Closing down bowling greens would be a great loss to Leeds - Yorkshire Post Letters

Another Council in West Yorkshire is considering closing up to 30 bowling greens (The Yorkshire Post, January 18, 2025).

Leeds City Council is considering closing 30 crown bowling greens on 24 sites across the district in order to save £350,000.

A similar exercise is being undertaken by neighbouring Kirklees Council area and other authorities in ‘Greater Yorkshire’ and beyond in Lancashire and Greater Manchester.

I can understand the reasons for scrutinising the cost benefit analysis as some bowling greens have relatively low numbers of players.

Outdoor bowling is an ideal sport for those who have limited movements in their limbs and is an ideal way of exercising two or three days a week.

These few hours with other bowlers may be the only real exercise a person gets along with the chat and banter, helps mental health.

I believe that there is a good 'business case' for Sport England to receive funding from the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Lisa Nandy MP to give to councils to promote and maintain outdoor bowling, encouraging more players to use bowling greens making the maintenance more cost effective and keeping the elderly fit and well.

Flat green bowling is mainly played more in southern England and is arguably less skillful to play than crown green bowling which is played more in the Midlands and the North?

The maintenance cost of outdoor bowling greens are high as special fine stalk grasses are grown to assist the speed of the bowl.

To maintain a good fast green it will need spiking to relieve surface compaction, scarifying to remove thatch and prevent a build up of mosses, fertiliser twice a year with a spring/summer dressing for growth, and autumn/winter dressing to maintain and strengthen root growth.

I was fortunate to be trained to maintain six crown green bowling greens in Central Drive Recreation Ground in Blackpool during my horticultural apprenticeship with Blackpool Parks and Recreation department.

My mentor was chargehand gardener, George Bennett, who was passionate about the maintenance of bowling greens and all weather sports pitches.

We used sea washed turf lifted from the salt marshes at Silverdale near Morecambe in Lancashire.

Crown green bowling, where there is a 10 inches (25cm) lift in the centre of the green and radius out to the edges, is a skillful game in getting the bowl nearest to a 'jack' or smaller bowl without rolling into the perimeter sand channel.

Bowling greens are an intricate part of any park, and the cost of construction is second to the cost of a multi-functional playground.

If councillors vote to close them they will be a lost asset and it is highly likely that they will never be replaced due to very high specialised construction cost to form the challenging playing surface.

It's not like laying a domestic lawn at home.

I hope that both elected members and officers in the Leisure department give this careful consideration before closing these cherished sports pitches.