When Bletchley Town’s Marjorie Rose steps on to the rink for her club’s Tony Allcock quarter-final she will join an elite group of lawn bowlers who have appeared in the Bowls England National Finals in six different decades.
Marjorie, who has been a member of Bletchley since 1973, first qualified in the Ladies Fours in 1977 when she played alongside her Mum who is pictured on the back left of the photo below.
She also reached the semi-finals of the Ladies Pairs in 1993 in the company of Irene Wickham before seven years later joining Pam Price in the last four of the Over 55 Ladies Pairs.
According to Bletchley club secretary Rhys Lee, 83-year-old Marjorie who “is commonly known as the club legend” is still an extremely active club member who is regularly seen in friendlies and club competitions.
“Bletchley has about 80 members but we’re slightly short of lady members,” Rhys said. “With the Tony Allcock being for Over 60’s, this team has done outstandingly well to qualify as we only have a handful of bowlers to choose from.
“These four ladies have needed to be available all the way through the competition from May and what is especially nice is that for all of them other than Marjorie this will be a first appearance at the Nationals.
“We worked our way through four rounds against Buckinghamshire clubs Olney, Newport Pagnell, Woburn Sands and Gerrards Cross before going on to play Suttons and Egham from Surrey. We now face either Welford-upon-Avon or Barbourne in the quarter-final on Monday September 5th.
“This is the first time we have got this far in the Tony Allcock – three of our men have just turned 60 and they are all good bowlers who have reached and won Nationals before including the Over 55 Men’s Pairs in 2017 and 2019. You could say we have a team of youngsters!”
In the team photo:
(Back Row) Gareth Doyle, Gerry Smyth, Don Savage, Malcolm Drage, Dave Labrum.
(Front Row) Jenny Kent, Sue Brookes, Jackie Squires, Marjorie Rose.
Tickets to the National Finals start at just £4 for adults and £1 for Under 21s offer a full day of top-class sporting action. Tickets increase to £5.50 adults and £1.50 Under 21s at weekends. Event passes are available and all tickets are cheaper in advance.
Please note: U16s must be accompanied by an adult. Under 3s enter free of charge.