A TWO-DAY charity 'bowlathon' is taking place at bowling club in Basingstoke in July.

Basingstoke Town Bowls Club will be holding a special 'bowlathon' event in order to raise money for Papyrus UK, a suicide prevention charity.

The event will be held in Basingstoke Town Bowls Club, 18 Fairfields Road, on Friday, July 26 and Saturday, July 27, commencing at midday, with the first ball due to be bowled by Maria Miller.

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Carol Scott, president of the club, told the Gazette: "The event is open to everybody, and lots of other bowling clubs are attending.

"We're the oldest bowling club in Basingstoke, established in 1915 and we're a very busy club. We're raising money for Papyrus so they can continue to do the great work that they do. It should be a fun event."

Readers who wish to sign up can contact Carol by emailing carol.scott55@btinternet.com

Basingstoke Town Bowls Club also recently hosted an open-day event, with people of all ages turning up to play a game, many for the first time.

Carol said: "We had around 20 to 30 people of all ages attend, it was lovely to see young children come and try a game. We hold our open day every year and it is nice to see new faces try it for the first time."

The bowling club also unveiled a new defibrillator in recent weeks, with members being given the opportunity to learn life-saving skills such as CPR by the fire brigade.

Carol said: "A lot of people were scared to use the defibrillator at first, but once the fire brigade gave them a demonstration, they started to feel comfortable."

Readers can find out more about Basingstoke Town Bowling Club here basingstoketownbowlingclub.uk/community/basingstoke-town-bowls-club-20224/home. 

Readers can find out more about Papyrus UK here papyrus-uk.org.