Reporting on the condition of the Mooragh Park bowling green to Ramsey Commissioners’ monthly meeting, lead member for parks and leisure, Bill Hankin admitted: ’There’s no way I can make this look pretty. It really is a mess’.

Updating members on the matter, which has been a cause of concern for some time, he said meetings had been held with representatives of the North Ramsey Bowling Club and two reports had been commissioned from turf experts to try and understand the problems affecting growth and establish a way forward.

Both reports appeared to agree that the green should be stripped and re-laid.

In the short term, he explained, the club had delayed the start of the season’s games until the beginning of May to allow re-seeded areas to grow.

The green would then be maintained until September when work would begin and continue throughout the winter to bring it back to standard.

Lead member for finance, Juan McGuinness said: ’We have spent an awful lot of money on this. We need to bring it to a close this year’.

Julia Wedgwood remarked: ’In my personal view, we are spending far too much on something that is a minority interest’.