Lancaster and Morecambe indoor bowling league celebrates near-£20K lottery grant

An indoor bowling league based at Salt Ayre Sports Centre is celebrating a near-£20K Lottery grant.

The Lancaster, Morecambe & District Indoor Bowling League received £19,999 of National Lottery funding to help purchase new bowling mats

Matches are played at Salt Ayre, Morecambe, from 10am until 4pm, with four different sessions with separate morning and afternoon leagues, from October until March each year.

The league currently has approximately 160 members, many of whom are retired.

It has been running for many years and the current mats are in a very poor state of repair. The new funding from The National Lottery Community Fund, which distributes money raised by National Lottery players for good causes and is the largest community funder in the UK, will ensure the league can continue to thrive for many years to come.

“We’re delighted that The National Lottery Community Fund has recognised our league in this way," said Mark Norcliffe, chairman of the league.

"Without this funding, there was a real possibility that the league would have folded as the current mats are becoming a health and safety concern and the cost of new mats was way beyond the means of our members.

"Now, thanks to National Lottery players, the future of our league is secured and our members can continue to enjoy the many benefits of our sport. We hope this will also encourage new players to come and give it a go."

The National Lottery Community Fund recently launched its strategy ‘It starts with community’, which will underpin its efforts to distribute at least £4 billion of National Lottery funding by 2030.

As part of this, the funder has four key missions, which are to support communities to come together, be environmentally sustainable, help children and young people thrive and enable people to live healthier lives.

National Lottery players raise over £30m a week for good causes across the UK. Thanks to them, last year (2023/24) The National Lottery Community Fund awarded over half a billion pounds (£686.3 million) of life-changing funding to communities across the UK, supporting over 13,700 projects to turn their great ideas into reality.