Proposal
Funding Proposal
Formed in 1925 Wonersh Bowling Club started playing on a 3 rink green with the land donated by Village members and patrons. In later years further land was gifted to allow the now 6 rinks.
The club is very much a volunteered run entity with today just under 100 members of various abilities from those starting out to a representative for England in the last commonwealth games, finishing with a play off for the bronze medal in the disability bowls. The clubhouse current facilities are very basic and the clubhouse is in a sorry state with leaking roof and rotting structural timbers. There is no insulation, old single glazed windows and external doors with daylight visible around the frames.
Our mission is to bring the clubhouse into the 21st century and allow for a more sustainable facility with Disabled toilets and access to the green and clubhouse. We also will be looking to place solar panels and a battery system to allow the running costs to be kept low whilst providing heating for both water and internal spaces. We have already started with the process of changing the facilities which will include more car parking and disabled bays, building a new grounds man building to house the machinery and give the facility to maintain the equipment in-house.
In 2021 we removed a vast amount of soil to provide parking or possibly a new location for a clubhouse. This new location for the clubhouse would have allowed us to continue to play the sport and give additional facility for indoor bowling in the winter months. Unfortunately, after pre-planning it appears that we may be asking for too much extra space so we have decided to replace the current building. The new building will be completely rebuilt by the members with free labour and we will only use qualified construction and experts as and when required. All project managing will stay in house thus reducing the costs considerably.
We have started the funding process by launching a Buy a Brick Campaign, this will consist of a brick slip with a name laser’ed on it for £125 each. We have also become a CASC that will allow us to gain an extra 25% for UK tax payers. We currently hold about £20,000 in the funding pot but estimate this figure to be a lot more.
The club itself owns the land and we have 4 current trustees who are all active members and are fully focused in delivering a new facility to the members but also the wider community.
With a strong membership and no rent or loans we believe we are set for another 100 years and by providing a local facility to the village and surrounding area this will only enhance the club’s and village name.
New Facilities
The New facilities will allow for us to be an all-inclusive club for people of all abilities and ethnic backgrounds. We have met with Disability Bowls England to see what can be done in the term and what is required to take us to the place we need to be if we are to reach this goal. We have started by placing two new purpose-built steps for access to the green with a ramped planned for later this year to allow for wheelchair access. Currently there are not many clubs in the area that provide these facilities which would allow for disability games to be held and the disabled toilet is a fundamental requirement for this to happen.
The clubhouse also needs to work for the community allowing local groups to meet in a comfortable and a safe warm environment. We would like to offer a coffee /tea venue for locals to come along and socialise thus helping the community to come together. A place for armchair fitness for the less mobile and potentially a facility to enable mental stimulation by means of focused groups. This would help our current membership as well as the wider community. We are also looking to build a Boules / Pétanque / Bocci club on a strip of land to add extra activities that are not within the village currently. A survey will be sent out to the village and surrounding villages to see what if any support there is for these extra activities.