Bowls club needs £25k after storm flood damage

A bowls club is looking to raise £25,000 to repair damage caused by flooding.

The indoor rink at Taunton Bowling Club, which has been in Vivary Park in Somerset for 121 years, was flooded during Storm Chandra at the end of January.

Due to previous flooding, the club had been unable to get flood insurance and so must pay for repairs itself.

Club secretary Di Blackmore said: "We don't want to see the club fold, but if we can't sustain the revenue because we're having to pay out so much due to damage... I don't know what to say, it would be a huge loss."

The club was closed for five weeks while temporary repairs were carried out but reopened on Thursday. However, further repairs are still needed alongside flood-proofing.

Blackmore said the club lost about £1,000 a week during the closure.

"But more than that, personally, players and members come to play bowls and we lost that social interaction with each other for five weeks," she added.

The club had flood protection systems in place, including door flood defences, which worked.

However, water ended up getting into the club through the walls and the floor, causing severe damage to its indoor rink.

Maintenance manager Colin Ayres said: "The water came into the ditch of the indoor bowling rink and would just not stop coming in.

"We need to waterproof the building as much as we can. It will happen again and we need to protect it as it's in a historic location, which sadly is flooding more."

Taunton Bowling Club has applied for funding from Taunton Town Council and Sports England, and said it was planning social events to raise money for the repairs.

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