Bowling

Hi Sylvia,

I don't wish to be negative however I don't think Bulgarians take to British sports very much.

I tried to get people involved in cricket, I offered to find and prepare a ground free of charge and received absolutely zero response.

However I wish you the best of luck with your project.

Rof (Sredets)

Well I think that's a fantastic idea, if nothing else it will be a nice touch to give back to your village something that they may not know about, I hope you find a plot to get the project under way, I wish you well in this venture, and again well done with this idea, I hope you can get it all sorted.
Cheers Steve.

I would definitely ask around in your specific area before building it. I found that when I was a volunteer here, the mayor and leader of the cultural center would be excited about any building/creation projects, and say that there was interest even when there wasn't... and I wasted a lot of time and resources building things that the community didn't care about.

In my experience, many older Bulgarians have their own life and routine set up and it is difficult to get them to try new things. Of course, that was in a large village (5000 people) in the outskirts of Plovdiv, so there was plenty of stuff going on, anyways. Still, the favorite past time of older people was sitting outside and talking or playing billot or chess. The hunting club was VERY active in my community, and I assume that the appeal was as much the exercise and community as the actual hunting.

But again, generalizations about Bulgarians wont tell you whether your particular project would be used... you should ask your neighbors and other people in the village...

Now, if it is something you WANT to build and hope to use for your own amusement, you will probably get a few other people interested over time.

Hi Steve,

Thanks so much for your kind words, I'm not being totally unselfish I have a dream of spending a warm summers evening playing a gentle game of bowls then sauntering down to the village shop/cafe/bar for a couple of cold beers before picking up fish and chips on the way home. OK that last bit is a bit far fetched but you get my drift.
I was saying to Bob ( my husband), that we could have inter village bowling competitions and tea and cake afterwards and he said its more likely to be rakia and village ladies dancing on the bowling green, really.
Oh I've just thought how will we keep the sheep, goats, cows and horses off the green. I know I will find some rich Bulgarian to donate fencing.. I've also decided there would be no stuffy British dress code but Bob said that the  village guy who washes his clothes in the river and sits naked till they dry, will have to put his boxers on. What will I do about the moles? Still one step at a time, I still have to speak to the Mayor, hope he speaks English, I will just have to make a small demonstration model bowling green.

Hears hoping
Best wishes Sylvia

It's a very good idea, you should go ahead and do it but my advice is to start by inviting the Brits around to play (post flyers to invite the bulgarians) and when they come to see you playing then invite them to participate but you need to talk to the culture house too, maybe they can get money from the municipality to help.
Good luck, let us know how is going