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Chawton Park Indoor Bowls Club Goes Platinum!
International Bowlers celebrate with them at "Jamboree"
Chawton Park Indoor Bowls Club celebrated the conclusion of its Play
Bowls For Fun initiative on Wednesday November 26th with England Senior
International, Commonwealth Games 2014 Silver medallist and Bowls
Development Officer Mr Jamie Chestney, Senior International player Mr
Robert Newman, the Town Mayor of Alton, Mr Graham Hill and the Mayoress,
Mrs Britt Hill, Alton Sports Officer, Megan Horwood, invited guests,
more than 70 new and established members of the club and the Chawton
Park Coaching Team, organisers of the “Jamboree” event.
Chawton Park is the first Bowls Club in the country to fulfil
specific criteria to qualify for the Bowls Development Alliance’s top
grant, a Platinum Award. It is the only indoor bowls club in Hampshire
to have CLUBMARK. It had to be supported by “Coach Bowls” coaches; The
club has a team of 11 BDA registered coaches, 4 of whom hold BDA Coach
Bowls Qualifications; it also had to meet a requirement that it would
achieve a minimum number of 20 new members as a result of the
initiative. To date 34 new members have joined the club. Over the last
six weeks they have attended regular sessions on Wednesday lunchtimes
and Tuesday evenings organised by the Coaching Team and a league has now
been established for them to continue in their new sport.
The
“Jamboree”, a fun bowls session where established members meet, mix and
play with new members was the concluding event of the initiative. After
playing several ends of bowls there was a break to watch Senior England
International bowlers Jamie and Robert, who entered into the spirit of
the occasion by playing a short exhibition match. The quality of play
was remarkable, effortless and particularly jaw dropping to the new
bowlers who watched mesmerised before continuing another session of
play.
The “Jamboree” concluded with a raffle, with prizes donated
by the B4F players, a buffet, organised by Doreen Atkins and provided by
club members. Club Centre Managers Dick and Margaret Holden ran the bar
and Robert and Carol Newman ran a Bowls Equipment Roadshow. Jamie
Chestney declared himself “delighted to be invited to the Play Bowls for
Fun event at Chawton Park. To see the green full of new and experienced
bowlers was fantastic. The club has done an amazing job and it is
particularly pleasing to see such positive results from the hard work of
the coaching team and members of Chawton Park who have done so much to
encourage new participants in our sport.”
For more information
call the Chawton Park IBC Centre Managers,
Margaret and Dick Holden
on 01420 541546
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