Just Bowling Along

"I expected that people would come mostly from outside the parish," she says, "but almost all of them come from the village."

"The club has really bought people together," says member Rita Hill. "It's the best thing that has ever happened to the village."

Joyce admits that she's met people through the bowls that she has never seen before, even though they may have lived in Harlaston for 20 years. One couple, who had lived in the village for several years, had been disappointed by the difficulty of getting to know people, but belonging to the bowls club has made a big difference.

In its first year the club took more than £1000. The hall is now regularly booked for two afternoons and three evenings a week during the season, which runs from October to the end of March. Club membership costs £10 a year, with £1 "mat fee" for each session.

A grant from the West Midlands Sports Council helped the club buy a second mat and, with 30 people at some of the evening sessions, both are well used. One mat is reserved for tournaments, leaving the other for social bowling.

As well as the internal tournaments there are friendly matches with oother clubs, and Joyce's ambition is to field a league team.

The rules of indoor bowls are similar to those of flat-green bowling. The mat is 45ft (13.5m) long and 6ft (1.84m) wide. A rectangle of wood, called the "windmill", about one-third the width of the mat, is placed in the centre of it about halfway down its length. This is an extra test of skill, and also acts as a safety device to prevent players "firing" the bowls - sending them too hard and fast down the mat - and damaging people and property.

When all the players have bowled from one end of the mat, they move to the other end and start again. On busy evenings play often has to be restricted to four ends a match.

The hall is maintained by volunteers - the bowls club has an electrician and a builder amongst its members. The Staffordshire Probation Service has provided some workers on the community service scheme whose labour is free, so only the materials need to be found. Fundraising for the hall has been fairly brisk, with £6000 raised already. Recently a Sunday lunch bought in £600.

Planning permission has been granted for five houses on the playing field adjoining the hall. It would be ideal for a bowling green.

But that's a long-term project. Joyce's next plan involves the younger members of the community.

"We have some very fustrated four-year-olds who come in the afternoons with their mothers," she says. "Of course, all they want to do is to pick up the bowls and play, but they are far too heavy for children of that age."

She plans to invest in a set of minature "carpet" bowls and set them up in a corner on a strip of domestic carpet, which should keep them happy. It may even encourage them to join the club when they reach the mature age of seven.