Malmesbury is set to open the first outdoor artificial bowling green in the county

The £150,000 project at Malmesbury Bowls and Social Club has seen the old grass surface – which has been in place for the last 112 years - replaced with a new artificial green which will provide club members with all-year-round use.

Work has been carried out by Dales Sports Surfaces over the last two months (mid Jan to early March) to transform the bowling green, which was due to be officially opened at a celebration event on Saturday 21st March 2020. The opening event is now postponed until further notice.

Alongside fundraising efforts by club members, the project has been supported by a number of national and local organisations including Sport England and Bowls England.

A substantial funding boost has been made available through the Landfill Communities Fund (LCF) which is administered for local firm Crapper & Sons Ltd. by Community First, the Rural Community Council for Wiltshire.

Malmesbury Trust, Malmesbury Carnival, Malmesbury Area Board, the Jack Lane Charitable Trust and the Warden and Freemen of Malmesbury have also provided financial support. Businesses from the local area have contributed to the costs including Buildbase, Buildit, McGills Chartered Accountants, Churchill Retirement Living, Waitrose and local farmer Mike Weaver.

Representatives from the supporting organisations were invited to the celebration event whilst further events to publicise the new bowling green were being planned for later in the year, whenever it becomes possible to do so.

Our Club President said …

"This will be a new chapter in Malmesbury bowls club’s 112 year history, hopefully the club will go from strength to strength. If there is anything I have learned by this experience, it is that I now know what the expression “patience is a virtue” means. When we first went into this we expected 12 to 18 months to completion. Here we are 30 plus months on, but the end is in sight."