The Clacton Visually Handicapped Bowling Club was formed in 1974 by Mr Francis Margrave.  Mr. Margrave had been appointed by Essex C.C. in 1949 as a Social Worker for the Blind, as it was then known, and part of his duties was  trying to get visually handicapped people integrated into sport.

Sometime during 1974 he approached the committee of Clacton Outdoor Bowling Club with a request that visually handicapped bowlers be allowed to use the facilities at C.B.C.  This request was warmly received by the Club so during the course of 1974 Mr. Margrave enrolled 4 visually handicapped bowlers and the Visually Handicapped Bowling Club was formed.

1975 saw 8 additional V.H. bowlers enrolled and 1976 produced yet another 6 V.H. bowlers.

The V.H.B.C. was by now firmly established and during 1975 they played their first match against the West Suffolk V.H.B.C. at Ipswich.

Such was the ability of those early V.H. members that in 1980 Jim Lewis a Clacton V.H.B.C. member reached the National V.H. Bowling finals at Crystal Palace.  It is interesting to note that eligibility for that particular competition was as follows; "Totally blind to include those who can distinguish between light and dark but cannot distinguish shapes."

Clacton V.H.B.C. meets at Clacton Outdoor B.C. on Friday mornings during the outdoor season where they are allocated two rinks free of charge.  They are always properly attired in their own club colours and woe betide any member who turns up in trousers the wrong shade of grey.  Sighted members should take note.

During the course of the outdoor season they play matches against sighted members of Clacton B.C., Happy Valley B.C., Kirby B.C. and Brightlingsea B.C. as well as an annual fixture against Ipswich V.H.B.C. and strange as it may seem they win more matches than they lose.

The reasons they win more matches than they lose are threefold.  (1) They place their feet on the mat in the correct position.  (2) They apply total concentration and (3) they listen to and remember instructions.

The main adaption is a thin white string that is laid down under bowls england disability laws.  This tells him the absolute dead centre of the rink so he can then adjust his line accordingly.  Instead of a skip at the head he or she has a sighted bowler who will say where the last bowl finished in relation to the jack.  This is done by visualising a clock face and the instruction will be something similar to "Two yards heavy at 1 o'clock," or whatever is appropriate.  By knowing where his last bowl finished the V.H. bowler then makes the appropriate alterations to his line or length.  There's not much of an advantage there because a sighted bowler has a skip telling him the same thing plus he has the advantage of seeing for himself.

At this point I would like to pay tribute to the sighted helpers who assist by setting up the rink and acting as information points at the head.  Two Clacton B.C. members namely Des Wall and Jim Alden are deeply involved as are Brian Harvey from York Road B.C. and Yvonne Harvey from Happy Valley B.C.  Additional sighted helpers are always welcome and Des Wall (Ladies' Secretary C.B.C.) will supply any information required.

Sadly at this present time the