Bowlers team up for battle.

Byline: By Barbara Goulden

BOWLING coach Tony Parsons has been in touch with two pensioners' groups in the city with a view to combining resources to improve facilities for older people.

Mr Parsons, who is one of nearly 500 members of Coventry Indoor Bowls Club, has already written to city leisure chiefs about poor provision for the sport.

Earlier last month the indoor "mat" at Coventry Sports Centre in Fairfax Street was rolled up, meaning there can be no inside play until September.

Many of the more senior players find the damp greens at outdoor clubs too hard to play on until the height of the summer, so they give up the game and become less active.

Mr Parsons, a 69-year-old retired health and safety consultant, of Carding Close, Mount Nod, says: "I heard that the Coventry branch of the West Midlands Pensioners' Convention and the Older People's Forum were looking for their own space.

"It could be that we combine our resources because we are convinced a purpose-built bowling facility with a restaurant would pay for itself very quickly."

John Parks, chairman of the Pensioners' Convention, had identifying a site in Corporation Street but then learnt that city councillors were no longer minded to give pounds 2million backing to the project.

He has spoken to Mr Parsons, and both men, along with the Older People's Forum, say it could be worth joining forces to put pressure on the council.

CAPTION(S):

JOINING FORCES... Tony Parsons wants to improve the city's bowling facilities. Picture: Mark Radford MR250408BOWL3