Metro Weekly Vision Impaired Bowls
Why not Learn how to play Indoor Vision Impaired Bowls, join us, enjoy the warm friendly atmosphere with some new friends!
Metro would always advise to phone or email the event contacts to confirm there have been no last minute changes or cancellations.
Every Thursday to the middle of April 2018
Time: 4.00pm – 7.00pm
Venue: Brixton Leisure Centre, 27 Brixton Station Rd, Brixton, London SW9 8QQ
Contact: ericgal@blueyonder.co.uk or Call 0208 985 6245
If anyone is tempted to join us or just wants to know more about the game. Give Eric a call. We often go out for a meal and a pint or two after play ends, all are welcome, we are always happy to have sighted people along to help.
Bowls for blind and partially sighted people
Bowls is a game which is very suited totally blind and partially sighted players, as only very minor adaptations need to be made. Vision impaired bowlers can play singles, pairs, triples or in teams of four. There is no reason why vision impaired bowlers can’t play against fully sighted players and they often do. It is a sport for people of all ages.
Although this skilful and fascinating game has been around for centuries, it was not until 1959 that the bowls started rolling for the blind, in Scotland.
Today, we use the ‘clock method’. The ‘marker’, who is stationed beyond the ‘jack’, indicates to those at the mat end, at what angle and distance from the ‘jack’ the bowl has come to rest. The ‘jack’ is the centre of the clock. So, six o’clock would be in front and twelve o’clock behind, with all other positions being relative to the clock. From the information given by the ‘marker’ the player can build up a mental picture of the ‘head’ (area around the jack), knowing exactly the position of each bowl.
The only small concession made to blind players is that a fine white centre string runs under the mat and is fixed at both ends. This is to help the bowler to judge the angle for the amount of green required.
These minor variations enable blind and sighted people to play together as they do not alter in any way the basic game (or the Bowls England rules).
