'THE dream is dead' for 400 indoor bowlers in East Lancashire.

Members of Blackburn Indoor Bowling Club - which attracts bowlers from Colne, Chorley and Burnley - have had to admit defeat on their two-year battle to find a new home following the closure of Albion Mill in Ewood.

They had hoped to find new custom-built premises - first at an industrial unit in Glenfield Park, Blackburn, and later at Oswaldtwistle Mills - but costs for both projects proved too high.

Peter Hargreaves, chairman of Oswaldtwistle Mills, said he has spent £15,000 trying to develop the scheme on the first-floor of the building, but costs were 'unfeasible'.

“I saw the appeal in the Lancashire Telegraph for new premises and wanted to help, but the costs kept going up,” said Mr Hargreaves.

“It would have required stairs and lifts and road alterations and would have been upwards of £300,000.

“Unfortunately this was unfeasible.”

Bill Stemp, chairman of Blackburn Indoor Bowling Club, said: “Peter was fully supportive and indeed his enthusiasm was our lifeline for several months.

“We thought we were 90 per cent there. It’s very frustrating and saddening that at a meeting on Thursday, we had to decide to disband.

“Four hundred bowlers will now have to use short-mat bowling sessions at leisure centres, which are a poor substitute for the real thing.

“The nearest indoor bowling centre now is in Blackpool, and very few people can spare the time and the money to make the 68-mile-round journey there on a regular basis.

“The news about Oswaldtwistle Mill was devestation really. The dream is dead.”