Author: Bina Nathwani

Chairperson’s message,

Wow what a month, this has been and it’s not over yet??

Against all the odds, with no Government or Sport bodies funding for Disability bowls for the past 40 years and battling through illness that swept through the official team hotel, DBE Team England Representative Squad (19 members) returned home with a Gold and 2 Bronze medals and overall, Team World Cup 5th position from the International Bowls for the Disabled (IBD) World Championships 2024 in South Africa. Sadly, Anthony Page was taken seriously ill during the IBD World Championships in South Africa and admitted to hospital, where he is receiving great care, is in very safe hands and is recovering well; we are in daily contact with the hospital (thanks to the lovely ladies from the local bowls club the team met in South Africa who visit him) and the family.

Against our wishes, Anthony’s family and I had to make an official statement to the general bowls public, thanks to the very nasty people who were making up stories, making false allegations and rumourmongering which has been very distressing for the family and DBE Management Team, who went beyond the call of duty to ensure Anthony and everybody else taken ill got the best care possible. I hope these people will hold their head s in shame as !!

The DBE Open singles Tournament had its best turn out for many years, we had had to rearrange the date because of changes to the dates for the Para Outdoor Home Nations. Sadly a number of our VI members could not attend as the new date clashed with the start of the VIBE National Singles & Pairs Championships. The weekend of 22/23 June saw the DBE Open Pairs, Open Singles Playoffs and Aussie pairs taking place at Stoke BC, Coventry who are celebrating their club’s centenary, followed closely by the DBE Team England attending the Para Outdoor Home Nations in Ayr Scotland 28/30 June and we wish everyone great success and good luck.

Finally, our financial situation. We continue to run DBE from day to day, and to do everything we do to ensure ALL our members are given the same opportunity to play bowls at all different levels. We are at a very delicate stage at the
moment and the Trustees of the charity trust are in the final stages of negotiations to ensure we are 110% certain we can maintain the status quo for ALL our members not just the few!!!

The DBE Charity Trust Trustees are hoping to make a full positive
statement in July.

DBE June Newsletter here.

Steve
DBE Chairperson

Chairperson’s message,

By the time you are reading this months Newsletter, the “DBE Team England representative squad” would have arrived in South Africa and preparing for there first round of matches of the International Bowls for Disabled (IBD) World Cup Championships 2024. We wish them all the best of luck on and off the greens.

We would like to thank all our fabulous sponsors Aceit Sportswear, Sporting Highlights, Bush Hill Bowls , DM Sports Turf Solutions , English Bowls Association Charitable Trust and the many clubs, counties and family and friends that have made this self-funded trip possible without your help and the dedication of the squad to fundraise these past 15 months, there would be no “Team England” at these World Bowls Disability Championships.

I had the pleasure of visiting Bournemouth Bowling club to support our BOWRA Buddies and Military Veter-ans group who play on a bi-weekly basis to welcome Bush Hill Bowls present two special “green friendly” wheelchairs to Mark Bowra MBE who accepted the wheelchairs on behalf of Bournemouth Bowling Club and who demonstrating how the group interact on the bowling green and help to build confidence, provide gentle exercise and camaraderie between colleagues with similar challenges.

We have had the Bowls England Bowls Big Weekend with over 600 events across England and I hope many of you were out in force to showcase how inclusive our sport is and help generate more new players with a disability to join the Bowls Family.

Early June we start our outdoor competitions events to see who qualifier for the Bowls England National Championships 2024 at Royal Leamington Spa. I look forward to seeing many of you over the next few months, keep the good news coming!!

DBE May Newsletter here.

Steve
DBE Chairperson

Chairperson’s message,

Sometimes in life it never rains but it pours down with the passing of 3 members of the DBE bowls family – George Pierpoint, Keith Brenton and Jeannette Maisey. It was a very difficult time for everyone who had the pleasure of playing with and against them for both DBE & VIBE.

But as always, our members stayed strong, rose to the challenge, and delivered one of the most inclusive English Indoor National Finals Championships and showcased once again their Ability not Disability whilst receiving a very warm welcome at Nottingham IBC.

The icing on the cake after a very difficult Easter weekend trying to rearrange our plans for the IBD World Championships after the sudden passing of Keith, was
driving around the M25 to Watford IBC for a Development & Charity fundraising day organised by Watford & District Bowls Association. I was totally blown away with the reception we received from the time we drove into the car park until we left after a fabulous day of bowling, fun, enjoyment and kindness which will stay with us for many years to come and lifted all our spirits to continue what we do best – “Play Inclusive Bowls”

As we come to end of the planned Indoor season and start moving outdoors, I hope that some of our members who don’t play outdoors will enter the EIBA Summer Competitions and continue this very strong link with our fellow indoor bowlers and clubs. May is a very busy month, not only do we have a Team of 16 going to the IBD World Championships in South Africa, and we wish them all the best and success on the greens, but we also have the Bowls England Bowls’ Big Weekend (24-27 May) and I hope many of you will be out and about helping your clubs to sign up more members.

Finally, Thank You to all our amazing Volunteers.

DBE April Newsletter here.

We are Stronger Together

Steve Watson
DBE Chairperson

Chairperson’s report

We are just waiting for one more piece of the bigger jigsaw puzzle to be put into place before DBE trustees can update everybody on our future plans as an organisation and I am very sorry for the delay, but this is a very sensitive and emotional decision and we need to be 100% sure, its right for EVERYBODY not just a few in our DBE Family!

We have secured a donation from the Peter Harrison Foundation along with a number of other great fundraising donations, which will allow us to continue to grow the DBE family with Development/Taster Days, Support for Grassroots bowlers to International success, IBD Classification Clinics and deliver a full outdoor
fixtures/competitions programme which will take us through until the end of September 2024.

We are very pleased to be able to support “Team England” at the Learning Disability Indoor Bowls International Series at Falkirk IBC, Scotland (24-25 April) as they defend their Munro Cup Title and I am very pleased to inform the membership, we have accepted an invitation to attend the FULL INTERNATIONAL Para Home Outdoor Championships in Ayr, Scotland (28-30 June) against Scotland & Wales, unfortunately this will be part self-funded.

I also wish the thank English Bowling Association Charity Trust, Sporting Highlights Ltd, Bush Hill Bowls, DM Sports Turf Solutions, Aceit Sports and many bowls counties & clubs, family & friends for their support that has helped us to take a (SELF- FUNDED) representative Team of 25 Players, VIs Directors & family helpers to the International Bowls for the Disabled (IBD) World Cup Championships 18-31 May 2024 in South Africa which will be led by Sue Davies & Judy Plater and we wish them every success when they pull on the DBE Team England shirt.

As you can see the Volunteers Trustees and the Senior Management team have been working extremely hard to make all this happen, but all this comes at a cost (we lost £350 on the 2023/24 indoor season) and it’s now time for ALL the membership to stand up and be supportive of DBE, we don’t want to cancel any of the planned
Summer Fixtures, Events or Competitions, but will do if they are NOT SUPPORTED.

Finally, we are all human beings and do have feelings!!!!

DBE March Newsletter here.

We are Stronger Together

Steve Watson
DBE Chairperson

The DBE February Newsletter is now out. Continue reading “DBE February Newsletter”