Dirleton BC Club Story
Bowls Scotland are delighted that Dirleton BC in District 17 have completed their online affiliation and competition entries for the 2023 season. The club has experienced a decline in membership in recent years but following a busy 2022 season which saw improvements to clubhouse facilities, a recruitment drive and a focus on community fundraising, the clubs’ 24 members now look ahead to 2023 with anticipation.
We spoke to Anderina Soave, Secretary of the club to find out more…
“2022 was a good year for Dirleton BC. Our clubhouse underwent significant refurbishment during the winter/spring of 2021/2022 when we corrected major damp issues, installed a new roof, additional windows and a new floor. We were able to secure grant funding for most of the work, but our members all had to pull together and do the decorating both inside and out. We started the season with a beautiful new clubhouse which the Lord Lieutenant of East Lothian opened.
“Unfortunately, our membership had declined to very low numbers which meant we couldn’t affiliate with Bowls Scotland or East Lothian Bowling Association. However instead of taking part in the local leagues we focussed on our Hat Games, internal club competitions and local friendlies. We also had a recruitment drive and managed to attract some new members.
“Fundraising became our key focus as we needed to buy new furniture, a shed and a pool table for our clubhouse. We run a coffee & cake morning, a bric-a-brac sale, an invitational pairs tournament, numerous raffles and have recently started a monthly bingo session. Also, to promote togetherness we’ve introduced member’s lunches. We had a lunch at Christmas, a Burns Supper and in the pipeline we have ‘a Pie, a Pint and a Pudding’ and a Coronation celebration. This year our attention needs to focus on improving our green and our fundraising activities will be directed to this.”
Looking ahead to the 2023 season, Dirleton will continue their community events at the clubhouse and look forward to inviting local clubs to enjoy their updated facilities for friendlies and competitions. As a Try Bowls Club, Dirleton offer their local community the opportunity to try our sport at their club. Hopefully with this friendly, open-door policy, membership will continue to increase into the 2023 season using the foundations laid in 2022.
“The good news this year is that we have enough members willing to take part in the East Lothian Division 4 Friday night league and a Wednesday afternoon ladies league. We have already affiliated with Bowls Scotland using the online process which was fairly easy to undertake. We are also promoting the use of the Bowls Scotland website and individual membership thereof to our members at our AGM in March.
“We are very much looking forward to the 2023 season, internal competitions, league games and our friendlies with our neighbouring clubs.”
Huge thanks to Anderina for sharing some news from the club, we wish all at Dirleton BC the best for their 2023 season and beyond.