Hull’s ‘oasis’ bowls club ‘deserves to be more popular’

A 120-year-old bowls club is “an oasis” in the middle of a busy city, players say.

Kingston Bowling Club, founded in 1905, sits just off Beverley Road in central Hull. It has about 50 members of all ages and abilities.

But few people know it exists, says Rick Brooks, the chairman, who hopes more people will give the sport a go to celebrate their anniversary.

“Once you start playing, you don’t stop until you’re in a coffin,” he said. “Bowls deserves to be more popular, it’s gentle exercise, you’re meeting people and there’s that element of competition.”

The club has been through many changes over the decades, with women barred from the green or bar until the late 1980s. These days, they “out-bowl the men”, Rick adds.

Video and reporting by Isabella Norrison