DARLINGTON'S South Park Bowls Club has seen success since the start of the pandemic.
The club has won an award and has been nominated for two others with Bowls England National Awards.
Scott Morland is the club’s secretary, and the club has won Bowls England ‘Story of the Year’ for Scott’s work during the Covid lockdowns of 2020.
The club has been nominated and shortlisted for a further two awards for 2021, for Club of the Year and Coach of the Year, to be awarded at an awards night in February.
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Scott said: “I found out I’d won that a couple of months ago.
“Personally, I think it’s really nice to be recognised for the hard work.
“The pandemic meant that competitive bowls took a bit of a dive but on the other hand, the social aspect of the club has really grown.
“We’ve grown in members and now we have a lot of younger people and families getting involved which is great.
“Ken (Bousfield, the club’s coach) has done really well getting more people involved.”
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These awards are based around the club’s projects to revive bowls in Darlington and to make bowls inclusive.
The club also invested in coaching, DBS, modern equipment and disability aids.
To win the Story of the Year, the club; created a Covid-safe environment following national guidance, won three grants used for accessibility, bought modern bowling equipment to encourage young people to get involved, doubled club membership, created the first women’s team for the club and created its own club leagues and competitions as all competitive bowls competitions were cancelled across the county.
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2021 is the club's 125th Anniversary and to be nominated for the shortlist for Club of the Year the club has run regular children’s bowls practices, started weekly bowls for wheelchair-users, with ramps at the edge of the bowling green.
The club has doubled membership for the second time in two years.
The club increased female membership from six to 40 members.
Two young female members (12 and 15) made the National Finals and are County Champions.
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The club hosted Commonwealth 6 time gold medallist Alex Marshall and bronze medallist David Bolt in September in the Arthur Wharton Charity Fundraiser last September.
Inclusivity was high on the agenda for the club and members were offered LGBT+ training and safeguarding.
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Ken Bousfield is up for Bowls England Coach of the Year and is already a Coach Bowls National New Coach of the Year winner for 2021.
He achieved this by running three weekly sessions for potential new bowlers of all ages and abilities which contributed to the club’s increased membership uptake.
Ken has also been running 1-1 and 1-2 sessions during the pandemic, following government guidance.
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