Charity Gala inc. Bowls Big Weekend,

Wow, what a great day was had at the Ibstock Bowls Club Charity gala that raised over £1300 in aid of SANDS.org.uk, UK’s leading pregnancy and baby loss charity. The event ran in conjunction with ‘Bowls England’s Bowls Big Weekend’ – an annual event that tries to encourage newcomers to take up Bowls. 

The event, sponsored by Our Community Voice, took place on Sunday 25th May and was opened by MP Amanda Hack. Over 100 people attended the event, which included various village stalls, including a ‘Bottle Tombola’ and a ‘Craft Tombola’, as well as the traditional cake stall, barbeque and refreshments. 

At 2pm, Amanda Hack fired the opening salvo of bowls, to begin a fun game of bowls between club members and Sands Utd FC – Ashby, who are representatives of the national charity.

At 3.30pm the event closed with the drawing of the grand raffle, and the auction of a ‘Carrot cake’ that turned out to be as competitive as the bowls match earlier in the afternoon.

The gala raised over £1300 for Sands.org.uk and illustrated what a great community we have here in Ibstock, as shown by the generosity of everyone who came to the event, not to mention the generosity of gifts and time donated to make the event such a success.

My thanks go to our sponsors, all the village businesses that donated raffle prizes and all volunteers who helped on the day, particularly the craft club who operate out of our Bowls Club and had been ‘beavering’ away, making prizes in the preceding months.

The hope is that the club will benefit in other ways, after the event. A close friendship has been formed with Sands Utd FC – Ashby and the hope is that we will hold an annual fun game with them.

The other intangible benefit is the profile of the club being significantly raised, which will attract  more members or even attract a sponsor for the club – who knows?!

To check out some pictures of the day, click here. 

To check out our sponsors page, click here.