BOWLERS have become the latest victims of Scotland's rain-soaked summer - not due to matches being abandoned - but because of scores of injuries, including broken bones and strains, as downpours made greens as slippery as skating rinks.
Now, men and women, many of who are senior citizens, are being urged to play safe and stay in the clubhouse when it is wet.
Dr Tim Parke, a consultant at Glasgow's Southern General Hospital accident and emergency department, said: ''Falls on wet grass tend to be serious, especially for elderly people more susceptible to fractures. My advice would be if it's wet, stay clear of the bowling green.''
Experts confirmed this summer as the wettest since 1985.
Mr Alistair Balantine of the Bearsden Bowling Club, Glasgow, said: ''We have lost around 15 days bowling in the last month, and I have heard a lot of stories of people falling.''
Mrs Margaret McLaughlan, former president of the Queens Park Bowling Club, said: ''It can be quite dangerous when it is wet, but ladies still like to play whatever the weather.''
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article