Waterloo Bowling Green........Absolute Tip

[Alfie Conn]

What has happened to the once pristine jewel in the Fylde bowling crown?. Just looking at it today through the rusting gates,a scene of total neglect. The remaining stands are rotting,even the green itself has been left uncut with knee high weeds growing out of the gulley's. Is there no call for crown green bowling anymore?.A real shame to let the Wembley of bowling greens rot away like this.

 

[Ginge]

It doesn't fit Sky tvs business model. Simple as.

 

[Steb]

Funny enough was speaking to my dad about bowling today, he’s played in leagues for years. He was saying teams are struggling for players

 

[bfcpete]

1960s to 1980s was its main era, when the BBC filmed the main Waterloo tournament plus its own Top Crown competition. In 2015 ITV4 briefly filmed that years Wateloo Handicap due to a £50k sponsorship from the local Co-op funeral service (sounds appropriate!). That was the first time in over 20 years that a bowls event had been televised from there. Symptomatic of the different interests of the tv companies and the general public, together with the general decline of investment in Blackpool over that period. It was looking shabby even before Covid, which will have made matters worse.

 

[This is Ska]

You couldn’t move round there during finals week, it used to be rammed.

 

[poolseasider]

The Layton Institute has reopened the bowling green this year and I spoke to someone who uses the pub he told me the bowlers rarely spend owt bringing their own food and drink use the facilities but hardly put any money in the till for the running of the place.
Waterloo similar?

 

[Steb]

The Layton Institute has reopened the bowling green this year and I spoke to someone who uses the pub he told me the bowlers rarely spend owt bringing their own food and drink use the facilities but hardly put any money in the till for the running of the place.
Waterloo similar?

Probably right. Definitely not like having a Sunday league team where you get 10-20 lads having a few pints Sunday afternoon.

 

[CGP1]

What everyone said above is pretty much spot on.

Some of the more prominent bowlers round here have been trying to raise money to keep it going, I believe they've achieved a very good sum too, but it's still not enough.

Flat green is a lot easier to televise as the camera can run overhead. There's a lot more money in it so it gets the coverage. When ITV4 did the Waterloo a few years back I believe the viewing figures were good. The winner was getting about 1500-2k. At the same time the winner at Potters Bar, the indoor one the BBC show, was getting 55-60k.

The game started to die in the 90s when the Masters tournament was lost. It was the biggest winner's cheque in crown, sponsored by Bass, ITV coverage throughout the day. Field of 32 who all qualified by winning one of the 32 comps through the season that were marked as Masters entry. All big ones, the Waterloo, Talbot and Fleetwood Festival were all on that list. When Bass pulled out there was a knock on on all the rest.

Locally the game's still played by lots of people, generally until they're no longer with us. I've been playing 38 years, you see the same faces every year. The game has a limited amount of time left, but it will take a long time for it to get there totally. It'll just keep reducing in size until there's not enough left to make it worthwhile.

Shame, it's cheap to play, keeps you fit (you can walk a couple of miles in a game). I thought about asking on here if anyone fancied a social afternoon giving the game a go at my local club. I'd happily show you the basics, maybe run a small comp to get everyone involved, bring a beer, that sort of thing. Don't know why I never did really, so this is me offering!

 

[bleach51]

Are the bowling greens at Fairhaven Lake still there.( I’m sure they were crown as they slopes away to the corners)

Way back when ( circa 1968 I’m guessing ) I worked there in the summer school holidays for the Council Parks Department .One of our duties was to water( no saturate) the greens each morning so they had zip when they dried out.Sometimes I had to work in the Kiosk ( Hut) where people paid to play on the greens or the putting greens nearby.
People who had to hire their bowls would often ask me which ” woods” to use....as if I knewbut would have fun blagging it.The greens always looked superb but then the whole area was kept in great nick which of course down to the great team working there..My attempts( skills) at bowling were about as good as my ten pin bowling ones ie ..Rubbish.

Have many memories about working there were .My older brother actually worked in the treasury department at St.Annes town hall and one his roles was to come down to the “Lake” to hand out the pay packers to out to us all personally each week.Another regular job was to shovel the sand back over the sea wall when the winds had blown it all over which was ok unless it was still windy when half it would come back straight at you.As for H&S in those days it’s hard to believe some of the equipment we were allowed to use especially the vicious looking deep cutting mowers on the steep grass banks on the sea side of the lake without much training or supervision.
Great funand Happy Days back then.

 

[Seaside Aggro]

Used to play a bit out in China. Out there it was open late at night and you could have drinks and food, like ten pin bowling.

 

[Matesrates]

The Layton Institute has reopened the bowling green this year and I spoke to someone who uses the pub he told me the bowlers rarely spend owt bringing their own food and drink use the facilities but hardly put any money in the till for the running of the place.
Waterloo similar?

It’s just not cricket.

 

[Pauls_Boutique]

Are the bowling greens at Fairhaven Lake still there.( I’m sure they were crown as they slopes away to the corners)

Way back when ( circa 1968 I’m guessing ) I worked there in the summer school holidays for the Council Parks Department .One of our duties was to water( no saturate) the greens each morning so they had zip when they dried out.Sometimes I had to work in the Kiosk ( Hut) where people paid to play on the greens or the putting greens nearby.
People who had to hire their bowls would often ask me which ” woods” to use....as if I knewbut would have fun blagging it.The greens always looked superb but then the whole area was kept in great nick which of course down to the great team working there..My attempts( skills) at bowling were about as good as my ten pin bowling ones ie ..Rubbish.

Have many memories about working there were .My older brother actually worked in the treasury department at St.Annes town hall and one his roles was to come down to the “Lake” to hand out the pay packers to out to us all personally each week.Another regular job was to shovel the sand back over the sea wall when the winds had blown it all over which was ok unless it was still windy when half it would come back straight at you.As for H&S in those days it’s hard to believe some of the equipment we were allowed to use especially the vicious looking deep cutting mowers on the steep grass banks on the sea side of the lake without much training or supervision.
Great funand Happy Days back then.

The bowling greens at Fairhaven Lake are indeed still there. As are the ones at Lowther Gardens and the ones by Poets Corner in Lytham near where I live.

All seem very well populated whenever I go passed, maybe that is more due to the demographic of this town.

 

[Balgowlahseasider]

What everyone said above is pretty much spot on.

Some of the more prominent bowlers round here have been trying to raise money to keep it going, I believe they've achieved a very good sum too, but it's still not enough.

Flat green is a lot easier to televise as the camera can run overhead. There's a lot more money in it so it gets the coverage. When ITV4 did the Waterloo a few years back I believe the viewing figures were good. The winner was getting about 1500-2k. At the same time the winner at Potters Bar, the indoor one the BBC show, was getting 55-60k.

The game started to die in the 90s when the Masters tournament was lost. It was the biggest winner's cheque in crown, sponsored by Bass, ITV coverage throughout the day. Field of 32 who all qualified by winning one of the 32 comps through the season that were marked as Masters entry. All big ones, the Waterloo, Talbot and Fleetwood Festival were all on that list. When Bass pulled out there was a knock on on all the rest.

Locally the game's still played by lots of people, generally until they're no longer with us. I've been playing 38 years, you see the same faces every year. The game has a limited amount of time left, but it will take a long time for it to get there totally. It'll just keep reducing in size until there's not enough left to make it worthwhile.

Shame, it's cheap to play, keeps you fit (you can walk a couple of miles in a game). I thought about asking on here if anyone fancied a social afternoon giving the game a go at my local club. I'd happily show you the basics, maybe run a small comp to get everyone involved, bring a beer, that sort of thing. Don't know why I never did really, so this is me offering!

Very disappointing to hear the demise of the Waterloo….I left Blackpool in 1986 having played @ Carlton & Bispham Cons…the Waterloo was always a pleasure to play on, & the Autumn Finals was a big day….
All Flat & boring in AUS….I’ve given it a go & didn’t enjoy it, CG bowling has the ‘one on one’ competition, good banter & fun…

 

[Lytham_fy8]

What's happened to the bowling at the park? Everything is still boarded up and the greens are used for underage drinking.

 

[1966_and_all_that]

The Layton Institute has reopened the bowling green this year and I spoke to someone who uses the pub he told me the bowlers rarely spend owt bringing their own food and drink use the facilities but hardly put any money in the till for the running of the place.
Waterloo similar?

I think that's a general feature Poolseasider. At the club where I'm a member the bowling is in a healthy state but the participation is not reflected in the bar takings - certainly not on match days. As for the Waterloo, it's a disgrace. A once proud emblem of our town being left to rot.

 

[1966_and_all_that]

What everyone said above is pretty much spot on.

Some of the more prominent bowlers round here have been trying to raise money to keep it going, I believe they've achieved a very good sum too, but it's still not enough.

Flat green is a lot easier to televise as the camera can run overhead. There's a lot more money in it so it gets the coverage. When ITV4 did the Waterloo a few years back I believe the viewing figures were good. The winner was getting about 1500-2k. At the same time the winner at Potters Bar, the indoor one the BBC show, was getting 55-60k.

The game started to die in the 90s when the Masters tournament was lost. It was the biggest winner's cheque in crown, sponsored by Bass, ITV coverage throughout the day. Field of 32 who all qualified by winning one of the 32 comps through the season that were marked as Masters entry. All big ones, the Waterloo, Talbot and Fleetwood Festival were all on that list. When Bass pulled out there was a knock on on all the rest.

Locally the game's still played by lots of people, generally until they're no longer with us. I've been playing 38 years, you see the same faces every year. The game has a limited amount of time left, but it will take a long time for it to get there totally. It'll just keep reducing in size until there's not enough left to make it worthwhile.

Shame, it's cheap to play, keeps you fit (you can walk a couple of miles in a game). I thought about asking on here if anyone fancied a social afternoon giving the game a go at my local club. I'd happily show you the basics, maybe run a small comp to get everyone involved, bring a beer, that sort of thing. Don't know why I never did really, so this is me offering!

Good substantive post CGP1. An AVFTT bowling comp, now there's an idea.

 

[poolseasider]

Who owns the bowling green the pub?
They've been close to going bust in the pandemic and they now have become a live music venue not sure Crown Green Bowls would be high on the agenda.

 

[CGP1]

Bowling green maintenance costs thousands every year sadly, and especially in the current climate funds are having too go elsewhere. The Raikes has been let go this last two years, and a lot of the lads who played there have gone to Layton - albeit a lot of them came from there in the first place when Layton finished 10 years back.

I was at a rep match yesterday with a lot of the Blackpool based players - Layton/Marton lads. It's the knock on effects that really kills things. Around this time of year, the game was huge round here: Waterloo played from last 64 down to a finish, followed by the Talbot finals day and then the Ladies day, Charlie Tattersall Memorial, and Champion of Champions, all in one week. Marton had it's own comp through the week as well, to give an alternative to those who didn't make it, plus more spectating at night, huge bar takings. What they raised almost paid for the end of season maintenance programme.

All that's gone now, bar the Talbot at Layton - finals day on Thursday this week, weather forecast to be somewhat north of awful. So there'll be few spectators, finance affected again. Layton would have been expecting to make a lot of money from that day.

It's great to have Layton back on the rota, but it's a very different place to 10 years ago. I've played there three times this year, gone in for a pint with their lads - we've been virtually the only people in the place each time.

 

[CGP1]

But seriously, if anyone fancied giving it a go I'd be more than happy to meet you and show you the game, assuming you hadn't played before.

66 - yes, in my wildest moments, I used to wonder if there'd be enough interest to do a bowling day, along the same lines as the golf one we have. I look after the Norcross green, we could have it there and you'd only need to pay a nominal fee to HASSRA (the sportsfield's funding) to use it. We could bring our own refreshments, make a day of it. Sadly left it too late for this year but if anyone's interested keep it mind and see what we can do next year..