Membership
WE ARE ALWAYS LOOKING FOR NEW MEMBERS AND YOU'LL BE GUARANTEED A WARM WELCOME
If you haven't played bowls before, but would like to find out more about the game and whether it's for you, please don't hesitate to get in touch. Like all great games, the concept is simple and it's very easy to play, but it becomes absorbing as you develop your technique and skills.
Please contact us and we will be delighted to meet you on the green and give you a taster session. All you will need is a flat pair of shoes and we have spare sets of bowls, which we call 'woods', which you can use. We will be happy to loan them to you for longer to if you decide to come back for more so that we can quickly get you 'up and running'. It's as easy as that.
WHO CAN JOIN
We welcome anyone from anywhere.
Membership is open to everyone, young and old and unusually in sport, men and women can compete on equal terms. It's very family friendly and our membership includes five couples who like to play together or as friendly rivals.
It is particularly popular with retired people who want an enjoyable non-demanding pastime that keeps them active; the game gets them out of the house into the fresh air to try something different as well as an opportunity to meet new people. Whilst Bowls doesn't require a high level of fitness, there is a lot of walking and bending so it's a useful form of exercise to keep you mobile. Several of our members are over 80 and our oldest play is 91...a great advert for the game.
Do I need to live in Hovingham? No.
The Club has traditionally provided a bowling centre for the villages and hamlets of the wider Hovingham area, including the villages of Gilling East, Cawton, Ampleforth, Oswaldkirk, Stonegrave, Slingsby, Colton and Brandsby. And we also have players from Kirkbymoorside, Huttons Ambo, near Malton and as far afield as York.
EQUIPMENT, SUBSCRIPTIONS AND MATCH FEES
By comparison with most other sports, Bowls is a very cheap game to play. All you really need to get going is a set of four bowls/woods; a second-hand set will usually cost around £40-£50, and sometimes half that.
The Club does its best to make membership affordable by normally setting its subscription to cover its running costs, including the maintenance of the green and an on-line rink booking facility.
The annual member's subscription, agreed by members at the Club's annual general meeting, covers each bowling season from the beginning of May to the middle of September. It is just £25 and there is a £3 fee for each game played in the Club's social bowling league and the inter-village Ryedale Batagas Triples League.
The Club also organises social bowling knockout competitions, which are free, and the subscription also allows members to use the green for their own social bowling at any time, seven days a week, as many times as they wish.
Although most members want to play in one or sometimes all the Club's competitions, it is up to individuals to decide how much time they want to spend on the bowling green and whether they want to play in the Club's own social bowling competitions or in an inter-village league or both.
Hovingham's lovely old Bowling Green...your gateway to discovering more about the absorbing game of traditional village bowls
