There is a very active bowling section within Loanhead Miners Club.

With a first class bowling green, members can take part in social matches, or competition and league ties.

To become a member of the Loanhead Miners Club Bowling Section. Please contact the Bowling Section Secretary. You must be a member of the main miners club to join the bowling section.

Currently have around 50 male members who pay £25 membership. We have 2 teams in the Esk league which is played on a Friday night.

We have about 12 seniors who can also play on the Friday night and also have their own league on a Wednesday morning. They pay £5 membership.

Also a junior section for under 18's who play there league games on a Saturday morning and also have training sessions from a fully qualified coach on Friday afternoons. Membership is free.

We also have a Ladies section of around 22 members who play in league games on a Monday and Tuesday evening. They pay £20 membership.

We have competitions most Sundays throughout the season which usually runs from April to September.

Members can hire a locker at a cost of £5 per season.

We are looking for new members no matter how experienced or inexperienced they are.

The Darts Section play in the Bonnyrigg & District Darts League under Lothian Darts Association www.lothiandarts.co.uk

They are the current league single champions
and runners up in both the pairs and fours leagues.

The Darts Team play their league matches on Friday evenings and generally meet within The Loanhead Miners Club Games Room from 6pm for home or away matches. The matches start at 8.15pm.

For up to date league fixtures and results please visit Lothian Darts Association web site www.lothiandarts.co.uk

For further information please contact the Loanhead Miners Darts team.

Racing Pigeon Section

The racing pigeon section had at the last Annual General Meeting 12 members. We race our old pigeons (greator than 1 year old) from a distance of approx 70 miles to a distance of 600 miles. These races take place most Saturdays from the middle of April to the 3rd week in July. Young birds bred (born) the year of their birth are raced also on Saturdays from the end of July to the middle of September from distances off 70 miles to 280 miles. Our club is affiliated to Pentland Hills Federation which has 15 clubs attached to it,this covers the Midlothian Council Boundary.The federation is part of a larger group of Federations which are affiliated to the governing body called the Scottish Homing Union (www.shuonline.co.uk) which governs and sets all the rules and constitutions for all the members racing and showing pigeons in Scotland.

When the pigeon is 7 days old an identification ring is placed on its leg for life.When it enters a race, a race rubber ring is placed on its other leg with a number on it. The owner of the pigeon does not know this number. When the bird returns from the race,this rubber ring is placed in a clock mechanism which records the time the bird arrived home. More modern methods are used with a few members within the club - the bird has a electronic ring attached to its leg,the bird returns home and this ring is scanned over a scanner and this records the time the bird has arrived. This method of recording the arrival of the bird allows the owner not to be present when the bird arrives home, but the time of arrival is still recorded.

Many of our members have been successful in recording pigeons to arrive home from France and Belgium with another larger organisation called the Scottish National Flying Club ( www.SNFC.co.uk) this organisation allows all members of the Scottish Homing Union with pigeon lofts in Scotland to compete against each other producing National results. There is also a smaller National club called Scottish National Racing Pigeon Club ( www.snrpc.co.uk) which members can also join.

New members are always welcome. The sport/hobby is open to all ages and can give great enjoyment and relaxation. With racing pigeons you can breed, train and race your own birds. This can give great excitement when one you have bred arrives home from France or Belgium flying 10-14 hours.