Hosepipe ban has Lincolnshire bowls and golf clubs hoping for a wet summer

Sports clubs across the region are hoping mother nature does her bit to help them through the hosepipe ban.

Anglian Water, the county's water supplier, brought its hospipe ban into place in a bid to save water supplies.

Sports such as cricket, rugby and football were given a reprieve due to health and safety concerns.

However, according to Anglian Water golf and bowls do not 'present significant risks' and therefore are not exempt from the ban.

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Now, golf and bowls clubs are hoping that the Great British summer can provide enough rainfall to keep their greens in shape.

"I hope we will get enough rain to just keep things in order," said Boutham Park Bowls Club secretary Geoff Edson.

"We received a letter from Anglian Water telling us that we cannot use any hosepipes or irrigation systems.

"However, we do a lot of work to maintain our bowling green and hopefully that will pay off if we cannot water it.

"I'm not worried just yet, because as always, we do get enough rain to keep it in shape, but should that not come then it might get tricky.

"We would have to have a very dry spring for it to really affect the playing surface.

"I just hope we get a bit more rain and we should be okay."

Blankey Golf Club greens manager John Hart is also hoping that the heavens open and deliver some more rain.

The club sources its water from a borehole, which allows them to maintain the greens despite the ban, but Hart would sooner get his water from above than below.

"We have a licence to use the borehole to get our water from," explained Hart.

"That is on a limited licence, so if the Environment Agency turned round tomorrow and said that they were not happy with the levels then we would have to stop using it.

"However, there are issues with using ground water anyway. Using ground water brings with it all kinds of nutrients out of the soil which affect the growth of the grass.

"Personally, I prefer my water to come naturally from above.

"The ideal situation is to have one fall of rain a week, then I would be happy."

Hart is already making plans to combat any lack of water at the club.

He is addressing the length he cuts the grass and will also be using a special bit of equipment to keep the greens in shape.

"I've got a green iron, which sounds pretty self explanatory," said Hart. "It is not a big heavy roller, like cricket clubs have, but it does enough to smooth out the greens and make them run in the right way.

"I'm also adjusting how I'm cutting the grass, to give it that bit of extra help it needs to grow in tough conditions.

"It's all important as we are very proud of our course here at Blankey.

"We have a good membership and there is a lot of responsibility to keep them satisfied with good greens. Hopefully, we can do that."