Think of crown green bowls and your mind may wander to an image of men on a bowling green in years gone by. But a band of women in Nuneaton are on a mission to revive the local love for the sport that dates back more than 100 years.
The Mid Warwickshire Ladies Bowls Association hosted its debut county crown green bowling team performance in the championship last Sunday. It was the culmination of the creation of the team, which has been championed by Kate Williams.
An avid crown green bowler herself from childhood, the mum told CoventryLive that, around a year ago, she decided to set up a new ladies county team within the British Crown Green Bowling Association.
"I started the new county team and our players start as young as ten, my youngest daughter, and go all the way through as our eldest player is 91," she said. "That's the thing with crown green bowls, I play it, my mum plays it, my daughters play it, we all play in the same team.
"There aren't many sports around that you can do that, so it makes it very inclusive for everyone."
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In years gone by most social clubs and pubs had bustling crown green bowling teams but they have started to dwindle. But the Bermuda Phoenix Centre has proven to be the perfect home for the team's training and their first match: "They (Bermuda Phoenix) have worked really hard on their greens and their surroundings, and they have been brilliant with us," she said.
"For us, as a team, we don't get any funding, we have been lucky enough to get a few local sponsors, which is great."
But she wants to get more people involved. "It would be great if a teacher looked at it 'what a great thing for schools', we could host sessions for them. We used to have quite a good junior county side, but my concept is to try and get new people interested in the sport and get some new blood in.
"Just to play at club level to start with then and maybe step onto the county scene. The BCGA have launched a new strategy to get some grass roots development and get more awareness and more people involved in it."
She added: "People see it as an old granny sport, but it's not and doesn't have to be," she said. "Football, cricket and netball aren't for everyone.
"Crown green bowls is for everyone, you can start at club level and then move to county level. You can be any age or at any level, it is about trying it out and having fun."
It is also about retaining the traditional game in the town. "We want a future, if we don't do something then crown green bowls will disappear from our town," she said.
"I really don't want it to go, I am really trying to put a foot hold in and create something that means in 20 years we might still have it."
She added: "Up north, they are looking at 20,000 crown green bowling players, for the Midlands, we are looking at 500 to 1,000, it is massive up there and we don't want it to shrink here.
"It is such a great game, you don't have to play competitively, you can just play socially. It is such a lovely social sport, when the sun is shining, there is nothing better."
Having played their first game, the Mid Warwickshire Ladies Bowls team are now preparing to take on a team in Merseyside on June 15. For more information about the team or how to get involved in crown green bowls locally, email Midwarwickshireladies@mail.com or visit the Mid Warwickshire Ladies Bowls team on Facebook.
