Places are still available for teams to enter this seasons ‘County League’. The aim of the league is to develop club bowling across the five district regions of our County: Fylde, Preston, Lancaster, Blackburn and East Lancs.

Part of the appeal of this league is the opportunity to play against new players, and on new greens. Open to new and experienced bowlers, open age, teams can be made up of male and female bowlers.

The general structure will be as follows:

• 6 players per team playing singles matches
• 6 teams per division, playing a standard home and away format through the season (April to September)
• Games will be played fortnightly, with teams only having one away fixture per month
• All matches to be played on Friday evenings
• Promotion and relegation across divisions

If any team is interested in joining the league for the 2025 season, please email secretary.nlfcba@gmail.com

League and Match rules can be viewed on the NLFCBA website

NLFCBA 2025 AGM will be held on Sunday 2nd February at 12pm, at the Canberra Club, Samlesbury Aerodrome, A59 Samlesbury, BB2 7LF.

Representatives from all North Lancs & Fylde affiliated Clubs and Leagues are requested to attend. All bowlers are welcome.

Following the AGM, an update on the BCGBA National Development plan and Q&A session will be held for those who wish to attend.

The BCGBA AGM and Rules Revision Meeting was held yesterday, at Winnington Park, Cheshire, with the key outcomes being summarised below:

• The National Development Strategy was approved with an overwhelming majority. This will see the introduction of a £1 per player, per Club ‘Annual Development Fee’ being introduced. This money, which will be ringfenced, will go directly to expenditure highlighted within the BCGBA National Development Strategy, to support grassroots Clubs to grow and develop. The ‘Annual Development Fee’ will be for a minimum of 3 years, and will be reported on annually.

• Clarification within the Laws of the Sport that any bowl travelling over a footer must be returned.

• Introduction of a maximum weight of a bowl. This has been set at 3lb.

• Clarification within the Laws of the Sport that a disturbed bowl should be treated the same as a disturbed jack (as per existing law).

• Nicotine inhalers have been added to the list of devices that cannot be used on the green during play (unless there is a medical exemption).

• Clarification that players will not be allowed to play in bare or stocking feet.

• A proposal to add practice for Ladies County matches was not carried.

• The 18-23 Open Championship has been amended to 18-25.

• Changes to the structure of the World Club Team Championship were approved. This amends the group structure to round-robin matches for the qualifying rounds. As part of this, the competition name has been changed to the BCGBA Club Team Championship.

Full details will be circulated, in due course, to all Association Secretaries.

Happy New Year to all our clubs, leagues, and bowling members.

NLFCBA AGM

NLFCBA 2025 AGM will be held on Sunday 2nd February at 12pm, at the Canberra Club, Samlesbury Aerodrome, A59 Samlesbury, BB2 7LF.
Representatives from all North Lancs & Fylde affiliated Clubs and Leagues are requested to attend.
Following the AGM, an update on the BCGBA National Development plan and Q&A session will be held for those who wish to attend.

Upcoming Safeguarding Courses & DBS renewals

• Saturday 1st February 2025, 10:00 to 12:30pm at Cavendish Park Bowling Club, Cavendish Recreation Ground, Holmfield Road, Bispham, FY2 9LN
• Saturday 1st February 2025, 2:00 to 4:00pm at Luneside Bowling Club,Fairfield Close, off Fairfield Road, Lancaster LA1 5NT
• Saturday 1st March 2025, 12:00 to 2:30pm at Ighten Mount Bowling Club,Romford St, Burnley, BB12 8AF

Prices:
DBS Renewal is Free
Safeguarding Course is £15 for the first person from the club and £8 for the second/extra person(s).

Please text Sue Sinclair on 07515 288102 or email to suesinclair1958@gmail.com to book club members onto the Safeguarding Course and for the DBS renewal.

Note: Anyone attending the course and for DBS renewal will need to bring with them a form of photo ID, Driving Licence/Passport and copy of a utility bill with home address.
DBS certificates need to renewed every 3yrs from the date of issue.

CR2 Forms

An email was sent to all club secretaries in November, requesting completion of the CR2 membership form which we require all clubs to complete for all your bowling members for the past 2024 season. This is so we can ensure that the National Player Registration Database is up to date for our County. To date we have only received 1/3 of completed forms from clubs. Can you please check your emails. Completed forms need to be returned to the County Secretary and County Registrar. Blank forms can be downloaded from the NLFCBA website by clicking this link BCGBA CR2 Bowling Members Form

Many thanks to those clubs that have returned completed forms.

BCGBA Insurance

The British Crown Green Bowling Association (BCGBA) has taken out a new and improved Group Insurance Policy for 2025 and cover, which runs from 1 January 2025 up until 31 December 2025. This replaces the previous Endsleigh Insurance Policy.

The old insurance portal on the BCGBA website is now closed – please do not use..

If members choose to opt in to the new policy they must opt in to the whole policy, they cannot just opt in to parts of the policy.

The cost of the new BCGBA Policy is £55, and a summary of the cover along with the policy document and payment details to the BCGBA, can be found by visiting BCGBA Group Insurance Policy page on the NLFCBA website. Details have also been emailed to all Club and League Secretaries.

County Competitions

Champion of League Champions 2025 – Saturday 5th April at St. Andrews Cricket & Bowling Club, Burnley

All leagues are to submit their 2024 League Merit Winner to County Competitions Secretary, Andy Fleming on 07870 663876 or via Facebook Messenger
Entry fee is £10 and will be collected within 2025 North Lancs & Fylde CBA League Affiliation Fee payment

Dates of other Men’s and Ladies competitions will be coming soon. Please check the North Lancs & Fylde Facebook page, NLFCBA website pages County Competitions and Ladies County Competitions

North Lancs & Fylde CBA County Safeguarding Officer, Sue Sinclair, will be holding several Safeguarding Courses and DBS Certificate Renewal in the New Year (February & March)

• Saturday 1st February 2025, 10:00 to 12:30pm at Cavendish Park Bowling Club, Cavendish Recreation Ground, Holmfield Road, Bispham, FY2 9LN
• Saturday 1st February 2025, 2:00 to 4:00pm at Luneside Bowling Club, Fairfield Close, off Fairfield Road, Lancaster LA1 5NT
• Saturday 1st March 2025, 12:00 to 2:30pm at Ighten Mount Bowling Club,Romford St, Burnley, BB12 8AF

Prices:
DBS Renewal is Free
Safeguarding Course is £15 for the first person from the club and £8 for the second/extra person(s).

Please text Sue Sinclair on 07515 288102 or email to suesinclair1958@gmail.com to book club members onto the Safeguarding Course and for the DBS renewal.

Note: Anyone attending the course and for DBS renewal will need to bring with them a form of photo ID, Driving Licence/Passport and copy of a utility bill with home address.
DBS certificates need to renewed every 3yrs from the date of issue.

Please find the Safeguarding Bulletin for December.

Please find the attached BCGBA National Development Strategy.

North Lancs & Fylde County Development Officer, Steve Clamp has put in a lot of time and effort to produce this document on behalf of the BCGBA.

Please forward and share with your club members on the strategy ‘to move the sport forwards into the modern landscape’.

Please find the latest News and Offers from Easyfundraising and how shopping online can make extra funds for your bowls club

Please be advised that the Safeguarding course and DBS renewals planned for Saturday 19th October has been cancelled due to course instructor unavailability. This has now been rescheduled for February.

The next Safeguarding Courses and DBS Certificate Renewal will take place on the following dates and venues:

Sunday 20th October 12:00 to 2:30pm at Canberra Sports & Social Club, Samlesbury Aerodrome, A59 Samlesbury, BB2 7LD

Saturday 1st February 2025, 10:00 to 12:30pm at Cavendish Park Bowling Club, Cavendish Recreation Ground, Holmfield Road, Bispham, FY2 9LN

Saturday 1st February 2025, 2:00 to 4:00pm at Luneside Bowling Club,Fairfield Close, off Fairfield Road, Lancaster LA1 5NT

Prices:
DBS Renewal is Free
Safeguarding Course is £15 for the first person from the club and £8 for the second/extra person(s).

Please text Sue Sinclair on 07515 288102 or email to suesinclair1958@gmail.com to book club members onto the Safeguarding Course and for the DBS renewal.

Note: Anyone attending the course and for DBS renewal will need to bring with them a form of photo ID, Driving Licence/Passport and copy of a utility bill with home address.
DBS certificates need to renewed every 3yrs from the date of issue.

BDA Week of Learning Workshops – 14th to 18th October 2024

Bowls Development Alliance Week of Learning is taking place from Monday 14th October to Friday 18th October. Registration for the workshops are now open and can be found on the BDA Education Platform. More information can be found by clicking the link below and on the BDA website:  https://bowlsdevelopmentalliance.com/education/

The upcoming week of Learning will feature workshops covering topics including: Safeguarding, Funding and Finances, Engaging Your Community and Social Media.

These free webinars are open to any club affiliated to Bowls England, English Indoor Bowling Association, English Short Mat Bowling Association or British Crown Green Bowling Association.

Places for each webinar are limited and bookings will close three days prior to each event. If you miss the cut off date but would still like to attend please email: clubdevelopment@bowlsdevelopmentalliance.com and they will do their best to fit you onto the workshop.

Easyfundraising

Funding platform easyfundraising has 250 free fundraising toolkits to give away to help your club raise money easily online.
Through easyfundraising, 8,000 online retailers will donate money to your club when your members shop with them. Retailers include Tesco, Trainline, eBay, Argos, Just Eat, Sainsbury’s, John Lewis, Asda, Booking.com and 8,000 others.

All you need to do is use the free packs to tell your community about it!
The packs contain shareable content to help you get your members raising money for your club, including social media posts, newsletter contents, poster, flyers and more.

To get your complimentary pack, register your club for free with easyfundraising. When prompted, choose the option to schedule a call with a member of the team, who will then arrange your free toolkit and explain how easyfundraising works.
There are only 250 packs available so when they’re gone, they’re gone! Get yours today:
https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/crown-green-bowls/