Last updated at 17:12, Tuesday, 03 March 2009

A LONG-established bowling club has been told it needs to come up with £50,000 by the end of the week.

Barrow Co-op bowling club committee members who have the chance to purchaing their Dane Avenue premises for £50,000 - Roy Swinglehurst (front) with Brenda Gillen Brian Sharp and Mal Gillen.

Members of The Co-op Social Club in Barrow will be asked tonight to pledge their financial support at an emergency meeting in the Dane Avenue premises, starting at 7.30pm.

The shock development has arisen because the Co-operative Society – which previously only asked a peppercorn rent – now wants to sell the land and property.

The 200-plus club members have been given the first option to buy it before it goes on the open market.

Co-op Social Club secretary Roy Swinglehurst says they need to tell the Co-op by this Friday if they can meet the demands.

He said: “The society is anxious to raise money quickly and, to be fair to them, the money they have quoted is exceptionally reasonable. The committee is making efforts to find sources of money but the main source is likely to be through members.

“It is vital that members and past members who have a soft spot for the club attend the meeting to discuss the options and make pledges.

“We also hope people in the Hawcoat area rally round to help stop the land becoming a building site.

“I’m very confident we will be able to make the amount needed at the meeting.”

Money-raising ideas include:

l Members willing to pay £100 for life membership.

l Donations, large or small.

l Loans which will be repaid over five years in equal annual payments.

l Existing members to try and recruit new members.

Mr Swinglehurst added that the warning signs first flashed two years ago when the Co-op’s chartered surveyors Carter Towler wanted to raise the annual rent – which had stood at £650 for 17 years – to £5,000.

He added: “We negotiated with them that it would start at £1,000 and go up £1,000 every year until it reached £5,000.

“This five-year lease gave us time to organise our fund-raising correctly.

“Then only last week Carter Towler told us the Co-op wanted to sell the land.

“Apparently they are putting up lease properties all over the country for sale.”

Carter Towler, which looks after property interests for the Co-operative Society, said they were not prepared to comment.

However a Co-operative Group spokesperson confirmed the situation regarding the Barrow club.

He said: “Dane Avenue has been identified for possible sale following a regular review of our property portfolio.

“We have made the club’s members aware of the situation and have given them the first option to buy the Group’s freehold interest.”

The Co-op Social Club is understood to have opened in the 1930s as an employees club, but in 1982 the Society handed it over to members for a peppercorn rent of £280.

It currently boasts around 220 members and runs 10 teams in several district leagues.

A non-profit making organisation, the club is open on Wednesday and Friday nights and once a month on Saturday for cabarets.

First published at 11:51, Tuesday, 03 March 2009
Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk