BowlsMark Gold Case Study: Melrose BC
A huge congratulations to Melrose Bowling Club, who in September 2024 became only the sixth club in Scotland to achieve their gold BowlsMark accreditation.
Established in 1868, Melrose Bowling Club in the Scottish Borders prides itself at being at the heart of its local community. In recent years the club has dedicated a large amount of time and resource into improving its facilities, helping to attract new members and making the club a suitable venue for various local community groups.
Bowls Scotland National Development Officer Alan McDonald has been supporting Melrose Bowling Club throughout this journey, with the club being presented with their gold BowlsMark award at their annual opening day in April 2025. We spoke to Melrose Bowling Club’s President, Secretary and Treasurer Lee Haldane to find out more about the club’s positive work. Read the full Q&A below:
Q1. Why did Melrose Bowling Club sign up for BowlsMark?
LH: “At Melrose Bowling Club, we were aware from a very early stage about the introduction of BowlsMark for clubs across Scotland. The committee discussed and agreed it was absolutely right to pursue this and to work through bronze, silver and gold requirements. We decided to not rush things, rather we wanted to complete a full review of how we were presently set up and operating back in early 2024, targeting the end of the 2024 playing season to achieve gold status.
“We viewed this as an opportunity to work together as a committee, with the aim of challenging ourselves and our standards, the ultimate goal being to attain all three levels of certification during 2024, which would recognise us as a really well structured and organised club. We believed there is so much that constitutes positive, strong foundations needed for any club, and that all our members and visitors would be further reassured that we have their best interests at the forefront of our minds, by making smart improvements around important practices, policies, procedures, and strategic plans.
“Once we started working through the component parts of the criteria, we recognised that we did actually have a fair percentage of the practices, policies and procedures already in place. However, the BowlsMark accreditations would enable us to pull everything together in a more professional way, and also enable us to be more pro-active in how we communicate and promote these with our members.
“Our vision of being at the heart of our community and promoting our club for the benefit of bowlers and non-bowlers has long been an aim for us to continuously improve, and we concluded that BowlsMark certification at the highest level was one of the very best ways of doing so.
“We did achieve our goal too by early September 2024, our NDO confirmed our award, albeit this was presented to us on our 2025 Opening Day.”
Q2. How has the development programme benefitted the club?
LH: “There are several ways in which we have already benefited, and here’s a couple.
“With a focus on attracting new members, our 2025 season has seen 21 new joiners, and not just people who attend a one-day taster or Try Bowls event and that we seldom see again. Rather this year has brought new members who have been supported to learn the game, integrate into our club and participate both on and off the green. They have had access to coaching, encouraged to participate in hat afternoons and evenings and have been pro-actively invited to get involved in club competitions and social events too.
“All of this has been underpinned through regular communications, so that our new and existing members know exactly what’s happening and when.
“Another focus has been to promote our facilities for use by community groups. With a refurbished bar lounge, our facilities have been modernised over the past four years and now offers a great space. We now have two community groups who hold their monthly meetings at our club. We have also held several Try Bowls socials for businesses, to bring their clients and staff along to, as well as numerous party bookings.”
Q3. Explain the process involved in achieving gold and outline who from the club was involved?
LH: “Working through the stages of the BowlsMark criteria, bronze, silver and gold took us on a journey. The activity was overseen by our secretary, who pulled in help as required from committee and indeed members, and our wider membership were kept updated on our progress throughout.
“As mentioned, we recognised early that we met a fair percentage of the BowlsMark criteria already, which allowed us to plan and prioritise how to work through any gaps identified to do things differently and better.
“At bronze, the governance session helped engage the full committee and educate them around the importance of all our policies, processes and procedures.
“At silver, one of the things we attended to was to take feedback and further enhance our already fairly comprehensive Members Welcome Pack.
“Going for gold, the discussions in the National Development Officer workshop focussing on strategic development and community engagement helped us as a committee to recognise and leverage our existing strengths, whilst also engaging the committee team on what we could do better.
“The club committee deserve huge credit for their pro-activeness and collaboration to bring our plans alive.”
Q4. Would you encourage other clubs to engage with BowlsMark and why?
LH: “Absolutely!
“Our club committee found the BowlsMark scheme a very positive journey, and we have truly felt the benefit.
“We would recommend all clubs have a look at the criteria which builds on your club’s foundation and takes it to a higher standard based on good practices.
“Whilst we did much of the work ourselves, there is good guidance on Bowls Scotland’s website, our NDO was always on hand for support, and we would say too that there are other clubs not too far from you, who you can use to learn from and indeed help each other.
“We believe we are in a much better place having achieved gold certification, and our vision of ‘Bowls at the heart of our Melrose Community’ is alive and strong.”
Q5. Tell us about some highlights from 2025 season, are there any new plans for 2026 now club has achieved the gold award?
LH: “The 2025 season has been pretty successful at Melrose Bowling Club. Here’s some of our key highlights below:
- Our gents seniors side won the Borders Seniors League with a 100% unbeaten record across 14 matches, and backed this up by also winning the gents seniors knock out cup.
- Our gents side finished second in division one of the Border League and were narrowly beaten in Border Bowling Association (BBA) district final of both top ten and top five.
- Our gents pair also won the BBA pairs title.
- Our ladies finished in fourth place in their league, which was their highest finishing position for many years, and they put up a great defence of their top five title achieved in 2024, by reaching the semi-final this time around.
- Our ladies seniors also finished fourth in their league.
- We had two reps in the Bowls Scotland District 30 final, our gents triple losing narrowly, and our youth single qualifying for Ayr, and picking up a bronze medal.
- Our influx of new members has added so much to our club in 2025, with such enthusiasm and willingness to get involved – which gives us great optimism for 2026 season already.
- We have also instigated a ‘Friday Club’ over the winter months, with numerous members committing to a couple of hours each week to prioritise and work through repair, maintenance and improvement works in and around our facilities.”
Thank you to Lee for sharing an insight into Melrose Bowling Club’s impressive progress over the last few years. Congratulations once again to everyone involved at the club!
BowlsMark is Bowls Scotland’s Club Accreditation Scheme which aims to provide a nationally recognised standard to enable clubs to develop safe, effective and welcoming environments for all. There are currently three different levels of BowlsMark, bronze, silver and gold which clubs can progress through and complete with the support of their National Development Officer for free. Achieving each level can assist clubs with membership growth and retention, obtaining external funding, and many other benefits.