Saturday afternoons, weather permitting
A public bowls green, a box of borrowed bowls, and whoever turns up.
Notes from a small, informal lawn bowls group on a council park green in south London: reading the grass, bias and weights, rain days and teaching newcomers.
On the pavilion board
- Green opensmid-April
- Green shutsend of September
- Playing here since2022
- Notes pinned up4
- Last note changed15 Aug 2026
Where we play
A council green in a park in South London, a little under forty metres square, with a small brick pavilion on one side and a hedge that keeps one corner damp. Anyone can use it in the season; we just happen to use it most Saturdays.
South London, United Kingdom · since 2022
Notes from the green
One note to a rink, newest on the first. Each one has been read over by at least two of the group before it went up.
- Rink127 Jun 20268 min
Newcomers
How we teach someone who has never bowled their first four ends
What happens when a passer-by comes through the gate to try lawn bowls: shoes and courtesy, the first delivery, playing four short ends, and what helps people stay.
- Rink27 Feb 20267 min
Weather
Rain days, and the six months of the year when the green is shut
Why a council bowls green closes from October to April, what happens to the grass meanwhile, our rule for wet afternoons, and what the group does in the pavilion instead.
- Rink330 Aug 20258 min
Bowls
Bias, weight and finding a set of bowls that fits your hand
What bias does, how to tell whether a bowl is the right size for your hand, claw and cradle grips, and when it makes sense for a newcomer to find a set of their own.
- Rink419 Apr 20258 min
The green
Reading a slow park green in the first weeks of the season
Why a council bowls green plays heavy in April, how we time its pace in seconds, the quirks of each rink, and the small changes we make for the opening weeks.
Four things we ask on the green
- Flat shoes on the green, whatever else you wear.
- Check the small ring before every bowl.
- Walk the rink before the first end.
- A rain day is still a session.
We are a handful of people who play lawn bowls on a public park green in south London from April to September, and these notes are how we remember what the green has taught us.