About Shankill Bowling Club

The club was formed in 1994 and now has over 100 members. We play on an all‑weather green and are joined by up to 30 players from other clubs in the winter as their grass surface cannot be safely used.

Membership is open to men and women equally. Our membership comprises a range of ages from 55 years and older. Persons of all ages are welcomed and encouraged if they are beginners.

Time-line

From 1994 till 2000 we were solely an indoor bowls club based in a local school and restricted to two nights play per week. In 2000 we established an outdoor section in our existing location on Quinn’s Road. Because we installed an all-weather surface we play all year round.

At the time we were almost unique because only a few clubs had an all‑weather facility. From 2000 onwards our ambition was to unite indoor and outdoor activities under one roof. In 2013 this was achieved. Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council constructed a fine new premises which allowed us to have all our players in one location and we also have

the biggest indoor capacity of any club in the country. We can put down three mats for play - the max in other clubs is two mats.

Affiliations

We are registered for play under the following associations:-

Bowling League of Ireland

Ladies Bowling League of Ireland

All Weather Bowling Association.

Playing Bowls.

In both arenas of indoor and outdoor we have much the same pattern of play.

We have regular and frequent in-house competitions most of these are mixed gender as the club has a strong ethos to mixed play. We compete actively in the tournaments organised by the above associations. Also we have in house coaching for members on weekly basis in the summer.

We have several highlight competitions throughout the year and have social activities around these. These activities take place all year round despite poor weather in Winter. Although a relatively young club one of our women has represented Ireland overseas in world competitions.

Sharing Facilities. During the Winter we facilitate clubs who don't have all-weather rinks by allowing them to use our rinks as a home base during inter-club events. Twenty one clubs participate but only ten have all weather rinks. We also have a special relationship with Rosslare Bowling club allowing them to use Shankill as their base in Dublin when required for competition.

We also provide weekly access to our facilities for the young people with special needs from Carmona House, and we provide helpers to Special Olympics and similar events.

We have the courtesy of offering any member of the passing public who happens to enquire, the opportunity to come in and try even if only to see what bowls is like. Many do try it and some have joined.

The future.

We have had a short but successful history of community service with our members support for charitable efforts and look forward to continuing our activities in the future.