A public meeting was held at the Sun Castle in Skegness to explore ways to save the North Parade Bowling Greens.
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00:00It is the EPF's hope, and we will not rest until we've done everything we can to support
00:13any group that can take on these greens, to keep them to the standard that they once were.
00:21And they were a decent standard. It's only got to look like this over the last ten years.
00:30And I think they've been deliberately downgrading the greens, particularly over the last five years.
00:39And I believe that the problem we have now got is that, from an EPF perspective, it becomes very embarrassing for us.
00:53When we hold county competitions all over the country, people qualify to come and play at the Skep Ness
01:03and then have to play on greens, which they describe as cabbage patches.
01:08And not being funny about it, that's basically what they are.
01:14The EPF is putting some money into it this year because we've now asked someone to try and make the greens as good as they can
01:25between now and the EPF championships in August.
01:30So we're investing a little bit of money at the moment because we feel it's the right thing to do.
01:37What we would love to see is a body taking over these greens so that they become responsible for the greens.
01:47And I'm sure in a town like Skep Ness, there are people out there who would willingly volunteer to help maintain the greens,
01:59provided they were given the right training and everything else.
02:02Because that's what happens in bowling clubs throughout the country.
02:07So it can happen here in Skep Ness.
02:10So I'm really, really fully behind what these gents are doing and I think they're doing a brilliant job so far.
02:18And the EPF will support them as far as they possibly can.
02:24Joseph Sires, I'm a bowler at Skep Ness Bowling Greens here.
02:28I live here all summer and I'm the main organiser of the competition this week.
02:33Some of the hoteliers here do know me because you support us.
02:37If we do get an extension, then I will volunteer.
02:43I will run another week with help somewhere along the timeline.
02:49And just to say that Mangalbisa didn't know that this competition was running, but the ERDC has said they didn't.
02:55I don't know whether or not I'm grateful for them.
02:57And I will help you in any way I can.
03:03I'm Julianne Bunt and I've got the North Craig Hotel on the scene for Skep Ness.
03:07Now you've come along to the public meeting about the bowling greens tonight.
03:12Would you like to see them saved?
03:15Yes, I would.
03:16Why is that?
03:18The income that it brings to the area is absolutely phenomenal.
03:22We've met a lot of friends through the bowling.
03:24It's a brilliant thing to see people coming here.
03:28They've been coming for years.
03:30It would just be a massive loss to the town.
03:32It's not only from our hotel, it's the pubs, it's the bars, it's the friends that they've all made along the way.
03:40It would just be such a huge loss to us.
03:42I mean, there are two big weeks at the moment in Skep Ness.
03:47Are they good for business for you?
03:49Oh, definitely.
03:50There was about five, I think, maybe four, that used to run every single year.
03:55And every time they were on, we were full.
03:58And now it's obviously come down to two.
04:00Josie, she's done a lot of the hard work for this one to even get this to go ahead in June.
04:06We do the adverts.
04:07We pay Josie to do a lot of the work that she does here just to be able to keep this June one going.
04:12So, yeah, it's sad that it's diminishing.
04:15It's such a shame.
04:17They were hoping that it would build up.
04:19Is that something you'd like to see in the future?
04:22Yes, it would, because it means that more hotels, more caravans, more B&Bs, more air B&Bs are going to be full.
04:30So it's just a win-win situation because it's just income that's coming into the area, which we all desperately need.
04:38Richard, a great turnout tonight.
04:40How are you feeling?
04:41Yes, we're very pleased with how the meeting's progressed tonight.
04:45We feel we've made really positive steps towards moving this in the right direction,
04:51given the circumstances of which the meeting has to take place.
04:57We're working with a very short timescale here, and we're going to build a North Parade Bowling Green Association
05:03to hopefully progress this matter with East Indoor District Council.
05:06Now, if anybody wanted to get involved and support you, how would they do that?
05:10Well, as you can see, since the meeting ended about 10 minutes ago, we've still got signatures coming in now.
05:15So the first step will be we'll contact all parties that have expressed an interest in joining,
05:22and then we will call an association meeting to decide which is the best way to progress.
05:27Just keep watching the news and see how people can help.
05:31Thank you very much, yes.