Equipment stolen from King George V Bowling Club

Mar 16 2010 by Kerry Wood, The Journal

EQUIPMENT valued at £8,000 has been stolen from a popular bowling club, throwing its future in doubt.

The burglary means the greens at the King George V Bowling Club in Framwellgate Moor, Durham, will be untended just weeks before the start of the season.

Club chairman Len Ferguson, 79, said: “We have no equipment and are in limbo at the moment. This was a planned job, they came with the right equipment and knew what they were after.” Between 3.30pm on March 5 and 8am on March 8, thieves cut through fencing surrounding the green off Front Street. They cut through metal hinges and stole a range of machinery used in the upkeep of the greens.

Included were two strimmers, two grass cutters, cutter blades, a white line marker, two large petrol can containers and a bowling green grass cutter.

It is estimated the club, set up about 55 years ago, has lost £8,000-worth of equipment – the same amount it was awarded last September in funds from the Lottery’s Awards for All scheme.

Mr Ferguson, club chairman for nine years, said part of the funding was spent buying the equipment to maintain the greens to a high standard.