The Para Bowls Home Nations Championships took place at Glasgow Indoor Bowling Club, from Friday 22nd to Sunday 24th March. The event had teams from Scotland, England and Wales competing.
The format was a mixture of singles, pairs and triples matches, and the event was covered with Real Time Scoring throughout, provided by the Scottish Indoor Bowling Association. This allowed the event to be followed live worldwide.
The Scottish Team – Physically Disabled
Billy Allan, Garry Brown, George Guthrie, Glen Livingston, Michael Simpson and John Wardrope
The Scottish Team – Visually Impaired
Robert Barr, Sandy McIntosh, Maria Spencer and Mary Stevenson
Directors
Sarah Jane Ewing, George Miller, Chris Morrow and David Thomas
Coaches and Support for the Scottish Team
Bob Christie, Chris McGready and Eric McMillan
Team Manager
Bob Dick
Janice Eaglesham MBE, Chair of Scottish Disability Sport, started off the proceedings by welcoming the Nations to Glasgow and the event. Les Shields, President of Glasgow Indoor Bowling Club, handed the facilities over to Scotland Team Manager Bob Dick. Gordon Woods, Indoor International Bowls Council President, gave a rousing and encouraging speech to all participants. The event was officially opened by World Indoor Bowls Singles Champion Stewart Anderson, who then spent time with all of the players with many photographs taken with the World Indoor Singles trophy.
| 6 | SESSION RESULTS | Points | Shots | |
| 7 | Session One | SCOTLAND | 10 | 99 |
| 8 | Friday 3pm | WALES | 2 | 63 |
| 9 | ||||
| 10 | Session Two | ENGLAND | 10 | 107 |
| 11 | Friday 6.30pm | WALES | 2 | 88 |
| 12 | ||||
| 13 | Session Three | SCOTLAND | 6 | 91 |
| 14 | Saturday 9.15am | ENGLAND | 6 | 89 |
| 15 | ||||
| 16 | Session Four | ENGLAND | 12 | 106 |
| 17 | Saturday 12.45pm | WALES | 0 | 37 |
| 18 | ||||
| 19 | Session Five | SCOTLAND | 8 | 97 |
| 20 | Saturday 3.30pm | WALES | 4 | 70 |
| 21 | ||||
| 22 | Session Six | SCOTLAND | 6 | 90 |
| 23 | Sunday 10.00am | ENGLAND | 6 | 88 |
Scotland came up just short in their bid to win the Championship. Needing to win on four of the six matches played on the last day, they managed three wins with England also winning three matches and Scotland edging ahead on shots by 90-88.
Mary Stevenson and Sandy McIntosh beat Sarah Marshall and Ron Homer 20-7 to win their Visually Impaired Pairs match. Maria Spencer and Robert Barr came back from 8-7 down to Alison Yearling and Darren Moon to win their match 17-10 in the other Visually Impaired Pairs match played this morning. Billy Allan and Glen Livingston moved through from 7 shots all to win their match against Mark Cooper and Mike Robertson by 20 shots to 8.
Bob Love maintained his dominant singles form for England against John Wardrope when he won 21-5. The other singles match saw Keiran Rollings convert his 11-1 early lead against Michael Simpson into a 21-15 win for England. Craig Bowler and Helen Wood won eight of the last nine ends of the match to end the unbeaten run of George Guthrie and Garry Brown.
The final standings were:
- 1st England 34 points +84 shots
- 2nd Scotland 30 points +67 shots
- 3rd Wales 8 points -151 shots
Keiran Rollings was the only player for England to win all four matches played and this was a feat matched for Scotland by Robert Barr.
Caroline Brown, the number one ranking female bowler in Scotland, was the guest of honour at the Closing Ceremony and presented the trophy to England Team Manager Mo Monkton and Captain Bob Love.
Caroline continued by presenting certificates to the umpires. Alan Brown, Denise Connell, Janice Grant, Doreen Strachan, Colin Stuart, Mary Watt and Grace Whitton.
Team Manager Bob Dick returned the facilities to Glasgow IBC President Les Shields.