Torkington Park Ladies Evening Bowling Club are based in Hazel Grove and hope to set up a new team from a group of 7 experienced ladies who require a local bowling club for convenience.

They are to develop interest in the area to promote bowling to a wider age range, in particular, they need to attract younger age groups. Most ladies at the group are over-65 or widowers. The older ladies see it as an activity which keeps them going physically and gets them out of the house and into the fresh air.

Bowling is a healthy aerobic exercise which requires gentle bending and stretching, as well as walking all over the green area. A game usually lasts 45mins-1 hour, and constitutes perfect exercise for all ages, particularly for older joints. They also bowl in all weathers, and get a lot of people stopping/sitting to watch, who find watching the club entertaining.

The group now hopes to become self-sustaining by the end of the season. Supporting local school/church fairs with bowling themed tables – promoting the club/tea at the same time.

The group said: “We were so relieved to receive the grant we got. As we expected to have to struggle for some years and just hoped we could hang on to the new ladies, who were mostly involved in well established clubs where everything was provided. The help and advice we received from the first telephoned assessment was outstanding. It enabled us to present our new team at an equal level and we finished in 6th place from 9 teams, 16 league games, 1 cup match. Much better than we could have expected as a new team.”