Garioch Indoor Bowling Club has lodged plans with Aberdeenshire Council for a six lane bowling facility with bar area. New offices and toilets are also proposed as part of the £400,000 plan at the Club's existing Harlaw Road site.

A spokesperson for the Club said: "It would be a first for Inverurie and we hope it would prove popular with local youngsters and might even help to introduce some of them to carpet bowls too.

"Because memberships of bowling clubs all over Scotland are falling, this would seem to be a good way of introducing some new blood to the Club."

If the application is successful, the number of parking spaces at the current site would be reduced slightly, from 73 to 61 to allow for the building's extension, which would increase the Club's size by 450 square metres.

Garioch Indoor Bowling Club has more than 500 playing members. It has also, in recent years, run coaching sessions for local primary schools.
The spokesperson confirmed that if planning permission is granted the ten-pin bowling alley could be open by late 2008 or early 2009.