An Uxbridge bowling club for the blind has been awarded nearly £4,000 to go on a weekend bowling tour.

It will enable 20 of the borough's blind and partially sighted to compete against Bournemouth bowling clubs in the seaside town for a weekend at the end of June.

The award is part of the Millennium Festival Awards for All scheme ,, a UK-wide programme funded by the National Lottery to encourage community groups to celebrate the millennium ,, and more than 30 Hillingdon groups have benefitted since its launch in February last year.

Mother-of-three Val Brooks, 58, who has helped run the Hillingdon Blind Bowlers since it started four years ago, said bowling was a particularly good sport for people with this disability.

'It helps them cope with being blind by teaching them balance, giving them exercise and building their confidence,' she said.

The group, which plays twice a month at the RAF Association Battle of Britain Club in Hillingdon Road, Uxbridge, has 21 blind and partially- sighted members and four helpers.

They participate in short-mat bowling, which uses a narrower and shorter run than conventional bowling, but in the summer, the full-size outside green is used.

Mrs Brooks said blind players gradually learn to judge where a ball will go by the force and angle at which it is bowled.

'After about a year, they begin to become good enough to play in competitions,' she said.

She added the group had already competed against sighted players from the Rosedale Club off Uxbridge Road in Hayes, and had drawn with them.

Other Hillingdon groups who have just been granted a share of the £4.6æmillion awarded in Greater London are: The1st Harlington Scout Group, Hillingdon Asian Women's Communication Services, Hillingdon Saints Football Club, Hospital Radio Hillingdon, the Voluntary Car Service for Hillingdon and the Ruislip Millennium Pageant ,, two days of drama, music, dance and exhibitions at the Manor Farm Complex on July 7.