Kate ScotterMembers of a Norwich bowls club are hoping their lives will be made easier if their grant application is successful.Kate Scotter

Members of a bowls club are hoping their lives will be made easier if their grant application is successful.

Chapel Break Short Mat Bowls club has applied for a grant from the Sports Relief Community Cash fund, an initiative being run through the Evening News.

As previously reported, we have teamed up with Sport Relief and the Norfolk Community Foundation to give community groups in the city the chance to grab a slice of �62,500.

A wide range of organisations, from parent and toddler groups to small Norwich-based charities, can apply for grants of between �500 and �1,000.

If the Bowthorpe-based bowls club, which is based in Chapel Break Village Hall, is lucky enough to win a chunk of the money, they will put it towards a new mat roller.

Janette Slater, club treasurer, said: 'We were the first club to have a roller for the mats which we made ourselves but now it needs patching up all the time.

'It saves a lot of work because it means we don't have to crawl along the floor to roll the mats up and we're nearly all pensioners.'

The club was formed in the late eighties and has about 20 members. The cheapest roller they have found costs �950.

Mrs Slater said the grants scheme was an 'excellent' idea and could really help clubs like theirs. She added: 'The type of club we are provides a facility for people but it doesn't normally go gallivanting around so a little bit of funding like this could go a long way. The fees are just enough to cover the cost of the hall which is reasonable but any leisure thing we do involves money.'

To apply for the Sport Relief Community Cash grant, eligible groups must be in the Norwich City Council area, run by local people, have an income of less than �50,000 and work in a deprived or disadvantaged area.

Groups which can apply include charities in the city, parent and toddler groups, lunch clubs, youth and older people's groups and sports clubs which have a constitution.

Grants will not be awarded to individuals, statutory organisations or groups which are not constituted. The funding will not be given to help fund trips abroad, mini-buses or to fund building costs. Grants are restricted to one per group.

For an application form, visit the website www.eveningnews24.co.uk or www.norfolkfoundation.com/Community-Cash.htm, write to Sport Relief Grants, Evening News, Prospect House, Rouen Road, Norwich NR1 1RE, or visit the Evening News office at Prospect House in Norwich.

The deadline for applications is March 5. Completed applications should be sent to Norfolk Community Foundation, St James Mill, Whitefriars, Norwich NR3 1SH.