The first-ever gay bowling event took place in Sheffield last night.
The Gay City Bowlers brought their mission to Lane 7 on Matilda Street, making Sheffield the organisation’s eleventh city.
The nationwide bowling club is dedicated to fighting social isolation among LGBTQ+ people through the medium of ten-pin bowling.
The event consisted of two games played back-to-back, providing an opportunity for people to connect with others in their community in a low stakes environment.
Founder Marc Geoffrey, 51, said: “As we’ve expanded over the years, it’s really highlighted how much it tackles loneliness and isolation within our community.”
Gay City Bowlers first began when Mr Geoffrey and his husband moved to Manchester in 2017.
The original purpose was to find people in their community in a new city, but it has become something bigger over the years.
He said: “The bowling is almost secondary to me, and also for a lot of people.
“It’s just something that brings us together.
“The way that it’s organically grown has been much more about the social aspect.”
The event is particularly helpful for newcomers as it takes the pressure off being thrown into a group of people.
Credit: Marc Geoffrey
After the COVID-19 pandemic, Mr Geoffrey recognised peoples’ ‘desperate need to reconnect’.
After discovering no other gay bowling groups across the UK, Gay City Bowlers began their expansion.
They ‘hit the ground running’, initially launching in Birmingham, Bristol and Liverpool.
Now, Sheffield is the latest city to join the Gay City Bowlers’ mission, where local volunteer Carl led the inaugural Sheffield event.
Mr Geoffrey said: “Without our volunteers, we just simply couldn’t do what we do.”
There are volunteer hosts in each city that allow operations to run smoothly.
Last November, Gay City Bowlers received a grant from the National Lottery Community Fund to support the expansion.
Mr Geoffrey added: “Again, I didn’t set this up for it to become what it’s become but it’s done exactly the same thing for so many other people and we want to keep that going.
“We want to bring it to as many cities as we possibly can.”
The organisation has lots of plans for the coming years, including launching in Portsmouth next month, making it the twelfth city.