Bowler's plea to save 90-year-old club

Devastated bowlers have made a plea for help as they battle to save their club from closure after nearly 90 years in a South Staffordshire village.

Codsall Ex-Service Sports Club, which is based in Wood Road, is due to lose its green in October and members fear time is fast running out to campaign against it.

The green was bought by an unnamed trust in 2006, which is in contact with the members through Birmingham-based law firm Mills & Reeve.

The club has been told the lease on the land will not be renewed, but bowlers want South Staffordshire District Council to help by building up a case for a potential compulsory purchase order (CPO) on the site.

Players turned out at a Codsall Parish Council meeting to appeal for help in trying to wrestle back control of the land.

The club has 60 members, plays matches seven nights a week and does not have any alternative location if the trust goes ahead and reclaims the land in the autumn.

Member Derek Buxton said: "We are in the situation where, come October 31, we will be told to move off the green because the trust no longer wants us there.

"We want to fight this and are asking for the support of the parish and district councils in campaigning against it.

"We want to explore the possibility of a CPO. We have tried to negotiate but have got nowhere. We are desperate to stay where we are."

Club secretary Dennis Potts, aged 80, of Droxford Walk, Pendeford, said: "We need all the backing we can get with this."

The parish council has already said it is backing the bid for the bowling club to stay at the current site, while officers at the district council are exploring the CPO options.

Councillor Robert Marshall said: "When it comes to a CPO, this is being explored, but I have to say that getting one in place isn't all that easy."