Our club was started around 30 years ago, when it was suggested that the sport of short mat bowls could be introduced as a sport that could appeal to many of the community, as both a fitness and social activity, open to both male & female players.  The new Community Centre proved to be a suitable venue for the game, and it was agreed to purchase the necessary equipment.

 

Almost immediately around 30 members were playing regularly, and it wasn’t long before the club participated in competitive events against other clubs in the area, and were also playing in the annual league competitions arranged by their county.  Initially Marshfield was part of the Avon county organisation, before eventually joining Wiltshire.

 

Fortunately,  Short Mat Bowls is a very popular sport in our region, and there are many opportunities for those players who wish to play competitively.  Not all do of course, the social benefit of club meetings is one reason for its popularity too.

Short Mat Bowls also have nationally organised inter-county competitions. Marshfield have a growing number of members who strive to become part of the Wiltshire inter-county squad.  As a result of a lot of hard training we have proved to be very successful in achieving this. 

 

Like most Short Mat Bowls Clubs we do have some challenges.  The most obvious one to any casual observer is that the age of our players is mostly around retirement age or older.  It is proving very difficult to interest younger players in our sport.  It lacks the appeal of football and cricket to both young males and female players, and despite efforts to engage via schools, progress is very limited. We are fortunate in having a spacious hall in which we can play twice a week, and storage place for the mats and other equipment we need.  Fundraising for replacement mats was a challenge too, but we were successful in obtaining several grants from local sources and from Sport England.