In England at least, you’re most likely to think of lawn bowls as a game for retirement, and it’s certainly perfect for that given not only the relatively gentle physical requirements but also the proven health benefits of keeping mobile and active.
On the other hand, if you look at bowls played at the highest level, you’ll find a much younger age group excelling at the game, as well as some older players. In the southern hemisphere bowls is popular with twenty to thirty year olds for its social side, with “barefoot bowls” adding more chatting and alcohol to the traditional game.
In fact, bowls is all of these. It’s a game of skill and accuracy, where physical strength is very rarely required, and can be played either competitively at all levels or equally treated entirely as a social event.
The players at Walthamstow Borough and Aveling park range from early thirties to late eighties and even nineties. There’s very little up-front cost and, compared to most sports, very little cost at all, and you can go from never having touched a bowl in your life to playing with experienced bowlers in the space of your first fifteen minutes at a club.
If you’d like to give the game a try then drop by during one of our roll-up sessions, or get in touch with our club captain Kevin Bates on 07757 303332.