The DBE October Newsletter is now out.
Read the DBE October Newsletter here.
Chairperson’s Report
What a very emotional end to the 2024 outdoor season at Hemel Hempstead bowls club with our very good friends from Watford & District bowls association, and a tough drive home with so many happy memories going through my head of the great 4½ years we have had together.
But it saddens me to hear that some members are boycotting the friendly fixtures because they feel let down by the trustees which I find incredible as we are just about to start the full review of disability bowls in England to establish the new chapter of our history as an inclusive sport. I would like to take this opportunity to thank those members who have contacted the trustees to see how they are and offer thanks for what has been achieved these past 40 years so you can go out and play bowls with likeminded people without having to worry how it all comes together, so you can enjoy yourselves.
For those people who keep abusing the trustees and our loyal band of volunteers, last year we gave up over 4,305 hours of our time for free (value in kind would be worth £49,249 using minimum wage) to run the organisation to make this happen, and if I was you, I would seriously think about whether you want to be part of the new organisation or be on the outside throwing stones into a pond to get a ripple reaction.
The review of Disability/Para Bowls in England has commenced and we have had our first information exchange meeting with both Bowls England and the English Indoor Bowling Association (EIBA) with many more meetings to come, but once again I would be very grateful to those members to stop emailing or phoning for updates. This is very complex situation and ALL parities concerned need to work through how disability/Para bowls is going to fit into the bigger picture so we can play the game of bowls in England and around the world. Once the full review is complete there will be an official announcement made to ALL.
To give you a taster of what’s to come – We are very pleased to announce, Judy Plater and our loyal band of volunteers will work in partnership with the EIBA Team to deliver a FULL Disability/Para Bowls Indoor Season program 2024/25 including Friendly Social Fixtures, Multi Disability Open Competitions & EIBA National Championships events, more information will be published shortly.
We are also very excited to be adding an International Para Indoor Test match against the Irish Bowls Federation Para Team at Solihull IBC from 10-12 January, and hope many of you will come along or offer your support to help Sue Davies run the weekend. If you are available to help please email sue.davies@disabilitybowlsengland.org.uk .
We will continue to support Team England Learning Disability squad 2025 at the Learning Disability Indoor Bowls International Series 23/24 April in Wales.
We are very pleased about the announcement that the Commonwealth Games Glasgow 2026 will include Bowls and Para bowls, which will be played indoors for the first time at a Commonwealth Games, between the 23 July- 2 August 2026 and look forward to further announcement of formats etc
Finally, I will be away working overseas doing my day job from the end of October to early December and leave you in the very safe hands of Judy Plater, Sue Davies & Mike Robertson who will be your main DBE points of contact. I will be still receiving regular updates from the DBE management team on the running of the DBE Charity Trust organisation and from Bowls England/EIBA on the review process to keep the organisation moving forward.
Please be kind – we are Volunteers who are trying to do the best for ALL our Members so you can play the game of bowls!!!!
Steve