Unsung Heroes

2025 – Dave Edwards (Clun)

On behalf of Clun Bowling Club we would like to nominate our club captain, David Edwards for the SCGBA Unsung Hero award.

In his role as team captain he supports and encourages new members to develop their game without putting pressure on them. David is truly inclusive as he supports members with cognitive problems and limited mobility to participate. He is working with the local Young Farmers Group to try and encourage younger members to join the club and we have an interclub competition planned for the summer, followed by a social evening.  Our practice sessions are always relaxed as David comes up with new games to ensure we have fun, whilst developing our skills.

For the more experienced players David recognises that we need to further develop our game through healthy competition. He worked really hard last year to enable Clun to join the Marches League this season, overcoming initial setbacks. This was down to David’s tenacity and positive attitude.

David has brought many fresh ideas to the club, gently challenging the status quo. As an integral member of the committee he has been instrumental in developing and implementing a plan to improve the facilities. These include a new pavilion roof, a new tool shed, a much improved toilet, sustainable water collection and improved pavilion fittings. David led the project and encouraged members to take on tasks , working together for the benefit of the club. David has given so much of his time to see the work come to fruition and transform the club for the benefit of everyone. During this period David was diagnosed with cancer and underwent treatment, but he continued on regardless. One of David’s really successful fundraising ideas to support this project was a fun bowls game as part of our Clun Carnival. Not only did it raise money it also encouraged the local community to try a game of bowls and new members joined the club as a result.

David not only invests his time and energy to the club but he also gives financially. For example this year to improve the surrounds of the green he has established a competition for the best strip of garden developed by our members and has donated £50 for the winner. This has encouraged many members to take pride in their club through a personal investment.  All this demonstrates why we consider David is our Unsung Hero.

I would like to end with a poem that one of our members presented to  David at our annual lunch which summarises all David’s qualities .

The Captain’s Year

Dave – from April til September

You’ve looked after every member

In a move, both brave and bold –

Shortened matches, shielding us from dark and cold

You stopped us playing in the pouring rain

And encouraged those who played through pain

You were always at the clubhouse early

And treated us all very fairly

You were an absolute treasure

When called upon to come and measure

You often gave up your space to play

So others could – and you’d never say

You bolstered up any nervous folk

Always ready with a laugh and a joke

You’ve liaised with English Heritage powers that be

Over future improvements and the dying tree

As us all ! – eaten more cake than perhaps you should

Equivalent in weight to a bowling wood

Dedication to your role has been inspiring

And you’ve protected us from Simon’s firing

Now here we are at the annual lunch

So from all of us – your bowling bunch

A huge thank you – for all that you’ve done

Dave – you made the season a whole lot of fun

2025 – Roger Whitfield (Battlefield)

We would like to nominate Roger Whitfield from Battlefield Bowling Club  for his relentless effort in keeping everyone updated with information, and his dedication in his role at Battlefield Bowling Club.

2025 – Ian Foster (Battlefield)

Please treat this as a letter from Battlefield Bowling Club nominating Ian Foster for the Unsung Hero Award.

Not only does Ian cut our green 3 times per week, he also does the same for Preston Brockhurst , often on days when he plays.

I believe his best ever day was when he cut 2 greens and played 3 bowls matches, all when he was 76! He is now 78 i believe and tends our green so conscientiously, devoting hours and hours, ensuring we have a lovely surface to play on every match.

We are often criticised for having a pushy green but I believe that having
varied surfaces throughout the league all adds to the subtle variations which make our game so interesting.

Dave Nicholls was bemoaning the slow conditions only on Thursday, after a night of heavy rain. His green is a lovely contrast to ours and is just as hard to play when really running as it is to play when a green is  slow paced.

Fozzie also renewed all the pans around the green this spring  and many opponents have  commented what a great job he has done. I will forward photos later. It saved us a fortune as there was just the cost of the materials to find.

We all wondered how we were going to replace our previous, long-serving groundsman,  Mick Rogers,  but Fozzie has stepped admirably into the breech and devotes so many of his daily hours to looking after his Bowling greens that I feel compelled to put him forward for this award in 2025.

Regards,

Roger Whitfield

2024 – Fred Walley (Audlem)

Audlem Bowling Club would like to nominate Fred Walley for the 2024 SCGBA Unsung Hero award.

The green at Audlem is renowned for its quality.  However it is amazing that both visiting and home players are also highly complementary of the exemplary way the herbaceous borders around the green look and are maintained.  

Wonderful displays of daffodils at the start of the season precede a vivid splash of colour from the summer bedding that adorns the multiple pots and hanging baskets and is also interwoven amongst the immaculately pruned shrubbery.  The backdrop created simply enhancing the overall pleasure of bowling at Audlem.

The quality of the floral display was also one of the primary reasons why the Audlem Bowling Club was awarded an Outstanding – Level 5 by the RHS in the 2023 In Your Neighbourhood competition.

What these visitors, possibly a number of home players and even the RHS do not know is that the borders, pots and hanging baskets are all tendered carefully by one dedicated club member, Fred Walley.  Fred, who is in his early 80’s and has been a member of the club for nearly 10 years, can be found early mornings planting, tendering, pruning and watering.  He will still then be back down to play for his regular afternoon and evening teams without any mention of his morning gardening activities.

As such it is a pleasure for the club to nominate Fred in recognition of his efforts and the pleasure it brings to all the Audlem members and everyone else who visits Audlem Bowling Club.

2024 – Richard Jones (Old Shrewsbury)

Old Shrewsbury Bowling Club would like to nominate our greenkeeper, Richard Jones as an Unsung Hero.

For countless years Richard has voluntarily maintained and cut our two greens under what, at times, can be extremely difficult circumstances. Our greens flood due to the close proximity of the River Severn, and now, probably due to climate change, our greens have been flooded more regularly during the winter and more than once and on the odd occasion during the summer. Flood water can reach six to eight feet.

Not only does Richard cut our greens he has to contend with the build up of silt and sewage that remains after the flood waters subside, something that can take over a week to do so.

With the help of just one other person, John Griffiths, Richard cuts the greens, not only for all of our league matches, but also for our social bowling group who meet twice weekly. Social bowling is important for many of our members who are widowed pensioners who are able to have not just the exercise that bowling provides but the social inter-action that is so important for mental health. Without Richard maintaining the greens as often as he does this would be a service that would be limited for many.

Richard also steps up when our club is called upon to host many of the County games and he does this to a high standard, a comment that we receive often.

All of this Richard does this as a dedicated volunteer for our club, for our members and for the bowling community in Shropshire. Richard is definitely a hero at our club and we cannot think of a more deserving person for this award.

2023 – George Groucott (Allscott Heath)

On behalf of the bowls committee and our bowling members at Allscott Heath, we would like to nominate George Groucott to receive this award.
George has been a bowls member at Allscott Heath for over five decades and for the last seventeen years, he has been our greenkeeper – his commitment to the club and to his duties is unquestionable. George’s tasks involve the cutting and maintenance of the green – all of which are completed on a voluntary basis and without any financial compensation. George’s knowledge of green maintenance is fantastic, but he’s not one to boast, he just quietly and efficiently gets on with his job.
Getting “back to normal” since the Covid pandemic has been a challenge for every club and its members, but without our green, we simply wouldn’t be able to function as a club – George, through his leadership of his greenkeeping team, made this happen.
More recently, whilst battling his own personal health issues, George has also had to overcome many other different types of challenges relating to the green, including rabbits, magpies, various diseases impacting our surface, severe flooding from our new housing estate, and the premature removal of our watering system that has increased the complexity in ensuring that our green is of an acceptable standard to play on.
George continues undeterred by the depth of the challenges he faces and for that we are all extremely grateful for the work he does. George is a very loyal club member, who will always be there to support all our teams and offer guidance with regards to the green. Extremely well thought of by anyone you mention George’s name to, you’ll often find him during a game enjoying a drink or two, rightfully proud of the work he does.

2022 – David Evans (Trench)

The reason why we think David Evans should deserve the Unsung Hero award is he always goes the extra mile in whatever way he can for the interest and benefit of Trench Bowling Club, it’s members and the sporting game of bowls.

The voluntary jobs at a bowling club are numerous with few members willing or able to make a contribution to the tasks, but David is one of the exceptional and dedicated players that are in this category.

During his time of head groundsman, the club has invested in a high quality mower and moved to organic fertilisers and associated products, rather than those being chemical based.

When it comes to applying these specialised products, David has to rely on BBC weather forecast, as there is no watering facility at Trench, which other clubs can enjoy. David would like to have a system incorporated at Trench sometime in the near future.

During post-season renovations, he has always ensured that necessary work is completed at the most appropriate and opportune time. This involves the many steps before re-seeding and considering the temperature, so that new growth will proceed.

David ensures that the measures he takes are supported by using up to date technology, allied to grass cultivation to ensure the sward is given the best possible opportunity to be prepared, and subsequently playable, for the start of a coming season.

Furthermore, if Trench is chosen to hold a competition or used as a neutral venue for a match, he has the determination and interest to make sure that the green and surround is in an ideal condition to promote the event. As Trench Club also use the green on several occasions during a normal week, David will do his best to cut the green prior to any event for which the ground is required.

David also contributes to the many modifications to the club building and green surrounds that have been recently added, including visual improvements to the playing arena. Currently he is working on a major project to improve and update the premises. It should be noted that he is effortless in keeping the site tidy and litter-free.

Using another of his many attributes he fitted a new bar, and in the months prior to the 2022 season all the gutters round the green were replaced. David built the box sections at home and organised a group of volunteers to install the new troughs and dispose of the residue.

Furthermore, in early 2022 the club invested in some signs to promote both Trench Bowling Club and bowling activities which David had organised and, with the assistance of the Chairman, these have been positioned to illustrate the presence of the sport in the locality.

As well as the present playing organisation, David has shown interest in the progress of the game in both the County and locality. He has an extensive folio relating to Trench Bowling Club, and an insight of how the game has developed from early in the last century, following many visits to see historical records.

As you can tell by this short over-view David is someone who devotes much of his time, passion and efforts towards the promotion of both Trench Bowling Club and the game in general. During the time when he was diagnosed with bowel cancer in January 2021, he made sure that the green was still being cared for during his extensive indisposition.

David has always approached tasks and problems with courage, composure, and determination and is an excellent example of a sporting envoy which all players and administrators should aim to follow.

2022 – Ken Holding (Worthen & Brockton)

We would like to nominate our Head Greenkeeper, Ken Holding as our “Unsung Hero”.

Ken has managed our bowling green and its surrounds for several years and the hours of work that he puts into managing the green are way and above “normal working hours” and he refuses to receive any renumeration from the Club. He works long hours during the summer and winter months to ensure that we have a green that we can be proud of.

Our bowling green is looking splendid and is the envy of many Clubs and even whilst the pandemic halted normal life in 2020 and then again in 2021 when some bowling resumed, Ken made sure that the green was in tip top condition in order for our bowlers to get out of the house into the fresh air to play a few ends and socialise.

I am sure that many of the members have no idea how much work it takes throughout the year to keep the bowling green in such superb condition.

You will find Ken down on the green most days and even when the green has been cut, he will be undertaking other tasks around the green or in the Clubhouse.

To add to his workload, Ken has taken on the Captaincy of our Tanners Tuesday night team for this season and the team are currently doing well in their Division.

Ken will help us out at any time, we only have to ask and only recently he was re-felting one of our shed roofs after the storms had ripped the felting off.

Ken has on several occasions travelled into Shrewsbury from Worthen and back again, to pick up our President, Mary Woolley, when she has been unable to get to the green for a match, for which Mary has been very grateful.

Although he has not been in the best of health recently, most of our members would be unaware of this as he still gets on with his work quietly and efficiently and never moans.

Ken is a quiet, unassuming, dedicated and hardworking member of the Club who would do anything for you. He certainly goes that extra mile! All in all, he is a very loyal and well-respected member of the Club, and we are very lucky to have him as our Greenkeeper extraordinaire!

He is definitely our “Unsung Hero”.

2018 – Doug Thomas (Nantwich Park Road)

Nominated by: Nantwich Park Road

2017 – Emlyn Jones (Pontesbury)

Nominated by: Martin Green

Emlyn Jones is green-keeper for The Nags Head green at Pontesbury – he celebrated his 90^th birthday earlier this year and still dedicates several hours a day, usually seven days a week, maintaining the green and surrounding areas. Beyond the eight teams who play on the green across the season Emlyn also prepares the green to support county matches and competitions as and when selected.

Emlyn is currently enjoying his 55^th season as a member of Pontesbury Bowling Club having been a member of the first team for 54 of those years.

He currently plays leagues matches four days a week and will always turn out to support a team when required.

Emlyn’s dedication both to Pontesbury Bowling Club and more widely to the game that he loves is the reason I wish to nominate him for this award.

2016 – Frank Price (Baschurch)

Nominated by Baschurch Bowling Club.

“His task, as greenkeeper, was made even more difficult when the green was vandalised at the start of the time in the position. Thanks to his diligence and hard work, we now have a green to be proud of, despite the fact that we don’t have an automatic watering system, as some clubs do. At the same time, Frank is an excellent bowler and plays for our A team in the Wem League on Monday nights and the Shrewsbury Senior Citizens Team on Thursday Afternoons. He has also won many trophies in club competitions.”

2015 – Tony Manders (Oxon)

Nominated by Brian Selley on behalf of Oxon Bowling club.

Brian says ” He is eighty years young and has only ever played for one club. He has been treasurer for forty eight years.

He calls by the club two or three times a week where he trims the grass around the outside of the green and he also looks after the gardens etc. He also has painted the shed and the benches over the years! No-one asks him to do this, he just does it. He runs the monthly bingo money split between the church and Oxon Bowling club. Eighteen months ago when the contractor who cuts the hedge around the green could not do it (due to ill-health) Tony stepped in and his wife helped to clear up the cuttings.

He has been captain of the seniors team for a few years now and still plays three times a week. He is a true gent on the bowling green and he thoroughly deserves this accolade.”

2012 – Tony Gibbons (Castlefields) and Jim Husband (Bowring)

Jim Husband Unsung Hero Speech