As we approach the deadline day for unification the WBA and WWBA have been made aware of uncertainties amongst our grass roots members, in order to address those uncertainties officers of both associations are publishing this newsletter which we hope  will put members minds at rest and enable unification to take place smoothly.

What is Unification and how will it work.

The WBA and WWBA are currently singles sex organisations, in order move the sport forward and to continue to access funding from Bowls Wales we need to join together into one organisation whose name will be Welsh Lawn Bowls.

This action will take place during December 2023 when at the respective Annual General Meetings of the WBA & WWBA notices of motion will be put forward to wind up both organisations and transfer their assets over to Welsh Lawn Bowls, an inaugural meeting of Welsh Lawn Bowls will be held as early as possible in December after our AGMs to put in place officers to run Welsh Lawn Bowls.

Officers and Committee Structure of Welsh Lawn Bowls.

Every effort will be made to ensure that all officers post and committees will be gender balanced but to ensure this we require both male and female bowlers to step forward to fill the post that will be advertised.

The initial officer’s structure is as follows.

President 2024 Female.

Secretary,

Assistant Secretary x 2.

Treasurer.

Safeguarding Officer.

When these officers are in place, they will work in conjunction with the Executive Committee to elect members to the sub-committee groups that will be required to run Welsh Lawn Bowls.

Executive Committee.

Each County will be entitled to send one delegate to the Executive Committee, which will be the County Secretary or elected delegate.

At present the men have ten counties whilst the ladies have eight counties, to ensure that gender equality is maintained the ladies will have the option of electing an additional two Executive Committee members from within their ranks, male bowlers will not be entitled to vote on this matter.

The long term aim of Welsh Lawn Bowls is to eventually bring the County Structure into line with each other, again this will be member lead.

Funding.

The funds of both organisations will be transferred by our existing treasurers into a new bank account set up in the name of Welsh Lawn Bowls, any future funding received from Bowls Wales will also be paid into the new bank account.

Competitions and Tournaments.

There are no planned changes to the way our competitions and tournaments will be structured at present, once the new organisation is up and running and bedded in members may wish to instruct the competitions sub-committee to carry out a review of our events, but this will be member lead and member agreed prior to any possible changes.

Overview.

Unification is a fantastic opportunity for lawn bowls in Wales to move forward, it is not a take over of one organisation by one group or another, following unification every member male or female will have equal rights and an equal vote, let us grasp this opportunity with both hands as the alternative is the possible loss of Bowls Wales funding which will be detrimental to Wales as a bowling nation.

2024.

Whilst none of our existing officers have put their names forward for election for the posts in the new organisation they will not be walking away the majority of them will be members of the Executive Committee and will be on hand to offer any guidance or advise the new officers structures call on.

The thoughts behind current officers not applying for the new posts were not to put off new people applying by thinking that the appointments were already a done deal

Questions.

If you have any questions that you require answers to prior to the AGMs please contact any off the following people who have sat on the Unification Group and should be able to put your minds at rest.

John Manfield email     This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Ciss Jones email              This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

John Phillips email          This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Kath Evans email             This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.