Tameside bowling club inspires next generation

A local bowling club has been helping inspire the next generation of female bowlers.

Stalybridge and Dukinfield Recreation Bowling Club have spent the last 10 weeks hosting weekly sessions, with the aim of encouraging younger people, particularly ladies, to get involved in the sport. 

Back in September, the club applied for an Everyone’s Game Grant, a programme funded by the Football Foundation and delivered locally by Active Tameside. 

This enabled the club to create a ladies only course, including the coach and volunteers, that began on May 1.  

Thursday 10 July sees the final session take place, from 7pm. 

Sarah Walker, from the club, commented: “The thinking behind this was that bowling is predominantly seen as a sport for older men, and we really needed to encourage younger people, particularly ladies, into the sport.  

“As a club we have two ladies only teams, but one was at risk of folding at the start of the season due to lack of players.  

“I was also keen that all of the ladies were beginners so that everyone was ‘in the same boat’.  

“The interest in the group was amazing and very quickly we had signed up 20 ladies and was having to add people to the reserve list. 

“They have continued to attend week in week out, luckily having some of the hottest Thursdays on record and having only been rained off once so far. 

“Of course, the numbers have dropped, but in the latter weeks there have also been some new ladies who have heard from family members and friends how much fun it is.  

“This week sees the end of our formal sessions and there will be a small competition, with a buffet to celebrate the groups achievements. 

“However, we hope to keep the club open on Thursday evenings for Social Bowling, to continue their involvement and my ambition is that next season some of these ladies will join the existing teams, or maybe even start their own. 

“Moving forwards, we would like to encourage more junior members into the club, in the hope that families can enjoy bowling together.” 

Peter Boase, the Active through Football Manager at Active Tameside, added: “The club came to us with this exciting idea to get more women physically active with an eye on sustainability once the funding had finished. 

“They have done some great community engagement and supported a large group of women who attended the weekly sessions and will now progress to becoming club members, they also have a volunteer qualified coach to work with the group weekly, a great success!”