In searching my photo archives for the next article for the Facebook page, I came across one of the oldest pictures in the 40 years plus history of Disability Sport Fife.
The photo was taken at Lynebank hospital in Dunfermline and the occasion was the first Fife Carpet Bowls Championships. Alex McLean and some of his bowler friends turned out as markers and we had entries from adult bowlers with a physical, sensory or learning disability. The photo is of the section winners and the year was 1977, almost two years after I moved to Fife to take up my post at the Fife Sports Institute.
Sadly almost all of the section winners have passed away but Pamela Mitchell and Robert McMahon who appear on this historic picture are still competing in the Fife Championships. The full list of winners was as follows:
Eilleen Fairgrieve; Robert McMahon; John McConnachie; Pamela Mitchell; David Laing; Mair Scott; Sadie Dunnigan; David Thomson. Sadie is proudly holding the Val Harley Memorial Trophy which is one of the most sought after and classic trophies in our movement. Carpet bowls is played extensively throughout Fife and in 2020 we had a full line up of juniors taking part from Fife secondary schools.
In 1981, the International Year of Disabled People, Disability Sport Fife collaborated with Fife Council and Scottish Disability Sport to introduce carpet bowls to the national calendar of events. The first Championships were held at the Lochgelly Centre in Fife and next year will be the 40th anniversary year of the championships. The recognised home is now the Dundee International Sports Centre (DISC) and Dundee City Disability Sport is the key partner along with Scottish Disability Sport.
Over the years the Scottish Carpet Bowls Championships have been hosted by the Lothian, Forth Valley, Glasgow, Highland, Fife and Dundee branches of SDS. Carpet bowls offers the opportunity for bowlers to progress to indoor and outdoor bowls where further competitions exist plus of course the opportunity for mainstream club membership and all that this offers.
Richard Brickley OBE MBE Chairman DSF (SCIO) Board of Charity Trustees