The group raised £7,000 whilst breaking the record. The money has been donated equally between the Leicester Royal Infirmary Neo Natal Hearing Unit, the Glenfield Hospital Cardiology Unit and Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Headway, which treats people with brain injuries.

We would like to thank ALL of
our supporters, friends and
sponsors for backing the record
attempt, without you it would
have been impossible.



Some thoughts.

“It has been a great experience and we are all proud to have done it. When we decided to break the record, it was set at 48 hours but was broken another five times before we started our attempt, so the target was going up all the time.”

“I was very confident of breaking the record when we started, not just because I had great faith in the other five bowlers, who I know were 100% committed to the attempt, but because of the fantastic enthusiasm and support we were to receive from our Club.”

This enthusiasm was apparent from the first day I mentioned the record to the members well over a year before the start date. We had numerous ‘Marathon meetings’ sometimes attended by upwards of 30 people. Everyone helped with the format of what turned out to be a fantastic weekend. The Guinness rules are cast in stone, but 3 days and nights of witnesses, nurses, entertainment, catering, bar staff, bowling and resting arrangements were undertaken with what might be termed a ‘Dunkirk Spirit’. Not only was it well organised but everything went according to plan during the weekend.
.
During the weekend I didn’t sleep much.
I felt very tired towards the end, not
sleepy just weary. Some of the things I
remember were: listening to a fox barking
in the woods behind the houses on the
first night, then wondering where it had
gone to on the other nights. The children
from The Co-op’s Rainbow Playgroup
who came to wish us well. A lone visitor
who was passing by at 3 o’clock in the
morning and was inquisitive enough to
come and see what we were doing – we
got a fiver off him! We also had regular
visits by the local constabulary (just for a
cup of tea!). Bowling on a frozen green
during Friday night, weird, though what
a relief when the sun came up with the
dawn and warmed us all. Playing through
as Richard Shepherd cut the grass on
Saturday morning. I felt as though I was
somewhere else at times, another green,
and thinking how nice and friendly it
was – must come here again. Just shows
what a lack of sleep does to you. One of
the best moments for me was 6.30 pm
Saturday night. This was my own personal target as it was the time we equalled the existing record, every minute beyond that was increasing the record. But to have this moment celebrated with so many others was a special moment for me. Most of the Westcotes bowlers, who had played the afternoon match, had stayed behind, some of our own bowlers raced back from the away fixture to be with us plus a great number of supporters made the celebration possibly the best part of the attempt for me. Other things to recall were the enthusiasm of the