Bowling club in Morpeth launches Crowdfunding page to fund repairs so it can save its season

There is hope that the 2024 season can be saved as more than £5,000 has been pledged so far to its online fundraising page.

However, the nature of the Crowdfunding page set-up by St George’s Dragons Bowling Club and the arrangement with Sport England for match funding means that the full amount of £7,500 needs to be raised by the end of February.

The club, located off Whorral Bank within walking distance of St George’s Hospital, has been on the back foot for the past few years financially after Storm Arwen damage in 2021 as further bad weather since has meant the committee in charge of key decisions has had to focus on keeping things intact at the premises as best as possible.

But the addition of the recent winter storms has meant the damage is now very significant as water has managed to make its way in through the roof in a number of places.

Club secretary Neil Aitchison said the club is run in such a way as to keep fees as low as possible for members, which means there is just a small amount of financial reserves, so they decided to go-ahead with a Crowdfunding page – www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/st-georges-dragons-bc---renovation-works – to see if the required funds could be raised through this method.

He added: “You can only put so many sticking plasters in place and so we are now at the point where our 2024 season is in jeopardy because we need to carry out these costly repairs fairly quickly.

“Our spirits have been lifted over the last few days as the Crowdfunder has got off to an excellent start. The support from the bowls community, family and friends of our members, local businesses and the others who have donated has been amazing in our time of need.

“We have attracted 30 per cent matched funding from Sport England, but we need to stress that we will only get this if the full amount is raised and so we need the donations to continue.”

More information is available at the St George’s Dragons Bowling Club Facebook page, including details of a fancy dress Bowlathon fundraiser at West Denton IBC on February 24.