Club is bowling along towards establishing outdoor green
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IT is almost green for go!
Efforts to establish an outdoor bowling green in north Sutherland received a boost at the weekend.
While virtually every town and village in Scotland has its bowling green, there is no such facility within the parishes of Farr and Tongue, an area almost as large as the whole of Caithness.
A craft fair held in Bettyhill Public hall on Saturday raised £500 towards creating such a local green.
Carpet bowling is one of the most popular sports in north Sutherland with groups active, largely in the winter months, at Tongue, Skerray, Bettyhill and Strathy.
The North Sutherland Outdoor Bowling Group believe the more traditional outside bowling could be a natural extension – but the nearest bowling green is many miles away in Thurso.
The enterprising group was established with the aim of constructing a bowling green and associated clubhouse on land adjacent to Strathy Public Hall – and already more than £130,000 has been raised!
Considerable fundraising activity has taken place over the past two years with a £55,000 successful application already made to the section of Strathy North Windfarm Fund ringfenced for Strathy itself and to the main Strathy North Fund, which awarded £75,000.
The outdoor bowling group are now in negotiation with sportscotland in the hope of gaining matched funding which could make their dream a reality.
In the meantime they are funding the cost of pursuing this ambitious objective through local activities and, on Saturday, held their second craft fair.
Teas were provided by local bowlers Joan Jappy, Greta O’Brien and Sheila Gallacher with help from Tina Macleod and Ruth Campbell from neighbouring clubs.
There was an excellent response from craft producers with a total of 10 taking part including Fiona Macfarlane with stone painting; Tracey Bojda with cushions, noticeboards and pet beds; Phyllis Thornton with MeyBee Bags; Jussi Stader with goats’ cheese; Stuart Mingham with watercolours; Juliane Lingner with bread and jewellery; Sonya Hughes with polished stone jewellery; Sidney Campbell with woodturning; Karen Hood with elderflower cordial and lemon curd; and Linda Wilson of Torrisdale Tunnels with plants and produce.
