VIBE SPRING NEWSLETTER 2013

A big hello to all you folk out there from Miriam and myself, Eric. It isn’t that long since I sent the last newsletter in November, so there isn’t that much to tell about tournaments. There seems to be more news about what’s happening off, rather than on, the green. I hope all you annual members remembered to send your subscriptions to Doreen Metcalf, our membership secretary. She has recently moved, her new address is in contacts at the end of this letter. At our committee meeting on the 5th of January Barry Walsh, our team manager, decided to resign. He found that there was too much squabbling going on about whether he could do the team manager’s job at the World Bowls ,while coaching one of the players at the same time. To stop any further arguments, he decided to step down from the position as team manager. Since then Gareth Willcock has applied to be our team manager. At the last committee meeting on the 15th of February, it was decided to put him in charge of the England team in Scotland in April for the UK indoor singles. If all is satisfactory, then he can go on to be the team manager for the World Bowls in Worthing in July. Along with this newsletter you will be receiving your voting papers. I am pleased to report that we have had more people applying to be on your committee. There will be at least three changes, as your president George Simmons, chairman Keith Brenton and myself as secretary are all standing down ,with people willing to take our positions. At this point, I would like to wish Gay Worden , who is willing to be our new secretary, the best of luck. If we can be of any assistance Gay, just give Miriam and I a ring. I think this is the time, with so many new members on the committee looking for something to do to help the association, for me to give up being the editor of your newsletter. I have enjoyed working on your committee and doing the newsletter for the last 4 years. I didn’t really want to do the job at first, but you didn’t have anybody willing to try, so I thought I might as well give it a go. The committee meeting at Scarborough was the first one I have missed in all these years. I must apologise for the mistakes I have made. I have spent many hours at committee meetings, and a lot more writing up the minutes for these meetings and AGM’S. I send my best wishes to the new committee, and hope they will make our association very successful for many years to come. I thought I had finished my secretary’s report, but I have just returned from our committee meeting on the 2nd of March where we had to make some changes to the voting papers. We thought the new constitution was up and running, when we sent out the nomination papers and proposals, but before that happens it must be agreed by the members, then lodged with the Charities Commission. I have not done this, so we still have to work under the old constitution. The proposals that I sent out to you in January, trying to change parts of the constitution have been withdrawn. You will be pleased to hear that the people who were nominated for our committee has not been changed. I feel like the goalkeeper who has just given away a penalty and been ordered off the pitch. In the newsletter this time I have: 1. Constitution 2.AGM 2013 3. Summary of EC meetings 4. Obituary 5. Tournament reports 6. English National Triples 7. Letter from Cheltenham 8. VIBE website 9. Dates for your diary 10. contact details.

CONSTITUTION As you will all remember, we had a Special General Meeting in August 2010, in which Tony Allcock attended, and the overwhelming feeling was that we badly needed an up-to-date standing orders and constitution. The committee members, especially Gail Hepworth, spent lots of time getting the constitution right. Last April I sent copies of the new constitution along with the standing orders to all secretaries, life members and all individual members. I asked for any constructive ideas or suggestions how we could improve the new constitution. We got no replies at all, so at the forum on the 11th of July at Worthing our chairman Keith Brenton announced that, as we had no feedback from our members, the constitution was up and running. In the last month, I and my committee members, have been told, as we didn’t ask our members to vote on the new constitution and hadn’t lodged it with the Charities Commission, we can not use the new constitution but must still use the old one. If anybody out there has lost their copy or would like an extra copy, just get in touch with Doreen Metcalf and she will send you one, she has lots of spare copies.

VIBE AGM FOR 2013 The members at last year’s AGM in Peterborough decided to have this year’s AGM at Leamington Spa Bowls Club. It will start at 1400 hours on Saturday the 13th of April. The committee will be having their own meeting before starting at 11 O’clock.

AGENDA FOR VIBE AGM

i. Attendance ii. Apologies iii. To read and confirm the Minutes of the last AGM and any Special General Meetings and deal with matters arising iv. Secretary’s annual report and adoption v. Treasurer’s annual report and adoption of the financial statement vi. To read and confirm results of the postal vote for the election of VIBE President, Office Bearers and Executive Committee Members vii. To read and confirm results of the postal vote pertaining to Motions and Resolutions viii. To elect an Independent Examiner ix. To read and confirm the postal vote result for the level of the following year’s annual subscriptions x. Election of Honorary Members xi. Agree Teller(s) and Venue for the next AGM xii. Any Other Business (to be put in writing and sent out with all other AGM materials)

VIBE AGM 14-04-2012 PETERBOROUGH

The VIBE AGM was held at the Westgate church in Peterborough on the 14-04-2012 and started at 2.15. WELCOME Gail Hepworth took the chair as Keith Brenton, VIBE’S chairman, could not attend. She thanked all for coming and apologised for running a little bit late, due to the long committee meeting held before. ROLLCALL AND APOLOGIES Gareth Willcock, Barry Walsh our team manager, Scot Vallance,Hazel Quale, Henry Edwards, Bernadette Robinson, and committee members Clive Robinson, Steve Simmons treasurer, Eric Gallacher secretary, Gail Hepworth, Doreen Metcalf membership secretary, Paul Hawkes and Terry Mathews. Apologies were received from Keith and Yvonne Brenton, George Simmons our president, Jim Bithell, Mike Philips, Colin and Juliet Moore and the rest of the Bath members, Steve Hubbard, Maureen Ryan, Tony Corcoran and Ashcombe members. A minute silence was then held for our members who had passed on. MINUTES OF LAST AGM IN PRESTON The minutes had been circulated to the members. Barry proposed, and Hazel seconded, that we accept the minutes and all agreed. THERE WERE NO MATTERS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES SECRETARY’S ANNUAL REPORT These had been circulated to the members and Steve proposed, and Gareth seconded, we adopt them and all agreed. TREASURER’S REPORT AND ADOPTION OF FINANCIAL STATEMENT Steve handed out copies of his report to the members. He then explained that we have 2 accounts , a General and a Team account. He then said what had come in and out of these accounts. At the end of the year our stock was valued at £731. At the end of our financial year we had £12,299.27 in the General account. In the Team account we have £4942.99 and £450 in stock. Since the end of the year he has received more money. He thanked Ann Kelly for her annual donation, Gateshead club for their collections and the Metro players for doing the station collections in London. He mentioned that later this year our association will be supporting the Nationals in Worthing, English National Triples and world trials in Leamington Spa and the UK VIB outdoor singles in Wales. Steve mentioned that the new committee will have to continue trying to raise money so we can keep running tournaments. Bernadette and her husband Clive are in talks with the London Eye Clinic in Harley Street to try and get some money for the World Bowls. Steve then thanked Bernadette for doing all the raffles during the year. Scott asked why the association hadn’t taken more effort to advertise the change of our name and tell people we had a new treasurer. Gail said she had written to all the bowls magazines and told them of our changes. Gareth explained that the Bowls England have a link to VIBE on their site with all the correct details on it. Henry then noted that the money received for entry fees had gone down in the last year. It was pointed out that the numbers at most tournaments is down ,mainly due to travel and accommodation costs, not the entry fees. Doreen proposed we adopt Steve’s report and Henry seconded this, and all agreed. CHAIRMAN’S REPORT Our chairman Keith Brenton was not able to attend due to ill health but his report had been circulated to all the members. NOMINATIONS FOR THE COMMITTEE Eric explained that the nomination forms had been sent out to all the members as requested. As before there were 2 replies for vice-chair: Gail Hepworth and Mike Bourne, and 8 for the 4 committee places: Doreen Metcalf, Clive Robinson, Terry Mathews, Paul Hawkes, Gail and Mike, along with Bernadette Robinson and Lynn Bourne. The new voting papers will be sent out, and asked to be returned by the 16th of June. The result of the voting for the committee places and the IBBA rule changes will be announced at the forum at the Nationals in Worthing. ELECT AN INDEPENDENT SCRUTINEER It was explained that we don’t have enough funds so we don’t need an auditor. Steve, our treasurer, said he had a colleague at work who would scrutinise the accounts for us. NEXT YEAR’S ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTIONS It was decided to leave the annual membership subscription at £5 and the life membership at £50 as before. ELECTION OF HONORARY MEMBERS Doreen read out a letter from Scott Vallance proposing, and seconded by Pat Lovell, that we make Ann Kelly a life member of our association for all the support she has given us for many years. Scott then said it would be better to make her a life member than an honorary one, as she would then be entitled to a vote and could even sit on our committee later. Steve then read out from the constitution what it says about the differencies between life and Honorary memberships. For Ann to become a life member £50 would have to be paid into the account from somewhere. Gareth Willcock proposed, seconded by Paul Hawkes, that we use £50 of her donation for her life membership. This was passed unanimously, and we should present her with a life membership certificate at the Nationals. Our association had life membership badges for ENAVHB, so now we should get some life membership badges made with VIBE on them. TELLER AND VENUE FOR NEXT YEAR’S AGM All agreed that we should ask Alan Whetherly to continue being our teller as he does a good job. Our treasurer will send him a voucher for his services. Following a discussion it was decided to have next year’s AGM in Leamington Spa. It is hoped to run the Joan Howard tournament on the 6th and 7th of April, so we will try to have our AGM on the 13th of April 2013. Scott then asked when the Scarborough tournament would be held next year. He was told it depends on the bowls centre and the hotel, but probably the first weekend in March. ANY OTHER BUSINESS Paul Hawkes asked if VIBE were ever going to replace the Blackpool tournament with another one, just for our VIBE members. Steve explained that the Blackpool tournament started as an ENAVHB tournament, but when the numbers fell, it had to be opened up into an open tournament and was no longer under ENAVHB. Since the Blackpool bowls club closed, the Gateshead bowls club have started a tournament in November and are keeping it open to all players in the UK. This now means that our members can go to triples tournaments in November and April, and a pairs tournament round about the end of February. Steve then announced that our association had just been approached by V.I.T.O, an organisation run by Geoff Rawlinson. They have asked VIBE if they would like to run their tournament, which has been organised by them at the beginning of October each year. They can no longer organise the tournament, so have just asked VIBE to take over. Our committee will have to discuss this at their next meeting. Scott Vallance then asked why our association were not trying to find ex service men who would like to start playing bowls. If we hear of anybody who is interested, Gareth thought we should tell them to get in touch with BDA , Bowls Development Alliance. It was mentioned that the ex service men were more interested in blind golf than bowls. Scott thought it would be a good idea if VIBE could produce a leaflet promoting the association. They could then be given to Social Departments and local hospitals to try and get more people to join us. Gareth asked why we didn’t send information to the county secretaries around the country, and they could put the information onto their websites. Gail then explained that the constitution and standing orders would be sent out to the members to examine and send back their views. The meeting then closed at 5 minutes to 4. Eric Gallacher, VIBE secretary SUMMARY OF EC MEETINGS 08.11.12 at Gateshead. The B1 play offs were discussed again, at the last meeting the correct voting procedure had not been followed, this time the committee voted that Keith Brenton could not be in the B1 play offs for the Worl Bowls, because he had qualified in the B3s, not in the B1s.

In an update re the World Bowls the committee were told that some English players had complained about the costs of accomodation, and had booked themselves somewhere cheaper. That might mean we lose sponsorship, pushing the fees up. All players will receive subsidies from Bowls England and VIBE ( at least £300), so it was hoped that the total cost of accomodation would be reasonable. It would be a pity if players broke up the squad over this and it was decided to send out a letter to all players regarding this. Keith was very disappointed with the negative attitude of some players and the letters of complaint that were written, when Bowls England and himself are working hard to obtain sponsors. He said he will resign from the World Bowls and do no more. Everybody participating with the World Bowls will be asked for a £300 deposit by the end of January to secure accomodation at the Chatsworth Hotel in Worthing.

Treasurer’s report: The balance of the accounts were on the 31st of October: General account £ 9595.90 and Team account £ 9857.09 Total of £ 19,452.99 There is more money coming in.

The team participating with the UK Indoor Singles in Glasgow was discussed. The selection will be done at the next meeting.

05.01.13 in London Steve Simmons, treasurer, had sent a cheque of £10,500 as deposit to the Chatsworth Hotel. He mentioned the receipt of several grants and donations. The proposals and upcoming election of committee members was discussed, Eric will send the proposals and nomination forms out before the end of January. The committee decided to instate a B5 category for those who have more sight than the B4s. The team was picked for Glasgow in April. World Bowls update: Hong Kong will be the 11th country participating in July. Bernadette and Clive Robinson managed to get good raffle prizes. A long discussion followed about the practicalities of the team manager (Barry) leading the team, but also being on the green, helping one of his club’s players. In the end he resigned. Keith offered to become manager, but the committee wanted to think about it. Treasurer’s update: the General account holds £ 11,265 and the Team account £ 5,457.10. OBITUARY FOR MIKE WORDEN This time I have only been sent one obituary for the newsletter and it was for my old mate Mike. In my first Nationals Tournament at Southend in 1995, my first 2 opponents were Mike and Johnny Sparks who have now both gone. They taught me a lot and I miss them very much. Miriam and I went to Mike’s funeral, and it was nice to see so many bowlers there, not only from his own club but from Lowestoft, Yorkshire, Bridgwater and even as far as Cornwall. The B1 tournaments are not the same without you, Mike. Eric Gallacher.

MICHAEL JOHN WORDEN 1942 -2012

Following a long illness sadly Mick died on the evening of Sunday 16th December. Mick had been nursed at home and the end was peaceful with me by his side as was his wishes.

Mick took part in his first Nationals in 1993 and over the years won the B1 Nationals twice, several UK medals and two silver and one gold world medals. (Winning a gold world medal was one of Mick’s ambitions, the other was to win the Hastings Open which although he made it to the semi-finals one year did not quite make it). Mick always strived for perfection, spending hours mentally turning things over then putting it into practice along our hall at home! Mick shunned front and rear coaching playing his own game as he felt it should be played. Any unfairness, bad sportsmanship or deliberate flouting or bending of the rules in bowling and Mick would be there - not always with diplomacy but with fire in his belly and a champion to the cause. Recently I had it said to me that ‘bowling for the blind and visually impaired need people like Mick and the game is very much poorer without competitors like Mick Worden’. My family and I miss Mick with all our hearts - here is what our 10 year old grandson wrote by himself in the condolence book - it says it all - ‘I am proud to say that my Grandad is a champion and that he never gave up even though he’s blind there shall always be a place in my heart for him and in Worden history. Love Lucas.

Gay Worden.

Thanks now to Keith Bell, our former chairman, who now lives in New Zealand. A tribute to Michael John (Mick ) Worden 1942- 2012(70 years) a dear and honest friend: Mick a man with a mission, I have known him for many years and first came in contact with him at an AGM of the E N A V H B, and he was not very enamored with me, but we became very close buddies, both in the U K and my present abode in N Z ,where many conversations took place over the telephone and guess what, mostly about Blind Bowls and in particular those players who were not what they claimed to be in the categories they play in , this was a stickler for him being honest and forthright. He could not accept those who tried to cheat; although totally blind he somehow knew that they were not what they professed to be, you might say you could not pull the wool over his eyes. Mick had vision problems known as R P, which through a period of time caused total blindness and he knowing all the aspects of the disease was able to understand all those with the same problem and at what stage they were in. Mick being gutsy and wanting to be the same as other young teenagers he became an Engineering Machinist apprentice to prove something to himself, and of course he wanted to earn some money, and from what he relayed to me, he was well up with the Technology and knew what was going on and made the charge hand position irrespective of his visual disability, he had a memory just like an elephant: once heard never forgotten and he would relay events which I had forgotten about many years ago. Mick came onto the bowls scene and had several directors and finished up with his loving wife Gay indicating to him where the bowls finished, good or bad , he had the game worked out and what his bowls were doing, he practiced and practiced in the hall way of his home until he was nearly perfect in his stance position on the mat, balance and swing of his arm wrist and elbow locked. He was keen as mustard and wanted to progress which he did over his Bowls Career winning most of the Trophies of importance. He was really elated and proud when he was first selected to play for his country and many times later with the most prestigious Trophy of all, being a Mixed Pairs Gold Medal with the help of Mrs. Margaret Cusker in the 2009 World Bowls Tournament played in Melbourne Australia. I was there to witness the elation of winning . Mick’s health deteriorated some what after that championship, and he was not seen too much after that playing, he was an avid smoker and although he was very strong willed, he could not stop the habit and the consequences of that was his demise, and after a very courageous fight he finally and sadly passed away on Sunday 16 December 2012.

Mick leaves a loving and caring wife Gay and his loving children and grand children, he will be sadly missed by all who knew him, particularly all those in the bowls world, and of course the bookie where he went many times and was a prominent winner. From a dear friend Keith Bell

TOURNAMENT REPORTS I only have 2 reports this time as I gave you the UK singles, National Triples and Gateshead reports in my last newsletter in November. Thanks go to Clive Robinson for the first one.

DISABILITY BOWLS ENGLAND MASTERS SINGLES NOVEMBER 2012 Disability Bowls England held the 8th Masters Singles Tournament at Gedling IBC, Nottingham 24th & 25th November 2012. Margret Smith D.B.A. Secretary was presented by The President Bill Blayney “AWARD OF MERIT FROM THE INTERNATIONAL BOWLS for services to disability bowls both internationally and bowls in general.

Top bowlers from four different disability bowls in the elite 16-person event. The groups represented were BWBA (for wheelchair), Sport (for bowlers with cerebral palsy, strokes head injury) VIBE (visually impaired) and EALABA (for amputees and other disabilities). Each disability group nominated 4 top bowlers; they are then drawn into 4 pools consisting of one bowler from each disability group. They play around robin in their pool, the winner of each pool determine the semi-finalists.

Entrants included defending Champion cerebral palsy bowler, David Walker from Leeds. Other competitors came from as far North as Yorkshire, as far South as Devon and many points in between.

This year the semi-finals saw David Fisher from Essex (EALABA) matched up against George Pierrepoint, Nottingham (CP Sport)and David Walker, Leeds (CP Sport) take on Lea Davis, Essex (BWBA).

Pierrepoint and Fisher were all square going into the last end with Pierrepoint winning by the narrowest of margins. Meanwhile, Davis got the better of Walker in the last end after a close game.

In the group final George put up a brave fight but was out played by Lea. Both bowlers were shattered by the end of the game. Lea, who had been surprised to get through to the final stages after a terrible start in his first match in the round robin stage of the competition , losing to Terry Mathews of VIBE 21-2, found some inner strength and forged away to a convincing victory.

Well done Lea!

It was a great weekend I would encourage all V.I.B.E. members to enter these events when invited.

GROUP TABLES______LEA DAVIS – IRENE CHEER- TERRY MATTHEWS – ADAM SUMMERFIELD .

MIKE DISTON – COLIN SMITH – GEORGE PIERREPIONT – PAUL HAWKES.

TONY DOWN – DAVE FISHER – LAURIE TURNER – CLIVE ROBINSON.

GEORGE RIDGEON – DAVID WALKER – BARRY JONES – BOB ROSITER.

SCARBOROUGH TOURNAMENT This year we had 2 new winners of the Scarborough pairs. Congratulations goes to Keith Brenton and Alan Lyne who beat Nancy Cheeseman and Ron Homer in the final. With 1 wood to go in the game, Alan was 1 shot down but he managed to change it into 2 shots and so win the tournament. Well done. Gay Worden presented a new cup, The Mick Worden Cup, to Keith Brenton as he was the B1 player who went the furthest in the tournament.

ENGLISH NATIONAL TRIPLES 2013 Leamington Spa have kindly allowed us to run our English National Outdoor Triples again this year at their greens. I mentioned this in my last newsletter and several bowlers have been in touch and entered teams. The ideal number of teams would be 10 or 12 and each team would get 6 games over the 3 days. The tournament will start on Tuesday the 11th of June and run for 3 days. The following day, Friday morning the 14th of June, we would like 6VIBE triples teams to play a charity match against Gareth Willcock’s Leamington Spa players. Anyone wishing to take part in these tournaments please get in touch with me Eric Gallacher, 0208 985 6245.

LETTER FROM CHELTENHAM FOR NEWSLETTER We received a letter from bowlers in Cheltenham, with an article and colour photo of the bowls group in the Gloucester Echo. The article explains how visually impaired bowlers play the game, and gives details of where the bowlers meet and at what time. One photo shows Tony Corcoran kneeling on the mat, delivering a wood, the bigger picture is of the group, showing Fred Girling, Percy Wiggins, Peter Wixey, Diana Hill, Lyn Stephens, Tony Corcoran and sighted helper Robin Hall. In his letter Peter Wixey explains that the Cheltenham and Gloucester VIB does no longer exist, but a small remnant meets once a week for a rollup. They were spotted by a former Mayor of Cheltenham, who was so impressed by their skills, that she contacted the newspaper, who then wrote the above mentioned article. Well done, Peter, we must try to keep interest going in this sport, and we hope that the article might lead to more people participating in the sport.

VIBE WEBSITE David J. Stott has very kindly agreed to set up and keep our new website up-to-date. Anyone who is interested in the website or has something for it can get in touch with David. His and the website details are as follows: David J. Stott, 01934 625 404, 8 Sandcroft Avenue, Uphill, Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, BS23 4SS. www.vibowlsengland.org.uk

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY 2013: MARCH 16-17 Ann Trotman Indoor Singles Nottingham, Paul Hawkes APRIL 6-7 Joan Howard Triples, Bristol, Steve Simmons APRIL 12, VIBE collection, Victoria Station, Eric Gallacher APRIL 13 AGM Leamington Spa Bowls Club at 2 pm APRIL 19-21 UK Indoor Singles, Glasgow APRIL 22-23 Glasgow Triples, Robert Conway, 0141 579 1086

MAY 02-05 Weston-super-Mare Tournament, Clarence Park Clive Robinson JUNE 11-13 England National Triples Leamington, Eric Gallacher JUNE 14 Leamington v VIBE triples at Leamington JUNE 15-16 Plant Welding Triples Nottingham, Paul Hawkes JUNE 22 Braintree Triples, Scott Vallance, 01692 581 589 JUNE 29 Wandsworth Triples tournament, Richard Stancombe 01502 580 737 JULY 06-19 World Bowls Worthing JULY 14-19 Hastings tournament, John Wilson 01424 852 014 AUGUST 03-04 Gedling Indoor pairs Nottingham, Paul Hawkes August 6-8 UK Outdoor Triples in Scotland AUGUST 17 VIBE Triples v Cricketers, LEAMINGTON SPA Scott Vallance AUGUST 18-23 English Nationals Leamington Spa, Steve Simmons

SEPTEMBER 01-06 Lowestoft Tournament, Gail Hepworth

DETAILS OF COMMITTEE MEMBERS FOLLOWING THE RESULTS OF THE VOTING AT THE AGM ON THE 13TH OF APRIL, SOME OF THESE POSITIONS WILL BE TAKEN OVER BY NEW MEMBERS.

 Keith Brenton chairman, 0191 477 7755 or 07968 254 441 [email protected]  Gail Hepworth vice chair, 01502 514 700 18 Hervey Street, Lowestoft, NR32 2JG [email protected]  Steve Simmons treasurer, 0208 857 9283, 5 Alice Thompson Close, off Marvels Lane, Grove Park, SE12 9PW. [email protected]  Eric Gallacher secretary and newsletter editor, 0208 985 6245 189 Homerton High Street, Hackney, London, E9 6BB. [email protected]  Doreen Metcalf membership secretary, tour manager 07770 376 144 28 Moor Close Road, Queensbury, Bradford BD13 9EA  [email protected] (please note underscore between d and m)  Clive Robinson, 01934 647 967 07891 708 994. In charge of our stock and equipment. [email protected]  George Simmons president, sight certificate officer, 07984 855 133 16 Mallet Drive, Northolt, Middlesex, UB5 4BE  Bernadette Robinson 01934 647 967( see above)  Paul Hawkes, 0208 531 2112  Gareth Willcock temporary team manager 01162 675 877 [email protected]