Blind Bowlers

Ms BEDFORD (Florey) (15:16): The 36^th Australian Blind Bowlers Association National Championships were held in Adelaide from 29 April to 7 May. These nationals are for vision-impaired lawn bowlers, and this year they were organised by the South Australian Blind Bowlers Club. Their president, Kath Murrell, and her committee, including Roy and Doreen Smith, Doris Thomas and Hans Schoppe, staged a very successful program of events at the Salisbury Bowling Club. Mr Lindsay Scaife acted as both announcer and emcee for the entire competition.

The facilities at the Salisbury Bowling Club, where the event was held, provided all players, directors and officials with a first-class venue. There were many comments about the quality of the greens during the competition, and all said that they were the very best in the country. Our thanks obviously go to greenkeeper, Greg Daulby, and his assistant, but also to club president, Geoff Ambler, and his wife, Jackie, who came to the final night dinner, and to the kitchen and bar staff, who made sure that everybody was well fed for the competition.

Fundraising, as we have just heard, for all sports is very difficult and for elite sports in particular, but just imagine trying to fundraise for the Blind Bowling Association. They relied on two small grants, one from the Salisbury council and one from the Office for Sport and Recreation, and a lot of raffles both before and during the competition to pay for the event—so all the competitors ended up paying for the competition themselves.

People who are vision impaired have to find not only the money to participate themselves but also a director to assist them. Anyone who has bowled knows the degree of difficulty involved in competing in lawn bowls, and so we should be able to appreciate the ability of a person able to adjust their bowl on the sound of the bell and the kitty at the other end of the green and react to the instructions of the director beside the kitty to give them an indication of how far to move their bowl to the left or to the right. This unique relationship with their directors deserves the highest praise, and I salute the bowlers and directors for their dedication to their sport. In recognition of that, all directors received a gold medal commemorating their participation in the Adelaide event.

The nationals have become a highlight of the blind bowling year and a time when they not only represent our state but also renew the friendships they have made in the past and make new ones. There were 42 competitors from five states vying for medals in the four categories of vision impairment. The small South Australian contingent of five bowlers acquitted themselves very well, with silver medals going to Marilyn Koch and Le Roi Court, her director. Bronze medals were won by Kath Murrell, Marilyn Koch and Glen Washington.

I need to tell you, too, that Kath and Glen were in the mixed pairs competition and were in the gold medal position until the very last bowl, when they were robbed and overcome by two teams, so they actually finished third rather than first; I think their gallant effort will go down in folklore.

The small contingent of bowlers did very well. We need to congratulate all the bowlers and directors of the South Australian Blind Bowlers Club and all the people who travelled from all over Australia to be part of this fantastic event. After the closing ceremony, I had the pleasure of representing the Premier and read a message from him and one from the Minister for Recreation and Sport at the dinner, and another message from minister Piccolo was sent as well. Blind bowlers are a great bunch and around 120 of them gathered for the last day dinner at the Salisbury Bowling club.

Just as an example, there was a South Australian volunteer, Ms Chris Williss, who was present every single day of the competition, from dawn to dusk, and she acted as an umpire as well. Another lady from Western Australia, Ursula Quaife, let me know that she had been involved not only in bowls but also in her local footy club at Manning since 1974. That is a big commitment to any club at all.

The Salisbury council was represented by Betty Gill at the last night dinner. Betty is another longtime supporter of blind bowling. As South Australian patron, I was honoured to help present the medals, as did Betty, Geoff Ambler (president of the Salisbury club) and South Australian president, Kath Murrell. Outgoing National Blind Bowling president, John Vance, made a great speech. He will be very sadly missed, and he will be succeeded by another Queenslander, Mr Chris Backstrom. We wish both those gentlemen all the very best for the future.

In closing, some of the people who received the Muriel Downie Award (the elite volunteer award) include: Sandra Clark from Queensland, Joy Forster from Queensland, Len O'Brien from Victoria, and Thelma Parish from Queensland. The competitor of the event was John Ryan from Western Australia, who won the Gwen Lewis Trophy. The champion state was Queensland, and they won the Le Mans Toyota Shield. The best female individual was June Brittan from Queensland, the best male individual was John Ryan from Western Australia, and the encouragement award for the best newcomer to blind bowls (the Marlene Ireland Award) went to Jenny Skinner from Queensland.

The next competition, I believe, will be in Western Australia, so I will definitely inform the house when I have those details because I know some of you may be really interested to travel to watch those competitions.