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Dear Bob, Referring to your article about Disabled bowlers being turned away from a 31
club, I would certainly not say anything about disabled bowlers. We had one bowler
who came to bowl with us and asked if minded him using an aid. He said he had made
this himself. It enabled him to bowl without bending down. He put his wood square in it and had
a brake lever and cable and every delivery was perfect, indeed, watching how well he bowled
we all wanted one!
One club I went to, a disabled bowler was using a mobility scooter. It took ages to bowl an
end and it must have done some damage to the mat. At my club he would have had to transfer
to a wheelchair.
Yours faithfully F.E. Saunders

Hi Fred, the ESMBA have repaired some of the damage the
bigoted bowlers caused to our sport when they effectively banned
the two disabled bowlers - see the reports in the last issue and the
follow up in this issue. They were thankfully not an ESMBA regis-
tered club but the ESMBA invited the players and their carers to
the British Isles Championships in South Wales and provided them with England shirts and
made them feel very welcome. I’m glad to say they had a great weekend and at least one of
them was in tears when they had to go.
As to using a mobility Scooter, this could be a touchy one. Having been a mat sponsor to
the disabled championships when they existed, whilst I can appreciate that most difficulties can
be overcome. None of the Disability Scooter bowlers went on the mats. They “parked” off the
end of the mat and used a chute to bowl. As to transferring to a wheelchair to bowl, this would
depend on the degree of disability. Personally, for the sake of the wear and tear on a bowling
carpet, I think a Mobility Scooter is probably too heavy to allow on the carpet.

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