Year: 2021

President Maggy’s Report and ‘Thank You’s ’

Firstly, I want to say how much I enjoyed our presentation day at Solihull IBC on Saturday 2nd October. Despite the fuel crisis it was great to see so many people make the effort to come along for the afternoon and evening. It was a ‘fun and friendly day’ and one many of us needed following the past year and half of isolation. It was lovely to hear so much laughter.

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Disability Bowls England at the Bowls England National Championships

The Bank Holiday weekend saw the players from Disability Bowls England join the Bowls England National Finals.

On Sunday lunchtime on Green A the DBE National Singles Championship Final between Kieran Rollings of Northamptonshire and Mike Robertson of Huntingdonshire took place in front of packed stands. Kieran got off to a fast start building a 6 – 2 lead after 5 ends, his dominance continued and after 10 ends the score was 11 – 5. In the second half of the match Kieran continued with the form that had seen him open a commanding lead and at 15 ends the score had moved to 20 – 7, with Kieran requiring only one 1 shot for victory Mike managed to score 2 on the next end before Kieran secured the shot required to win the title.

In the afternoon the annual North v South Challenge Match for the Maggy Smith MBE Shield took place on Green C across 4 rinks. The North got off to a good start leading 23 – 18, Liam Tucker, Denise Rolland, Steve Angus and Gary Swift were top rink at this point leading 9 – 5. During the next 5 ends the South fought back and took the lead 37 -40 with Juls Howard, Steve Smith, Isaac Shieh and Anthony Page, now the top rink 12 – 8. The final 5 ends saw the South extend their lead to 50 – 60 to win the shield. The rink of Juls Howard, Steve Smith, Isaac Shieh and Anthony Page finished as top rink with a score of 19 – 10.

A cloudy Monday morning saw an early start for the DBE players contesting the DBE National Pairs Championship again on Green A, with a large support in the stands, Kieran Rollings from Northamptonshire and Dave Fisher of Essex were up against Paul Baker of Sussex and Jack Pullin of Worcestershire. The first 5 ends were dominated by Kieran and Dave who had amassed a 12 -2 lead including a 5 on one end, the next 5 ends saw a fight back by Paul and Jack who won 4 of them to bring the score back to 13 – 8. The remaining 5 ends were shared 2 – 3 with the final score 16 – 11 to Kieran Rollings and Dave Fisher.

In the late afternoon Disability Bowls England introduced a new competition to the event, a Mixed Ability Triples competition, with each team containing 1 player with a Physical Disability, 1 player with a Visual Impairment and 1 player with a Learning Disability. The games were played over 12 ends and after 4 ends Richard Carey, Harry Atkin and Steve Angus had opened a 7 – 1 lead and were leading the competition, during the next 4 ends Khalila Hussain, Chris Gray and Allan Lyne made a number of shots and had opened a 13 – 4 lead to take the lead in the competition. The final 4 ends were keenly contested on both rinks and at the end of the games Khalila Hussain, Chris Gray and Allan Lyne had won their match 17 – 5 and the inaugural salver. Disability Bowls England would like to thank The Friends of English Bowling who supported this new competition with a donation that was used to purchase the trophy and supply medals for all competitors.

Disability Bowls England would like to thank Bowls England for making rinks available in the schedule, the English Bowls Umpires Association for providing a marker for the Singles and Umpires for all other competitions and The Friends of English Bowling for their support this season.