CHRISTMAS 2024
Are you ready to start your Christmas shopping? Do you have family or friends who are bowlers you need to buy gifts for?
Well Bowled is Calderdale’s specialist Crown Green bowling shop. We can provide lawn / indoor bowls too. With the Christmas season fast approaching, if you’re after gift ideas for the bowler in your life our website shows most of the items we sell.
We have bowls and bowling accessories priced from £5.00 upwards; something the Grandchildren can buy with pocket money or something for the whole family to chip in for. We also have a small range of bowling related gifts such as mugs, socks, t-shirts.
And if you’re really struggling to know what to buy, we sell GIFT VOUCHERS too.
Please don’t hesitate to visit the shop, phone, message or email if you’d like to check what we have in stock or to seek advice.
BUYING GIFTS FOR BOWLERS
If you're a non-bowler, buying bowling gifts can be a minefield, so we've some help and advice for you below. Here are a few of the things it’s good to know before you buy…
BOWLS
Do you need Crown Green bowls or lawn / indoor bowls (the same bowls are used for both lawn and indoor bowling)? Crown Green bowls are sold in pairs, lawn / indoor bowls are sold as a set of 4.
For Crown Green bowls:
* The make – mainly Thomas Taylor or Drakes Pride (but also Tornado, Piranha, Stevens).
* The model
- Thomas Taylor…De-Luxe, Elite, Grippa
- Drakes Pride… Deluxe, Richmond, RX, Special
* The size - this is expressed in pounds and ounces and is usually stamped on a bowl as 2-00 up to 2-12.
* The density – Standard is the norm, but you can also get low density (LD) or high density (HD).
* The bias – the standard is 2 Full Bias, but very rarely this is different (and would need to be manufactured to order).
* The colour – usually black, but sometimes brown, coloured or multi-coloured. Lignum Vitae wooden bowls are no longer manufactured but you can buy refurbished wood bowls.
Although we hold a small stock of coloured Crown Green bowls, these generally need to be made to order and could not be guaranteed to be ready before Christmas.
For lawn / indoor bowls:
* The make – mainly Thomas Taylor, Almark or Henselite.
* The Size - sizes are from 000 to 5 and sometimes have H (heavy), M (medium) or HM beside the size also.
We hold a small stock of indoor / lawn bowls and if they are available to order from the supplier we can get them within a couple of days. However, if the bowls you need have not yet been manufactured then they can take a few months to be made and wouldn’t be available before Christmas.
BAGS
If you’re considering buying a bowling bag, these range from bags which only fit 2 bowls, to bags on wheels and bags you could fit a weeks’ worth of holiday packing into.
Some people are happy to have a bag that just holds their 2 or 4 bowls. Others like to have room to include cloths, polishes, score card holders, pen and notebook. You can also get bags that have room for extra clothing, raincoats and spare shoes.
WE ALSO STOCK...
Crown Green bowling jacks, mats, cloths, polish, score card holders, pocket scorers, tape measures. We have caps and beanies, indoor bowling shoes and a small selection of bowling related mugs and socks.
GIFT VOUCHERS
If you really have no idea, we sell Gift Vouchers in any denomination.
We’re happy to offer advice, call in to see us, give us a call, email us or send us a message.
WINTER OPENING DAYS & HOURS
From 1st November 2024 to 31st January 2025 our WINTER opening arrangements will be:
OPEN
Tuesday to Friday 10am to 3pm
Saturday 10am to 1pm
CLOSED
Sunday & Monday
Near Christmas, if there is a need, we may increase our hours for a few weeks.
However, if you can’t visit during those times, please get in touch and we will do our very best to arrange a mutually convenient time for you to visit the shop.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT BOWL REPAIRS etc
Since we opened Well Bowled in 2015 we’ve offered a service to take bowls and jacks to Premier Bowls in Stockport for refurbishment, repair and testing etc. This has worked well in past years and we have a good relationship with Premier Bowls.
We were assured at the end of the summer Crown Green bowling season last year that any bowls we dropped off with Premier would be available to collect before the start of the new season. However, due to health issues, there have been delays in work being completed which has resulted in a number of customers not receiving their bowls back in time for the start of the new season (me included).
The delay has been compounded due to the closure of other companies that had also been undertaking this kind of work with a result that Premier have taken on more refurbishment work than they had expected.
This hasn’t affected just Well Bowled but also other clubs, businesses and individuals that take their bowls to Premier. We know the staff at Premier have been doing all they can within their remit to get the work completed and returned.
Not only has this been incredibly frustrating to those who are waiting for their bowls to be returned, the issue has led to reputational damage to Well Bowled, verbal abuse and threats of legal action.
We apologise unreservedly to those affected and ensure you that we will get your bowls back to you as soon as we’re advised that they’re ready to collect. We will be reviewing whether or not we should offer this service in future.
BOWL & JACK REFURBISHMENT, REPAIR & TESTING
This year we will once again be taking Crown Green Bowls for refurbishment, repair, relacquering, testing and Jacks for testing and stamping to Premier Bowls in Stockport. Click below to find out more...
CROWN GREEN BOWLING MATCH JACK REQUIREMENTS
Remember to regularly check your Jacks!
All Crown Green Match jacks shall be re-tested at not more than seven yearly intervals.
Requirements for jack stamping and testing and be found at Appendix A of this document: www.bcgba.org.uk/laws-of-the-game/
NOREEN BRADLEY
You may have seen our message recently advising that we were closing the shop early as we were going to see a lady about some bowls...
The bowls were those belonging to Noreen Bradley who sadly and unexpectedly passed away on 28th February 2021 aged 86 years. Noreen was a keen bowler in her time (in 1983 she lost in the ladies final of the Waterloo to Mary Farmer), she was well known in Crown Green Bowling circles and was a good friend to many. If Noreen saw us at a club or competition with our ‘Pop Up’ shop she would always have a look to see what was new in the way of bowls and bowling paraphernalia and have a chat about bowling.
On clearing out Noreen’s property, a number of sets of bowls were found and we were contacted to see if we would be interested in buying them. When we went to see a lady about some bowls, we collected 36 sets! Mainly Crown Green but also some flat green bowls and a number of bowling bags.
So, if you’re interested in purchasing pre-loved Crown Green (or flat) bowls, please call in to see us or get in touch by email, phone or Messenger. The family are keen for the bowls to remain in the area and to ideally to be used by young and new bowler.
Unfortunately, I can’t find a photo of Noreen to add to this post so I have included one of a small car loaded with Noreen’s bowls instead.
Donations in memory of Noreen to the Salvation Army c/o 5, St James Road, Halifax. HX1 1YP and would be much appreciated. https://funeral-notices.co.uk/notice/bradley/4931749
WE ARE OPEN!
We are OPEN for business!
Tuesday to Friday 9.30am to 4.00pm
Saturday 10am to 1pm
Sunday & Monday closed
Get in touch if you would like to check stock availability before you visit us:
01422 893351
wellbowled@btinternet.com
We look forward to seeing you soon; either in the shop or on the green.
Cheers, Nick
THANK YOU!
We’ve had lots of new Crown Green bowlers in the shop recently which is great to see. And we’re also getting customers who’re travelling quite some distance to visit us (even had customers recently from Scotland and New Zealand who were staying with friends nearby).
We’d like to thank everyone who has pointed new and not so new bowlers in our direction and recommended Well Bowled to them. We really appreciate it very much. Thank you.
Nick (and Tania)
USED CROWN GREEN BOWLS
We currently have a number of pairs of used Crown Green bowls available for sale in the Well Bowled shop.
They're a varied lot: Taylors, Drakes Pride, Henselite and unknown.
Get in touch if you'd like details of what we currently have available or, better still, call in to see us.
POP UP SHOP
Well Bowled can bring a selection of bowls and bowling products to your club to support your competitions or AGM.
We can bring along bowls, jacks, bags, mats, cloths, measures, caps, scorecard holders & other bowling paraphernalia. We can take orders and payment by card is available.
Please get in touch for details.
01422 893351 or wellbowled@btinternet.com
