Blaby Bowls Club Grows Membership with Championship-Quality Green Maintained by the Dennis FT Range
A commitment to exceptional greenkeeping, volunteer dedication and the versatility of the Dennis FT Range is helping Blaby Bowls Club continue to thrive as membership reaches record levels.
Established around 1947, Blaby Bowls Club has become one of Leicestershire's most welcoming and successful community clubs. What began with a unique clubhouse created from a retired Leicester tram has grown into a thriving venue with more than 80 bowling members and new recruits joining almost every week.
The club's history remains proudly on display, with the original tram door still preserved in the clubhouse foyer—a reminder of how far the club has come over nearly eight decades.
Today, however, it is the outstanding quality of the bowling green that is attracting both experienced bowlers and newcomers alike.
"We've got over 80 bowling members and we're adding to that almost weekly at the moment," says Gary Toward, Club Chair. "It's a really friendly and supportive club with a fantastic bowling surface."
A Green That Keeps Members Coming Back
For any bowls club, the condition of the playing surface is crucial. A true, consistent green not only improves the quality of play but encourages greater participation and enjoyment.
"It's important to have a really good green because it encourages good bowling," explains the club. "People enjoy the game more. It's easy to criticise greens that aren't in good condition, but ours is in exceptional condition and that's one of the reasons we're attracting new members, says Brian Hawkins, who leads Blaby Bowls Club's volunteer greenkeeping team.
Beyond the sport itself, the club has become a peaceful retreat within the town.
"Even if you didn't play bowls, it's a fantastic place just to come and sit. It's a little oasis of calm. Once you're here, people just want to get out on the green, play bowls and enjoy being active."
Investing in Better Turf Maintenance
To maintain the green to such a high standard, the volunteer greenkeeping team continually looks for equipment that delivers professional results while remaining straightforward to operate.
The club recently added a Dennis FT Range interchangeable cassette mower to complement its existing mowing equipment and expand its maintenance capabilities.
Rather than purchasing several specialist machines, the FT allows the team to carry out multiple essential maintenance operations using one power unit with interchangeable cassettes saving valuable money and storage space in the shed.
"We needed a machine that could do much more than simply cut the grass," explains Brian. "We wanted to shallow spike with a sorrel roller, verticut the surface and carry out other maintenance tasks. The Dennis FT gives us all of those options."
Versatility Throughout the Season
The interchangeable cassette system has become one of the machine's standout features.
The club regularly uses the verticut cassette to remove surface thatch and control lateral growth—both essential for maintaining a fast, true bowling surface.
"Verticutting lightly scratches the surface and removes a lot of the thatch," Brian explains. "We normally do that every couple of weeks. Too much thatch slows the green down, so it's an important part of our maintenance programme."
The sorrel roller cassette is equally valuable, providing shallow aeration that improves drainage while helping wetting agents and other treatments penetrate the rootzone more effectively.
Because the FT's cassette system allows operators to swap between maintenance tasks quickly, one machine performs the work that would traditionally require several separate units.
Perfect for Volunteer Greenkeepers
Like many community sports clubs, Blaby Bowls Club relies almost entirely on volunteers to maintain its facilities.
A dedicated team of four volunteers, led by Brian, carries out all green maintenance throughout the season.
With multiple operators using the equipment, ease of use was a key consideration.
"Everything here is done by volunteers," says Gary, Club Chair. "It's really important that the machines are easy to use because different people will be operating them. We don't want complicated training or equipment that's difficult to handle."
Changing between cassettes is quick and straightforward, taking around a minute, while the simple click height adjustment allows precise settings in 0.25 mm increments without tools.
"The cassette lifts out, the new one goes in and you're ready to go. It's a very simple system."
Lightweight, Reliable and Built to Perform
The club uses the 24-inch Dennis FT610, which weighs 107 kg yet remains easy to manoeuvre around the green thanks to its balanced design.
"Importantly, it needs to be manoeuvrable. Although it's 107 kilograms, nobody has any trouble moving it around the green. It's easy to work with., says Gary"
Reliability has also proven invaluable for a volunteer-run club.
Powered by a dependable Honda GX160 engine, the FT610 offers easy starting, low vibration and dependable performance throughout the maintenance season.
"It's a very reliable machine. The controls are simple, changing cassettes is easy and everything is built to a high standard."
A Recommendation for Other Bowling Clubs
For Blaby Bowls Club, investing in the Dennis FT Range has provided far more than a new mower. It has delivered a versatile year-round turf maintenance system that helps the volunteer team consistently produce an exceptional bowling surface.
"The FT is a brilliant machine," concludes Brian. "It's lightweight, easy to manoeuvre, incredibly versatile and changing the cassettes takes just a minute. It's reliable, simple to use and ideal for a volunteer team.
"I would recommend it to any bowling club. Maintaining a high-quality green is what keeps people coming back, and the FT has become an important part of that."
