Peebles BC Club Story
Peebles Bowling Club have experienced a huge increase in membership over the last few seasons thanks to hard work from the committee and members promoting their club as being open to the whole community. From 89 members in 2016, the club now boasts an incredible 204 members. In May 2024 the club became the third bowling club in Scotland to be awarded their Gold BowlsMark accreditation, demonstrating good practice and committing to develop our sport for future generations, they were also awarded Sports Club of the Year from ClubSport Tweeddale, showcasing grassroots bowls to a wide sporting audience.
The club have found that the national recognition of the BowlsMark accreditation was a useful feather in their cap for funding processes, something they have been heavily involved in having just completed work on a £200,000 funded clubhouse extension in time for the 2025 season. This project has been 6 years in the making, we spoke to President Colin Thomson (CT) and Secretary Miller Milloy (MM) for a Q&A to find out more…
Q: Tell us some highlights from the 2024 season for the club, and plans looking ahead for 2025…
CT: "The 2024 season started off with our annual Traders event which sees over 120 ‘non-bowlers’ on our green in one single day! Our club secretary just so happened to be heavily involved with a Bowls England touring team which based themselves in Peebles. Many of them arrived in Peebles the Sunday of the event and couldn’t believe what they were seeing. We’re still being contacted by clubs down South about how we run it, the pro’s, con’s and benefits!
"At the end of the season we embarked on a 6-month project where we were building a new extension to improve both toilet and changing facilities which has completed just in time for the new 2025 season! Local contractors were used, many of which had played in our Traders Tournament, so you sensed they felt part of what we were trying to achieve! The new facilities are part of a project which we hope will improve accessibility for members, prospective members and the wider community as phase two of the extension will see improvements made to the clubhouse lounge area which local groups and associations utilise."
Q: Who from the club has been involved in the clubhouse extension project?
CT: "There was a subgroup formed 6 years ago from the main committee and that subgroup consisted of the President, Myself, Past-President Mark Smith, the Vice-President, Robbie Knox, our Secretary, Miller Milloy and the Treasurer at the time which was Liz McKenzie, is now Isabel Sterricks. We formed that subgroup, and we had various sessions, conducted SWOT analysis and so on, and we would meet regularly behind the scenes, planning this project. There were times that we involved other members of our general committee and other members to tap into their areas of expertise. Key to this was forming a small group so decision making was faster and easier to do."
Q: Why did Peebles sign up to BowlsMark?
CT: "I was contacted by Bob Ferenth of Nairn BC as he could see we were a club of similar ambition to theirs and he was interested in how we were going about becoming a ‘Charity’ and how did this all change our current set up and how did we go about changing. During the call he confirmed that Nairn BC had just received Gold BowlsMark accreditation, the 2nd Club in Scotland to do so! It wasn’t long before I realised, we were ticking many boxes for Bronze, Silver and indeed Gold already so I looked into this further and was determined Peebles BC became the 3rd!"
Q: How has the development programme benefitted the club?
CT: "Not only is it good PR, but it was also something that funders seemed really impressed with when we were applying for funding to help with our proposed extension which we finally opened Saturday 5th April 2025!"
MM: "One of our driving forces for creating accessible toilets and disabled access was that we wanted to extend bowling to people with a disability. Covid threw up people mental illness, people needing company, and so the bowling club suddenly became a focus for people wanting social interaction, but our facilities didn’t necessarily allow that interaction. So in terms of the community, I would say our membership growth in the past few years is indicative of the wider awareness of the bowling clubs existence in the community because of the work we have being to try to open up the space to the community, beyond just our existing members."
Q: Explain the process involved in achieving Gold and outline who from the club was involved.
CT: "The whole committee really. Once we got Bronze & Silver awarded, we aligned ourselves to make sure we ticked the remaining boxes to ensure we could apply for Gold! I think it’s important everyone gets involved and feels part of the process."
Q: Would you encourage other clubs to engage with BowlsMark - and why?
CT: "Why not? What’s to lose? It’s good to be recognised by your governing body and lets others know, potentially new members, that the club is well run. BowlsMark was also valuable to us when applying for funding for our new extension as it demonstrated good governance to potential funders."
Q: Describe how you began the funding process for the clubhouse development, what advice would you give other clubs?
MM: "First of all, we had to find out who would fund a project like ours! Many people can list all the funding agencies, but they don't appreciate that most of them have their source in Lottery - and you can only access Lottery once. So, you can either go via, say, sportscotland or community or enterprise, but they all end up at the National Lottery. So, you have decide which is the best avenue for you. In our case, we reckoned sportscotland, so we went to sportscotland initially. Then we looked at all the other possible funding agencies. Some are private, some are local authority; the Scottish Borders Council, for instance, had a number of different avenues. So, you have to cast your net fairly wide, you have to write a lot of introductory letters explaining what you're thinking of doing and asking them for advice on how best approach them. What are the kind of things they're looking for in an application? So, the short answer is it's one of patience. It's casting your net wide. It's asking other people who've done it before you ‘till you get a list of the funding agencies. And then you have to decide the order in which you're going to apply."
Q: What challenges did the project face along the way and how were these overcome?
MM: "In terms of funding one of the biggest challenges is getting all your ducks in a row. All the funding agencies have different starts and ends to the financial year they’ve all got different times for application. So you go ahead and you get a nod from one agency, but they want the money spent before December - another agency wants the money spent before the March so it’s getting all those ducks in line…and then others want it to begin before a certain time, and in our case we were determined not to begin until we could guarantee the project could be funded. You’re then tying that in with local planning permission, local architects and so on. Having a small project team, separate from, but accountable to the committee and club at AGM and EGM’s streamlined these challenges for us as decisions could be made more efficiently."
An opening event was held to celebrate the completion of phase one of Peebles clubhouse extension on Saturday 5th April. Bowls Scotland’s National Development Officers (NDOs) have provided support to the project over the years, with Stuart Bell, NDO for the East of Scotland having met with the club at the beginning of its journey, and Alan McDonald, NDO for the North and BowlsMark lead, supporting Peebles BC through their funding applications and on their BowlsMark journey. Reflecting on the changes the club has managed from his first engagement 6 years ago, and how the club has managed to position itself at the heart of the Peebles community, Stuart said:
“Peebles BC are a great example of a warm, welcoming bowling club; the changes the committee made to focus on community relationships, especially as a response to COVID-19 has led to an incredible increase in membership. The annual Traders Day event is a brilliant spectacle and really highlights the importance of social and community connection which our sport can bring. The clubs' new facilities are a positive step in modernising the clubhouse, with Phase 2 of the Development Plan still to come, the committee are ensuring Peebles BC is accessible to all and also fit for long-term sustainability. I was delighted to see the club, its members and the hardworking volunteers on the committee receive the title of Sports Club of the Year from ClubsSport Tweeddale in 2024, recognition which is wholly deserved after their years of commitment in shaping Peebles BC as a modern, welcoming, sustainable club at the heart of its community.”
Clubs looking to embark on their BowlsMark journey can find out more here or contact their NDO for support and more information. Bowls Scotland wishes to thank Colin and Miller for sharing news from the club and wish all at Peebles BC the best for the 2025 season.