A Chance to Bowl the Maidens Over ; It Is an Ancient Game of the English Summer, Associated with the Middle-Aged and Elderly. But Bowls Could Be the Perfect Recreation for Easing the Tensions of Busy Working People. David Charters Reports

Daily Post › July 26, 2005

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Summary

SMOKE from briar pipes curled over the trimmed hedges and men in dark suits with braces, through which you could loop your thumbs, gazed across the green, which had been shaved as close as a drill- sergeant's chin.

And the only sound was the crack and creak of arthritic bones, as they hunched down, in attitudes of the utmost concentration, before rolling their woods towards the white jack.

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A Chance to Bowl the Maidens Over ; It Is an Ancient Game of the English Summer, Associated with the Middle-Aged and Elderly. But Bowls Could Be the Perfect Recreation for Easing the Tensions of Busy Working People. David Charters Reports

Yes, bowling has a special place in our social history.

To old-timers it is the symbol of that unique British quality, which some call phlegm - that spirit of calm and smiling defiance, which found its greatest expression during the blitzes of World War II.

They speak of Sir Francis Drake playing bowls down at Plymouth Hoe on July 18, 1588. On being advised that the Spanish Armada was approaching, the wily old pirate, retorted: 'We still have time to finis...

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