New bowling association is formed to save Skegness' greens

The packed Sun Castle – including competitors in the Over-55s tournament currently taking place – heard rousing support to save the greens which have been a part of the town’s heritage for 100 years.

As reported, owners East Lindsey District Council (ELDC) announced after this year they would cease tending the greens on North Parade to competition level, saying they are expensive to maintain with little financial return.

The public meeting was chaired by town councillors Steve O’Dare and Carl Macey, with Richard Underwood, the landlord of the Sun Castle. Mayor of Skegness.Coun Adrian Findley, who was unable to attend due to a prior engagement, had also recorded a rallying plea to the community to get behind the campaign.

However, it was pointed out a deadline had been set by ELDC for August to come up with a ‘sustainable’ plan. Coun O’Dare pointed out that even though a statement provided by ELDC had pledged to support the “the operation and maintenance of the existing greens” by a new association or club, this would not be acceptable unless they and the ‘dilapidated’ offices and changing rooms were brought up to a ‘reasonable standard’.

He also called for an extension of the deadline to come up with the ‘sustainable’ plan requested as he said costings of the upkeep provided by the authority needed more ‘clarity’.

The required renovation of the facility was not disputed.

One bowler at the public meeting didn’t hold back when he described the condition of the greens as a ‘cabbage patch’.

However, the president of the English Bowling Federation (EBF), Trevor Flatt. said Skegness was still regarded as the ‘mecca of bowling’.

"The English Bowling Federation has been coming to Skegness for many many years,” he said. “In a couple of years time it will be the EBF’s centenary and contrary to anything you might have heard the EBF are not looking to move anywhere else – we like coming to Skegness.

"We have people who play in our competitions who book their hotels from year to year because this is the only place we call our home.

"We will not rest until we do everything we can to support any group that takes on these greens to keep them to a standard that they once were – and they were a decent standard and only got like this over the past 10 years.

"I think the council have been deliberately downgrading the greens – particularly over the past five years.

"The problem we now have is it becomes very embarrassing for us when we hold county competitions all over the country and then come to Skegness and describe the greens like cabbage patches – not being funny about it that’s basically what they are.

"The EBF is putting some money in it this year to try and make the greens as good as they can between now and the EBF Championships in August because we feel this is the right thing to do.

"What we would love to see is a body taking over these greens so they are responsible for them and I am sure in a town like Skegness there are people out there who would willingly volunteer.to maintain them with the right training because that’s what happens across the country.”

Local business owners said the tournaments still attract a lot of people to the resort. One hotelier, Julienne Bunce of the North Parade Hotel, was one of the first at the meeting to sign a form expressing an interest in forming a new North Parade Bowling Association to take the matter forward.

"I want to see the bowling greens saved because of the income it brings into the town,” she said. “The income it brings into the area is phenomenal. the bowlers have been coming for years, we’ve made a lot of friends – it would be a massive loss to the town.

“It’s not just the hotel – it’s the pubs and bars. The tournaments are good for business.”

Following the meeting. Richard Underwood said he was delighted with the turnout. He said: “We are very pleased how the meeting has progressed.

"We feel we have made really positive steps but we are working on a very short timescale.

"But we are going to form the North Parade Bowling Green Association and progress this with East Lindsey District Council’”