Play Bowls

Whether you’re looking for a sociable place to make new friends, find a new sport to get into or you’re on the hunt for a fun activity for the whole family – Bowling with us at Millwood is the answer.

Bowls takes just a couple of coaching sessions to learn, but a lifetime to master – so what are you waiting for?

3 Reasons:

1. Playing bowls is possible for everyone. Whatever your physique, bowls is a sport for all and it will help improve your fitness levels, help you meet new people and is great for your mental wellbeing.

2. Bowls is not expensive, especially compared to other sports. To get going you don’t need lots of new kit and we put on coaching sessions for free. Even when you get the bug, a set of second-hand bowls can cost as little as £100 and last for a few years.

3. Compared to most sports, age and gender differences have less of an effect on a game of bowls, so it’s a perfect sport to spend time and enjoy a bit of friendly competition with your friends and family.

Please don’t buy your first set of bowls until you have spoken with a coach

It’s normal to feel slightly apprehensive about starting something new, but bowls is a sport that is easy to take up.

The rules of the game are relatively simple, the basic technique is not complex and you don’t need lots of new kit or equipment.

Bowls is played on a square of grass called a green, which is divided into lanes called rinks. Players take turns to deliver their bowls from a mat at one end of the rink towards a small white target ball, often referred to as the ’jack’, situated near the other end.

The bowls are shaped so that they take a curved path towards the jack, known as the bias. Each model of bowl has a different bias. So don’t buy any bowls until the advantages and disadvantages of a bowl’s bias is explained to you. This is also the case in the size of each bowl. Modern bowls sizes go from ‘double zeros’ to size 5, and all the sizes in between to suit the bowlers hand.

The aim of the game is to get your bowls closest to the jack. One point is given for each bowl nearer the jack than the nearest bowl of your opponent. For example, if you or your team has three bowls closer to the jack than your opponent’s nearest bowl then you will score three for that end.

Each game is split into individual ends. After playing all the bowls in one direction and agreeing the score, the next end is played back down the rink in the opposite direction. The winner of the previous end will cast the jack.

There are different formats of the game. You can play singles or as part of a team, and a match can vary in length. The winner can either be the one who has scored the most shots after a specified number of ends or the first to reach a designated score.