Bowlers cut through steel fence to play on 'disputed' green

Crown green bowlers in West Yorkshire have broken into their own club after being locked out by the leaseholder. A huge cheer went up on Saturday morning as bowlers cut their way through a steel fence and back onto their bowling green in Newsome.





Thirty bowlers then entered their clubhouse and enjoyed a game of bowls on the green in glorious autumnal sunshine. The game is said to have been played on Newsome Bowling Green near Huddersfield for more than 100 years.



Campaigners are determined to keep the club going, but the leaseholder wants to build houses on the land. Stewart Smith welded the gates shut and said the bowlers had no right to be there. He said they were trespassing: "The green has been repossessed - it's no longer theirs," he said.





"They have no right to be here and they will be removed." But Newsome Community Sports and Bowls Club said it had a right to play on the green because although who owns the land is under dispute, a covenant on the lease says it must be used as a bowling green. Mr Smith agrees that the covenant prevented him from building houses on the land "at this moment in time".