'It would be immense': Wakefield's Holmfield Park Bowling Club hopes better facilities will create more interest

Not quite a beautiful late summer's morning, but bowling club members still held a taster session at the park on Tuesday morning.

Holmfield Park Bowling Club and British Jeffrey Diamond Bowling Club have both asked for planning permission to install new shelters at the ground they share in Holmfield Park.

Their current shelters, combined with social distancing, make that impossible at the moment.

Keith Hawes, club committee member at Holmfield Park, said he was hopeful the application will be approved.

The club wants a new shelter to help keep all team members dry.

He said: "Because of the pandemic and the guidelines we've had to follow, we could only have two people under the shelter, and everyone else has to stand outside it and get rained on.

"The new structures would fit up to 16 to 20 people, and would allow both teams to stand underneath."

The clubs are also trying to get better toilets for its members, with the park's facilities viewed as having passed their sell-by-date.

Mr Hawes added: "We’re getting a really diverse amount of new people coming and wanting to play bowls, but it's difficult for those with disabilities at the moment, because the toilets date from around the 1950s and they’re not adequate.

"As things stand, they’re not fit for purpose.

"They’re not adequate whether you’re man, a woman, able-bodied or disabled."

Mr Hawes, 68, said the impact an upgrade would have on morale and membership at the clubs, would be "immense".

"We were worried that after the pandemic that people might not come back to play but in fact it’s been the opposite," he explained.

"We’d just like to bring our facilities up to the standards of other clubs.

"There’s other clubs nearby that have great facilities, and we want people to come here, enjoy themselves and think of us as a really nice place to go and play too."

Local Democracy Reporting Service