Historic lawn bowls club in North Yorkshire claims council landlord is 'killing' it off

But members, who marked the centenary on July 3 with a special event in the park, say they are unsure if the club will reach its 101th birthday after groups of youths keep damaging the surface by playing rugby, riding their bikes and littering.

In recent years club captain Lawrence Ireland says he's has tried to get support from their landlord Harrogate Borough Council, now North Yorkshire Council, to remedy the situation, to no avail.

Because there's no hedge demarcating the area it is often used for a kickabout - ruining the smooth surface needed for bowls. He says other teams have called it "the worst green in this, or any, county".

“The green is entirely open access and has become disrespected as a place for the sport of bowls,” he said. “In its 100 year history it has never been so badly damaged or maintained,” he said.

Last year realising they weren't going to get any funding from the council to celebrate their centenary, they paid a specialist contractor £4,000 to address the badly compacted and worn green.

"The initial work was carried out in October 2022 , a year later than planned due to the time taken to obtain approval from the council," he said.

"In February 2023 the green looked superb, there was a strong covering of grass emerging and all looked rosy."

However it didn't stay that way for long as footballers and rugby players took advantage of the even surface.

Result: new grass ripped out by the roots, divots and more work for frustrated club members.

In June a crime prevention officer visited and advised that the green needed a fence or hedge - preferably prickly - as well as a camera and lighting on the clubhouse roof.

Mr Ireland says that the club could come up with the plants and would agree to maintain the hedge as part of their lease.

But he says the council flatly refused, saying it didn’t have the necessary resources.

Mr Ireland said: "We are very angry. They are killing a club that has lived for 100 years. It's described as a 'bowling green' - not a general playing area.

"It's not a rugby pitch or a place to ride bikes and the only thing to stop that would be a hedge or a fence. We think a hedge 3ft or 4ft high would blend in and would be a perfect solution."

In response North Yorkshire Council claimed a hedgerow could make it even more of a target for anti-social behaviour.

Corporate director of environment Karl Battersby said: “We value Ripon Bowling Club and appreciate the significant investments made over the years.

“We were asked about the possibility of planting a hedgerow next to the green to help restrict access.

“However, Ripon Spa Gardens is a public space and we cannot prevent people using the area for their own recreational purposes.

“While we could give permission for a hedgerow and ask the club to maintain it, it would be a significant undertaking given the size of the area.

“It would also require taking land from either the bowling green, the park or land leased to a third party.

"It would not prevent people accessing the area and could, instead, make it more of a target for anti-social behaviour.

“We are more than happy for the club to install closed-circuit television on their clubhouse, so long as they pay to maintain it and data protection laws are observed.

"We also advised club officials to log issues that may have happened and report them to North Yorkshire Police.​​​​”​​​