At its recent Annual General Meeting SCIBA appointed a wheelchair bowler as their Deputy Vice President for the forthcoming season 2010 / 2011. Ian Blackmore will take on this important role in the County hierarchy immediately and will work towards being County President in 2012 / 2013. This is a first for a wheelchair bowler.
“It is an honour to have been asked to stand for this role within Sussex bowls,” Blackmore said, “I am really looking forward to the next few years which I know will involve hard work along with the responsibility of representing my County. As Deputy Vice President I get to work with the County’s under-25 bowlers.”
“I am so proud and hope I can live up to expectations. Having been around in the early days of wheelchair bowlers trying to integrate into their clubs and being met with sometimes serious opposition (not in Sussex I might add) I would never have believed that this would be possible. Wheelchair bowls and wheelchair bowlers have come a long way since those difficult times in the early 1990s. The late David Peacock, arguably the first wheelchair bowler, and an inspiration to me and others would, I think, be happy with the progress of integration that has taken place over the years, both on the green and in the governance of the sport.”
“Sussex should be congratulated for asking me to take on this role as a bowler and not because of my wheelchair. I think it shows what a forward thinking County this is. I will do my best to reward the faith that others have in me.”
