Mariners' ship gets refit

THERE IS a new Marine Gardens on the scene of bowls. Their clubhouse extension has finally brought them out of the 1930s into the 2000s and the effect is transforming, not only externally, in the way their clubhouse looks and offers proper facilities, but internally.

Extension project manager, club treasurer Malcolm Upstone said: "Its completion has enhanced the attitude of the club to everything. The spirit here is now absolutely brilliant. It's fun, it's exciting, and we're dying to win matches."

Last year, the club celebrated 70 years in existence, although survival was more the operative word. The membership was elderly, all men, they had a clubroom walled by lockers, they had to change in a store cupboard for outside equipment and use the outside public conveniences. The outlook was continued decline and, possibly, eventual extinction.

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Worthing Borough Council, urging clubs to help them sell the sport to keep the council's greens breathing, suggested to Mariners that they developed a women's membership to increase the health of the club and its finances.

For full report, see this week's Worthing Herald.