Thunks, touchers and measures

You know that summer's over when you can hear on Friday nights in the JFK Hall the soft swish of a bowl rolling on a mat, followed often by the thunk of wood on wood, and calls such as 'a good one', 'a toucher', or 'a measure'.



Kilcullen Bowls Club was started by Joy and Jim Cullen and is now in its seventh year. Though not large in numbers it is very active socially and competitively in the regional Bowls scene.

With some 19 clubs in Kildare and another two in West Wicklow, there are plenty of opportunities for interaction in the local division of the Bowls Association leagues. There is also a championship to be fought for. New clubs are regularly forming -- Rathcoffey and Celbridge are recent additions to the game. In the Kilcullen area alone there are clubs in Brownstown and Kildare, and two in Newbridge including Royston.

"We play in a home and away situation, so there's plenty of social life with the other clubs," says Geraldine Malone. "They come to us and we play and then we organise a supper for all of us, and it is similar when we play away. It really is great craic."

The Kilcullen club's membership is currently around a dozen, but could be more if more people knew about it, according to longtime player Syl Gannon.

Bowls might not require the sheer power of something like squash, or the ability to dash around on a tennis court, or the stamina for an hour on a football field, but a little time spent watching reveals that there's substantial skill required. "It's not as easy as it might look," says Syl Gannon.



The game has been around a long time, some say as far back as the ancient Egyptians, indicated by artifacts found in tombs dating circa 5000 BC.

There are variations everywhere -- Bocce in Italy, Bolla in Germany, Bolle in Denmark, Boules in France and even Ula Miaka in Polynesia.

The Southampton, England, bowling green has been in operation since 1299 AD. And there's that famous yarn about Sir Francis Drake playing at Plymouth Hoe when he was notified that the Spanish Armada was approaching. "We still have time to finish the game and to thrash the Spaniards, too," he is claimed to have said. He reputedly lost the game but definitely won the fight against the Armada.



In Kilcullen there's no outside bowling green, so the local club is very much a winter and indoors affair. The present club started out playing in the Town Hall, but has been meeting in the JFK Hall, courtesy of the Boxing Club, for several years now.

"Ideally, we'd like to be somewhere more central, like up at the Community Centre," says John Talbot, suggesting that such a location would attract new members. "Whenever the Boxing Club moves up there. we'd hope to move with them."

But for now, anyone wishing for a friendly and sociable past-time to while away some winter evenings (matches are often held on other nights of the week, both at home and away), is welcome to come down to the hall and try it out. Proceeedings begin at 7.30pm Fridays.

And these days it involves no requirement to defend the country against foreign invaders ... just your club against the other local ones.



Brian Byrne.