A coaching course has been arranged for Lancashire. There may be high demand for this course and there are only 12 places, so if you are able to attend then please sign up quickly.

The first two dates for the theory are zoom calls, and these are 9th and 23 April (6-9pm). The practical session will be held at Ormskirk Bowling Club on 8th May (9am-5pm) and the final assessment day also at Ormskirk on 12 June (9am-5pm).  The course costs £150. Apart from the insurance cost (which may be covered by your club) half can be claimed back from BCGBA and one quarter from Lancashire CCGBA on course completion. If you have any queries please contact Ian Gill, Lancashire Development Officer.

Bookings should be made on the Coach Bowls website – link below.

The BCGBA Rules Revision Meeting was held this afternoon and the key outcomes can be summarised below.

• The introduction of a £1 per player per club fee which will be ringfenced to fund the new BCGBA National Development Strategy. Lancashire will be providing clarification as to how this will be collected from clubs in due course after the AGM next weekend. This will be for a minimum of 3 years and all outcomes will be reported on annually.
• Clarification in the rules that any bowls travelling over a footer must be returned.
• The maximum weight of a bowl has been set at 3lb.
• Clarification in the rules that a disturbed bowl will be treated the same as a disturbed jack.
• Nicotine inhalers have been added to the list of devices that cannot be used on the green during play (unless there is a medical exemption).
• Clarification that players will not be allowed to play in bare or stocking feet.
• A proposal to add practice for Ladies County matches was not carried.
• The 18-23 Open Championship has been amended to 18-25.
• Changes to the structure of the World Club Team Championship have been made to have a group structure for the qualifying rounds and its name has been changed to the ‘World Team Championship.

As part of the Bowls Development Alliance’s Week of Learning there are a host of short free online courses available next week. These are on such subjects as Safeguarding, marketing your club, applying for funding and engaging with your community. Visit https://bowlsdevelopmentalliance.com/education/ for more information.

Happy Christmas to all Lancashire bowlers and your families. We hope you have a wonderful day.

Attached is the draft Development Strategy that is due to be considered at the BCGBA AGM alongside the £1 a player proposal to fund it.  The table at the end of the draft strategy sets out how the monies will be spent to invest in the sport.  This includes in coaching and equipment that would be purchased to be used by clubs in Lancashire, as well as better publicity and promotion for the sport.

Please see the attached letter about how to renew your annual insurance if you previously used the Endsleigh Club Portal. You may already have had this off the County Secretary but there have been a few email issues. The Policy Documents will be posted soon.

The Lancashire CCGBA AGM will be held on Saturday 25th January at 2pm at Leigh Miners Welfare. Steve Clamp, the BCGBA representative for Area 1 (that covers Lancashire) will be attending to speak, and answer questions about, the changes that have taken place at the BCGBA and their future plans.

If you are interested in attending a Level 1 Coaching Course in 2025 please pass your email and phone details to Ian Gill, Lancashire Development Officer, at lancsbowlsdevelopment@gmail.com. Ian will be back in touch when there are enough people interested.

Please note that half the cost of the course will be funded by the BCGBA and Lancashire CCGBA will fund a quarter of the cost. If you would like to find out more please contact Ian.