Fishbourne Bowling Club's ditch mats are now very old, and are rapidly disintegrating. They are lifted at the end of every season and pressure washed clean, weeds and soil removed, and dried before storage in a weather proof shed. It has become increasingly difficult to re-deploy the mats at the start of the season as they are tearing apart in irregular chunks which makes them look unsightly for the whole of the season. The style of mat we currently have harbours soil, and grass clippings, which encourages the germination of weeds which grow into the matting making them difficult to remove and hastens their deterioration .
Our plan is to replace these mats with an open mesh style of matting, in use on many of the greens we visit, which makes for a cleaner looking ditch and without the problems of weed and moss build up in the material.
What we'll deliver:
- Install and thereafter maintain the ditch mats
Why it's a great idea:
This is a fantastic idea as it will enable us to continue bowling on this site. It is not, unfortunately, an attractive sounding proposition, and cannot really be 'sexed up' to engender any degree of excitement. It is, however, an essential element in our bowling green infrastructure and is relatively expensive for such an apparently low key aspiration.
Steps to get it done:
- Purchasing the materials
- Installation of the matting
We have extensively researched the market place, and having tried a number of options prior to this , and spoken to other clubs in our area, have determined on a product that does the job with the least amount of future maintenance coupled with longevity. Whilst cheaper options are available they present problems with the harbouring of weed seeds and soil requiring regular cleaning which impacts upon the life of the material and subsequent disposal.
