Swindon Bats

Happy National Volunteer Week! 🌟

We at Swindon Bats want to take a moment today to share our deepest gratitude.

Our club wouldn’t be the vibrant, supportive community it is without the incredible dedication of our committee members and regular volunteers. 💞

Whether you’re behind the scenes organising, helping at our activities, or ensuring our members are supported, your hard work and time make such a massive difference. 🦇

Thank you for everything you do to keep Swindon BATS going and for your commitment to our club. We truly couldn't do this without you! 💙

We can’t believe it’s been almost a week since the Bats annual inter company challenge. This year it was the biggest one yet, with 14 teams taking part.
It is a fantastic way to showcase to the local community the amazing work that we do at Swindon Bats for People in Swindon and the surrounding areas with a visual impairment. Bowling will always be at the heart of Bats and so challenging people to a Bowling match is always great fun.
It really was anybody’s game, but this year the winners were:

Arval 1 - winners of the Tony Martin Memorial Trophy

Individual Winners:
Bats Male highest scorer - Stuart
Bats Female highest scorer - Georgia
Corporate highest scoring male - Simon from Arval 1
Corporate highest female - Zoe from Arval 1
A massive congratulations. 🥇 🦇 🎳
And thank you to the organisers for making it such an amazing event!

What a fantastic start to the weekend we’ve had at Swindon Bats! 🦇 🎳 🩵
Three teams and a group of our lovely volunteers travelled to Sheffield for the winter trios ten pin bowling finals.
The teams were Bats Blind Ambition, Stuart, Andy and John, Bats Strikers, Sam, Shaun, John and Russ and lastly playing in The Moore Cup was Bat-Tastic, Maisy, Andrea and Becky.
It’s always a long day, with 8 games in total for those in the league phase of the competition and four games for The Moore challenge. But as usual, team Bats were on form, even when there were technical problems with the lanes.
The awards dinner is always very intense, waiting to see how everyone did, and I’m very pleased to announce the results:

Bat-tastic:
The Moore Challenge
2nd Place

League:

Highest Male Scorer:
Stuart

Highest Scratch and Handicap:
Bats Blind Ambition

Highest Scratch Score:
Stuart

Highest Scratch Game:
Stuart

Highest number of pins scored today:
Bats Blind Ambition

Placings:

Bats Strikers: 8th Place

Bats Blind Ambition: 4th Place

An incredible effort from everyone 👏 👏 👏
Go Team Bats 🦇 🎳 🩵

Today saw The Bats’ first game in the South division of the Showdown league, today the match was against London Showdown who stole the victory this time.
Whilst Showdown is a gameplay in silence, the rest of the time was far from it with lots of laughs and cheers, everybody had a fantastic day.
Thank you very much to London Showdown for travelling to us for the first game of the season watch this space, there is plenty more where that came from! 🦇 🩵

Singing, dancing and lots of laughs last night at ABBA forever. We at Swindon bats love a good sing along, which was reflected in how popular this show was with our members and volunteers. There were smiles all round and great fun had by all.
If this doesn’t sound like your cup of tea, don’t worry, there’s plenty of upcoming activities where you can hopefully find one you love.

Don't forget to come on down to Swindon STEAM Museum today for Wiltshire Sights fantastic event Eye Can 2026!

Do you come along and say hello and see what Swindon Bats have been upto and have to offer!

The Sun was shining yesterday for a wonderful day out to the Brecon beacons. An early start so our group of Bats hop aboard a. Barnes Coaches to our first stop at Abergavenny for a wander around and a café break, and then onwards to the beautiful steam railway which took us across the scenic Welsh views.
A wonderful day had by all.

Some really important and helpful information from Wiltshire Sight about voting in Swindon in the 7th of May for the Visually Impaired.

Elections are taking place in Swindon on Thursday 7 May for Swindon Borough Council and all parish councils within the borough.

If you are blind or partially sighted, there is a range of support available to help you vote confidently and independently.

At your polling station, you can expect:

• Large print copies of the ballot paper for reference.

• A McGonagle reader can be requested to help you access your ballot paper. These are not available in every polling station but can be brought to you on request. If possible, contact electoral services in advance to request a specific time.

Email [email protected] by midnight on Monday 4th May.

• Magnifiers and additional lighting.

• Support from staff if you would like guidance.

• You can also bring someone over 18 with you to assist.

Contact Swindon electoral services:
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 01793 464601

Other important deadlines:

• Register to vote by Monday 20 April www.gov.uk/register-to-vote

• Apply for a postal vote or postal proxy vote by 5pm Tuesday 21 April www.gov.uk/apply-postal-vote

• Apply for a proxy vote by 5pm Tuesday 28 April www.gov.uk/apply-proxy-vote

• Important reminder – you now need to show photo ID to vote at a polling station. If you do not have an accepted form of photo ID, you can apply for a free Voter Authority Certificate.The deadline to apply is 5pm on Tuesday 28 April.

Apply here:
https://www.gov.uk/apply-for-photo-id-voter-authority-certificate

If you have any questions about access or need additional support, getting in touch with Swindon Council ahead of time can help make things smoother on the day.

Your vote matters, and support is there to help you take part.

Elections are taking place in Swindon on Thursday 7 May for Swindon Borough Council and all parish councils within the borough. If you are blind or partially sighted, there is a range of support available to help you vote confidently and independently.
At your polling station, you can expect:
• Large print copies of the ballot paper for reference.
• A McGonagle reader can be requested to help you access your ballot paper. These are not available in every polling station but can be brought to you on request. If possible, contact electoral services in advance to request a specific time. Email [email protected] by midnight on Monday 4th May.
• Magnifiers and additional lighting
• Support from staff if you would like guidance
• You can also bring someone over 18 with you to assist.
Contact Swindon electoral services:
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 01793 464601
Other important deadlines:
• Register to vote by Monday 20 April www.gov.uk/register-to-vote
• Apply for a postal vote or postal proxy vote by 5pm Tuesday 21 April www.gov.uk/apply-postal-vote
• Apply for a proxy vote by 5pm Tuesday 28 April www.gov.uk/apply-proxy-vote
• Important reminder – you now need to show photo ID to vote at a polling station. If you do not have an accepted form of photo ID, you can apply for a free Voter Authority Certificate.
The deadline to apply is 5pm on Tuesday 28 April. Apply here:
https://www.gov.uk/apply-for-photo-id-voter-authority-certificate
If you have any questions about access or need additional support, getting in touch with Swindon Council ahead of time can help make things smoother on the day.
Your vote matters, and support is there to help you take part.



Image description: A dark blue graphic with large white text reading “Swindon elections” at the top and “Accessible voting information” below. On the right side, there is a yellow circle with a tick symbol inside.

This week was another jampacked week of exciting activities. We set sail in fully accessible, adapted boats — always a favourite and such a fantastic day out on the water ⛵️ with thanks to Whitefriars Sailability Group

We also hosted our monthly cycling session, with a great range of adapted and standard bikes to choose from. 🚲 We were definitely lucky with the weather this time… fingers crossed it stays just as kind for the next one! ☀️ with thanks to Limitless Swindon at Moredon Sporting Hub

Already looking forward to doing it all again
If you want to join in with any of the activities we have on offer, please just get in touch.

📢 IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT

Due to an administrative error at the Charities Commission, we’ve realised we’ve accidentally been registered as a 'Flying Mammal Conservation Group' instead of a Charity for the Visually Impaired for the last 20 years! 🦇

To stay legal, and fulfill our new regulations we will be replacing Wednesday and Mondays Tenpin Bowling sessions with 'Hanging Upside Down from the Rafters' training. 🧗‍♂️

We also have a delivery of 5,000 live mealworms arriving at Craven House tomorrow for our members to enjoy. 🐛

Does anyone know where we can buy tiny capes for 55 people? Flying practice starts next week 🦇


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Photo Description:
One of our members hanging around looking very sweet in their new tiny cape 😉🦇