Mayor bowled over by green

Shrewsbury's mayor delivered the first official bowl as the town's £1.6 million flat green indoor bowling centre was officially opened.

Councillor John Cooke unveiled a plaque last night as part of the opening ceremony at the long-awaited six-rink indoor bowling centre in Sundorne Road. The centre is the final phase of the town's sports village in Sundorne with managers saying it is already proving popular.

Last night at least 100 people turned out for the official opening of the centre.

They included Greg Harlow, world number two for indoor bowls, and Chris Grocott, from Newport, who is the world singles champion for short mat bowls, playing a game to mark the occasion.

John Hornby, president of the English Indoor Bowls Association, gave a speech to mark the opening in addition to Geraint Morgan, deputy chief executive of Shrewsbury and Atcham Borough Council, and Councillor Charles Armstrong, portfolio holder for sport.

Councillor Armstrong said the official opening went "very well". He said: "It's the end of the job now at Sundorne. It's taken a long time to get indoor bowls there but it's there now and it's great to see it in action.

"It's been a real team effort to get this delivered and most of all we would like to thank Sport England for backing us and supporting us with £200,000 of funding."

The centre opened last month and for the first week, bowlers were allowed to use the green free of charge.

John Wall, chairman of the Shrewsbury Indoor Bowls Club Interim Management Committee which is running the centre with borough council sports village staff, said the club now had about 425 members and the centre was being well-supported.

"It's going absolutely excellent. We're drawing people in from a wide area as well across the county," he said.

He said volunteers were still needed to help out as stewards at the centre.