – masks can be removed on the rinks!
Please turn up no more than 15 mins before the start of the game.
In the first week of bowling only one shot will be recorded for the first 2 ends to give everyone a smidge of a chance to get used to the indoor carpet!
We trust you will enjoy your bowls in our friendly Covid Triples Leagues!

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Indoor Bowls – History

The Isle of Wight Community Club has always had a thriving Outdoor Bowling Section. However, back in 1992, a group of bowlers thought it would be a good idea to have an Indoor Bowling facility.

A Sub-Committee was formed to prepare an application for National Lottery Funding. The Isle of Wight Council’s Sports Development unit had identified that the Island could support two indoor Clubs. As the Ryde Club was already well established, another Club would merit being in the West Wight. The Island’s Economic Survey identified areas in West Wight of Economic Poverty. The Club proposed borrowing £100k from members towards the total estimate cost of £311k: all of these factors supported the criteria needed for successful lottery funding.

An application for funding was prepared for the facility to be built on part of the derelict tennis courts, with access from the Sports bar, moving the Committee room into the Indoor Bowls area and using space generated for a disabled toilet and additional gents toilets. As the application was about to be submitted a mainland company fronted by prominent Cowes people submitted a Planning Application for a Bowling facility on the Somerton Industrial Estate. It comprised two or more outdoor greens, a six rink indoor facility with bar and catering and employing 32 full and part time employees.

Although the Community Club Sub-Committee knew that the proposed scheme was not financially viable, they had to hold off submitting their own plan. After about eighteen months the Competitor Scheme was dropped and the Club was able to proceed with a successful application being made for Lottery funding.

After considering three Island contractor bids, the contract was awarded to Island Builders. Before work commenced, Island Builders had been taken over by Mansell Ltd., a South of England Private Company, who at their first meeting broke down their contract price into defined areas of work. At subsequent monthly reviews, they added or deleted costs as work progressed. This attention to detail was to be important, when, during a very wet November, they came on site on a Monday morning to find that what was to be the playing area was in fact a large pond. By mid-day they had three excavators on site to help identify the problem.

With the help of our architect, who used Dowsing Rods made from wire coat hangers. It was determined that land drains taking surplus water from the playing field had not been diverted as shown on ground plans. The construction of the footings for the new building required deeper footings on one side, resulting in drained water being retained. The solution was to make a substantial land drain starting at the Sports Bar patio and continuing behind the Indoor Bowls Pavillion into the land drain that goes into Parklands Avenue.

If the building work had been done in the Summer, we would have ended up with a tilted playing surface that would have had to be replaced. The work was completed by the Contractors one month ahead of schedule with League Play commencing in the Autumn.