The rebirth of a community bowls club
2021. An inward-looking bowls club is reduced to 5 members. It votes 3-2 to stay open. Emboldened by a gift of desperation it throws an Open Day for the public with free cream teas provided by a local baker. Twenty new members join. A new committee is formed and the new members vote to be guided by three values: "Accessibility" ("Sport for all") - "Inclusivity" ("Everyone made to feel at home at the Club") and "Financial Self-Sufficiency" ("the Council club wishes to become self-reliant by providing community services").
Looking outwards to help internally has worked. It now has 105 playing members including 24 juniors and 11 additional needs players, as well as 58 social members. It runs a successful junior section with the largest number of junior members in Surrey, out of 118 clubs. It has fundraised successfully for 11 sets of new junior bowls and for a £2,700 "Bowls Royce" Wheelchair.
It also runs an Adult with Learning Difficulties section with 25 happy players playing every week. The members have agreed that their clubhouse is used as a Community Cafe open 7 days a week and serving 50-100 customers every weekend, becoming a local community hub in the Park. On Tuesdays a local additional needs school runs the cafe. It runs regular Wellness Walks with the local NHS social prescriber, with free coffee and bacon rolls provided to 15-20 socially isolated. It also offers Barefoot Bowls for the public. In 2022 it ran a "Party in the Park" which attracted 600 attendees, with bowls competitions, archery and 600 free Cream Teas given away to local people. In 2023 it hosted celebrations for the Park's Centenary, with another party for local people, more free cream teas, including tea in the Clubhouse for local dignitaries: inc. the local MP, Mayor, Councillors and the Deputy Lord Lieutenant. In 2022 the Club won the national Bowls England "Story of the Year" and in 2023 it won a "Club of the Year" award from Runnymede BC. It will become "Victory Park CIC" in 2025.