Latest / The PCR Sports Show / The PCR Sports Show - Friday 5th September 2025 - The Bowls special with Robert Heath, Chairman, Kate Heath, Secretary and Rosie Marchant, junior superstar from the Broadway Bowls Club, Yaxley

Transcript

The PCR Sports Show - Friday 5th September 2025 - The Bowls special with Robert Heath, Chairman, Kate Heath, Secretary and Rosie Marchant, junior superstar from the Broadway Bowls Club, Yaxley · The PCR Sports Show

0:16
Welcome to PCR. Sports Good evening and welcome
0:19
to the PCR Sports show. I'm Dipam and we're here with
0:22
you this evening myself and Nilesh.
0:24
It's your weekly roundup of all the sporting action that happens
0:28
in and around Peterborough. So welcome and thank you for
0:31
joining us this evening. Got a fantastic show lined up
0:34
we've got guests from the Broadway Bowls Club in Yaxley.
0:37
We have Robert Heath, chairman and Kate Heath, the secretary,
0:40
and their junior superstar Rosie, who's joined us as well.
0:45
So something to look forward to. We've never spoken to that
0:47
particular bowls club before, so it's their first time and so
0:50
we're all excited to find out more about the club, their
0:53
history, what they've achieved and what they're doing at the
0:55
moment. But first and as always, let's
0:58
catch up on this week's headlines and Nilesh has some
1:00
for us right now. Hi Nilesh, how are you all?
1:02
Right, thank you. Thank you very much, DIPAM.
1:03
Right. It's the end of the summer
1:05
season for many of our sporting clubs and the start of seasons
1:10
for our winter sports. So let's start with a bit of ice
1:13
hockey, shall we? And Peterborough Phantoms
1:15
stalwart Nathan Pollard has been named assistant head coach of
1:19
the club's National League side. Pollard will work closely with
1:23
new head coach Ashley Tate while continuing his successful spell
1:27
in charge of The Phantoms NIHL 2 side, effectively the club's
1:32
second string. Pollard will be with Phantoms
1:36
whenever the NIHL 2 side are not in action in athletics.
1:42
The Capes brothers, Lawson and Donovan were in action at the
1:45
Charnwood Open meeting at Loughborough and they returned
1:49
home with 100% success rate after winning all their events.
1:53
Lawson Capes threw the 1.75 kilogram discus 50.8 meters to
2:00
set a new Peterborough and Nene Valley Athletics Club club
2:03
record. He's ranked the second best
2:06
under 17 discus thrower in the country, despite it not being
2:10
his main event. Needless to say, the star
2:13
thrower won his specialist event, the Shot.
2:16
His throw of 17.88 meters was his second best of the season,
2:22
and he occupies top spot in the national rankings by well over a
2:26
meter. Older brother Donovan was also a
2:29
clear winner, taking first place in the under 23 shot with a
2:33
throw of 13.26 meters. He is currently ranked 16th in
2:38
the county in the under 23 age group.
2:42
The Capes brothers are maintaining a strong family
2:45
tradition in throwing events. Grandfather Jeff Capes competed
2:49
in three Olympic Games shot put events and won 2 Commonwealth
2:53
Games and European indoor gold medals.
2:56
He still holds the British record for the shot in rugby.
3:02
Peterborough IUFC have added have the added incentive of
3:06
promotion playoffs in the 2526 season.
3:10
Borough host Olney in their first Regional to Midlands E
3:14
match at Fortress Fengate on Saturday, which is at 3:00 PM
3:19
kick off. They're looking to build on last
3:21
season's respectable 5th place finish and the introduction of
3:25
promotion playoff matches for teams that finish between 2nd
3:29
and 5th in a 12 team division should ensure there is plenty to
3:34
play for over the next seven months in cricket.
3:38
The North Hunts Premier Division title race is all over Bath
3:42
shouting reigning champions Finder and now 49 points clear
3:46
of 2nd place Peterborough Town after the City side slightly
3:50
unfortunate defeat at Old Northamptonians last Saturday.
3:55
Carl Metcalf batted well for 91 as Town posted 290, 54 for 9 in
4:01
their 50 overs and the home side were 196 for five in just under
4:07
34 overs when rain washed out the rest of the game.
4:11
The home side were awarded the victory under the Duckworth
4:14
Lewis formula. Andeltown bounced back to form
4:18
with A5 wicket win at home to Rushden and Higham.
4:21
Patrick Harrington smashed 6 sixes in a 31 ball 66 not out to
4:25
speed his team to victory after visitors had been dismissed for
4:29
100 and 55 Oundle are at Peterborough Town in an 11 AM
4:34
start on Saturday in a game with only local bragging rights at
4:38
stake. Finder need to win one of their
4:41
final three matches to be sure of finishing top for the fourth
4:45
season in a row and they are at home to relegated Kettering Town
4:49
next. In table tennis and Archway
4:52
Tennis, Club stars have been excelling for England on the
4:56
international stage. The City Club's Kai Lun now beat
5:01
the third seed on his way to picking up a brilliant bronze
5:04
medal at the World Tennis Youth Contender.
5:09
Again I'll get my words at Youth Contender in Slovenia and
5:13
archway girls Cindy Zhao, Amber Lemon and Hannah Saunders
5:18
delivered the best English results at the Euro Mini
5:21
Championship in France for 15 years in news from the
5:26
Peterborough BMX Club and they are celebrating a British
5:28
champion Dylan Dixon. Jason won the 40 to 44 age
5:33
category cruiser mail category at Cyclope Park in Kent.
5:37
The city club saw 21 members qualify for the elite event with
5:42
several making it into some highly competitive finals.
5:45
Lottie McFarlane made it into two finals.
5:48
The next big event for the club is the East Anglian
5:51
Championships in Braintree on September the 14th.
5:56
Anyone interested in BMX racing can contact the club via social
5:59
media and look for Peterborough BMX Club on Facebook and
6:03
Instagram to book a free introduction.
6:07
And we'll finish with some news from Peterborough Sports.
6:10
And they have to shrug off mounting levels of misfortune to
6:14
clamber away from the relegation zone in the National League N.
6:18
The City side have a tough game against third placed AFC filed
6:22
at Pym's Park on Saturday, which is a 3:00 PM kick off after
6:26
defeat at AFC Telford on Tuesday night left them next to bottom
6:30
of the table, three points from a position of safety.
6:34
Sports started the game in Shropshire without key players
6:38
Shaq Coulthurst and Dan Jarvis and finished it without Sam
6:42
Bailey and Ben Mensa, who picked up Knox during A32 defeat.
6:48
Mensa lasted just 20 minutes as a second-half substitute before
6:52
picking up a hamstring injury. Coulterst and Jarvis could miss
6:56
the next month. Bailey Mcando is currently away
6:59
on international duty and she'll be back in the sports fold for
7:02
the FA Cup tie against Hornchurch at Pyms Park next
7:06
Saturday the 13th and a little bit of Derby day news for
7:11
Peterborough United Women. This Sunday they host Cambridge
7:14
United in a must win National League Cup tie at Pyms Park,
7:18
once again the home of Peterborough Sport in a 2:00 PM
7:21
kick off. Admission to the match is pay on
7:24
the day and adults can get in for just £7, while it's for
7:28
seniors is 4 under eighteens it's 3 lbs and for under
7:32
fourteens it's just £1.00. So if you fancy a women's Derby
7:36
day game against Cambridge United on Sunday to get your
7:39
football fixed then Peterborough Sports home Pyms Park is the
7:42
place to be in a 2:00 PM kick off.
7:44
And those are your sporting headlines this week, DIPAM.
7:47
Thank you Nilesh, lots going on as always slightly sort of
7:53
misfortunes at the moment for our kind of biggest 2 football
7:55
clubs in the, in the city. The season hasn't started for
7:58
either Posh or sports as they would have liked.
8:01
You're a massive Posh fan. I know you go to to do we have
8:04
to talk about it? I know, I know, we, I know it's
8:07
not been great. It's not great.
8:08
But I mean, obviously the Exeter and then at home to crew in the
8:14
defence of the of the EFL Trophy this week as well.
8:17
And I mean our performance is getting better.
8:21
I know the results aren't, but does it look better generally
8:24
than than it did, say, a month ago?
8:26
Well, the season's watch the month old isn't it?
8:28
So yeah, there's work to be done.
8:31
The reinforcements arrived on Monday just as the transfer
8:33
window was closing. So Posh have signed 4 new
8:36
players, couple of strikers, couple of defenders of which I
8:40
expect to see perhaps 3 or if not all four of them in action
8:43
tomorrow against Huddersfield. So yeah, I'm optimistic.
8:46
You know, many a fan has said to me, are you not worried?
8:48
I said, yeah, of course there's a little bit of don't worry
8:50
about it. But you know, right now we've
8:52
had August, it's done and dusted.
8:54
Let's focus on what happens tomorrow and build from there.
8:57
And you know, those new players, let's hope they can hit the
9:00
ground running. There's a huge boost tomorrow
9:02
with the return of Alex Bass in goal, who we signed in the in
9:06
the summer. So that'll be a welcome
9:07
addition. And yeah, those new players
9:10
coming into the coming into the squad will hopefully boost
9:13
morale certainly, which is, as you'd expect, rather low, no
9:17
doubt in the club at the moment. But you know, forget about
9:20
what's happened, learn from it and fingers crossed we can pick
9:24
up a, if not a win, at least a point tomorrow at Huddersfield.
9:27
And one thing Darren Ferguson and his team are, are good at,
9:30
and we've seen it over the seasons because he's had to do
9:32
it, you know, many, many times is that turnover of squad and
9:36
being able to gel them. You know, even if, if it isn't
9:38
the best of starts, he does get it right in the end because he,
9:41
he manages to, to kind of bring the squad together and fit the
9:44
new players in and create that, that synergy and, and get them
9:47
to gel. And that's something he has done
9:48
many, many times. Yeah.
9:49
And he, he has to again, you know, if we go, you know,
9:53
September and God forbid, into October, you know, in the form
9:56
that we're currently in, then, you know, perhaps questions are
9:59
asked further and work has to be done.
10:02
But, you know, he's got his squad now.
10:04
It's going to be settled. He'll pick his 18 for match days
10:08
and it's down to those players to perform irrespective of what
10:11
formation he decides to choose. Brilliant and hopefully that
10:14
will all that will change in AU turn starting at Huddersfield
10:17
tomorrow. Indeed, yeah.
10:19
And then yeah, fingers crossed Peter Sports can start picking
10:23
up their results as well from a National League N perspective.
10:25
Fantastic, brilliant. Thank you, Neilesh.
10:27
Right, let's take a short break then and we'll be back in a few
10:30
minutes. As I mentioned earlier, we'll be
10:31
speaking to members from the Broadway Bowls Club in Yaxley.
10:35
We've got Robert and Kate Heath and Rosie Marchant in to to talk
10:39
about their club, their achievements and what it's all
10:42
about. So stay tuned, we'll be back in
10:43
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You're listening to PCR sports. Welcome back to the PCR Sports
13:01
show, myself, Dipam and Nilesh this week you can listen to us
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So right back to this evening's show.
13:33
As I mentioned, we've got the Bowling Club from Yaxi, the
13:36
Broadway Bowls Club in with us this evening.
13:38
We've got Robert and Kate Heath, Robert's the chairman, Kate is
13:42
the secretary and we've got young child prodigy Rosie
13:46
Marchant, who's a young superstar at the club as well.
13:51
Robert, if I start with you, please first, welcome to the
13:53
show. Thank you very much.
13:55
And you could have us. No, thank you for joining us.
13:58
So I mean, tell us your little bit of your story about a little
14:01
bit of your story about how you've, you know, how your
14:04
career in bowls has gone and, and where you are now.
14:07
Well, I suppose, I suppose it really started with grandparents
14:12
being involved and from that my dad got involved and it was in
14:18
19, I'm trying to think now, 1983.
14:23
I played with my dad. He he got me into bowls and we
14:26
we played with an another couple, Liam Crowe and Michael
14:30
Crowe in our father and son four.
14:33
And we got to the semi final of the all All England, which was
14:37
played at Worthing in those days.
14:39
And so that really got me interested in bowls and that was
14:42
playing in Cambridge at the time.
14:43
But as luck would have it, work got privatised.
14:48
Anglian Water was the the thing which which happened.
14:53
It became a private company and I used to work for the river
14:55
authorities and we were moved from Cambridge to Peterborough
15:01
which became the National Rivers Authority and eventually the
15:04
Environment Agency. So we moved up to Peterborough
15:08
and I stopped playing bowls. We had a family and carried on
15:11
playing cricket, which has always been my love.
15:13
I love team sports and later when I got to retirement age I
15:18
thought I better revisit bowls again, so started playing again
15:21
about 5960. But eight years of age, yes.
15:24
Not a year, not year, brilliant. And that and then when you
15:29
restarted, was that at Yaxley? It was at Yaxley, yeah.
15:31
I went along to Yaxley and introduced myself and somebody
15:35
there kindly said, yeah, yeah, come in.
15:37
They, as always bowls clubs are always afternoon members and
15:41
they're, they're pleased to have anyone come along to get someone
15:43
walk through the gate who wants to play and has played before.
15:46
There's a bit of a bonus to a bowls club.
15:48
Fantastic. And then you talked about a semi
15:51
final appearance there. So what have your achievements
15:53
been in in in in your sort of playing career, so.
15:56
Today, well that that's probably is the biggest achievement going
15:59
to EBA in Worthing. That's bowls England now.
16:05
But I have played pairs with my partner Tony Belson in EBF
16:09
competitions and we've reached Skegness.
16:13
Well I think this year is the only year we haven't reached for
16:17
about the last five years. So we've won county, county
16:20
competitions in the pairs and in the senior pairs and I've won
16:25
through to the finals in the champion of champions.
16:28
So each club has a champion bowls and and player and they
16:31
play against other champion bowls players from other clubs
16:35
and become the champion and champion for Northamptonshire,
16:38
which although we're not in Northamptonshire, it's the
16:40
county we play for. That's because Peterborough used
16:43
to be in Northamptonshire. Yes, it is.
16:45
Absolutely. Affiliation.
16:46
There's an affiliation. Football as well, and other
16:49
football competitions in this area, definitely.
16:51
So for EBF English Bowls Federation, we play for
16:54
Northamptonshire, but for EBA English Bowls Association we
16:59
play for Huntingdonshire. So it's really.
17:02
Not too confusing it. It's very confusing.
17:03
It's. Like, it's like boxing.
17:06
They've got different federations in different
17:08
leagues, so it's like boxing, only clearly we don't hit in
17:12
people. We don't encourage that.
17:14
Not often anyway, no. So we have federation bowls and
17:18
we have England bowls. Excellent.
17:21
And then so how about you Kate? Then what's your what's your
17:23
journey been in the sport of bowls?
17:25
My journey is when I retired I thought if I want to see my
17:30
husband I have to play bowls and Rob was secretary for the club
17:35
for many years and whilst he was secretary he'd come home and
17:41
throw me a page of notes and say do you mind very much typing
17:44
those up. So when Rob moved on to be
17:48
chairman it seems, or nobody else stepped up to be secretary
17:52
but so I became secretary. But it's so much more than just
17:56
typing up notes. The whole place runs on
17:59
volunteers, volunteers and people.
18:02
Just the goodwill of people. Really.
18:04
Yeah, many, many. I mean, we have many clubs as
18:07
guests on the show and it's the same story with most of the the
18:10
clubs in the city where that army of volunteers just keeps
18:13
the the whole thing turning the. Whole thing going and we have
18:17
lots of people that come down to watch and we're just like, say
18:19
Rosie's mum for example, she'll make us all a cup of tea.
18:22
Brilliant. Or run the raffle.
18:25
And we even wrote Rosie's brother Will, who plays balls as
18:27
well. He makes a mean company.
18:29
Fantastic, so how long have you been playing then?
18:32
I started Four Seasons ago, but so when I retired, I was very,
18:38
very lucky to retire at 55. So I started Four Seasons ago,
18:42
but I've only really been playing properly for the last
18:45
three seasons really. And this year I was, I don't
18:49
think I'm going to really play this year because there's so
18:51
much to do when you retire. Not just balls, but gradually
18:57
get roped in because they're a bit short of older ladies.
18:59
We've got lots of lovely new junior members this year, but
19:02
we're a bit short of senior older lady.
19:04
So I got roped in so much. But amazingly I got through to
19:10
Leamington, which is the English Bowls Association finals, All
19:15
England finals, and a team of four of us got through to that.
19:19
Fantastic Which? Is amazing and just fabulous
19:22
because one of our senior bowlers, it was she had a big
19:24
birthday this year and I'm not going to say which big birthday
19:27
this and on her bucket list was to go to Lymington. 80.
19:36
Dear trouble. Yeah.
19:38
So to get through to that for her was just wonderful, really.
19:41
Really. Yeah, yeah.
19:42
What a birthday present. Yeah, I mean we we got knocked
19:44
out in the first round, but two actually got to the England
19:47
final finals. And all from the dear old
19:50
village of Yaxley, which is incredible.
19:53
And we were Hunts County champions, The CPA this falls.
19:57
Fantastic. That's amazing.
19:58
But we're a mighty club, aren't we?
20:00
Rose? Yeah.
20:00
Mighty club yeah and and and again that's another what can
20:05
you call it again a bit of a thread we've seen throughout
20:07
Peterborough with clubs that are you know Peterborough as a city
20:10
and the whole of the UK is relatively small but there's
20:13
some really high achieving clubs for the given the size of the
20:16
city you are in in in many sports in the city and and it's
20:19
it's fantastic to see I. Looking in Bowls is thriving for
20:25
young people in Huntingdonshire and Northamptonshire.
20:29
Every year at Skegness and every year at Leamington.
20:32
We have representatives from Huntingdon and Northamptonshire.
20:36
It's it's excellent. Really, really great.
20:38
Yeah, brilliant. That's good stuff, right?
20:40
Let's just take a short break there.
20:42
We'll be back in a few minutes and we'll talk about the club
20:44
itself, the history of it, and we'll also be having a chat with
20:47
Rosie, who's a young superstar coming up the pathway at the
20:52
club. So stay tuned, it's PCR FM.
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You're listening to PCR sports. Welcome back to the PCR Sports
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Show with myself, Dipam and Nilesh this week.
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So yeah, like I said, get in touch.
24:18
If you've got any news or updates about any sporting, any
24:22
Sporting News, then give us a shout and we'll give it a
24:25
mention on our show. Or if you feel that you want to
24:28
be a guest on the show or your club and you want to promote
24:30
your sport and your club, then do again reach out and we'll see
24:33
if we can make that happened. Right back to our guests this
24:37
evening. And as I mentioned earlier,
24:39
we've got the Broadway Bowls Club from Yaxley Inn and Robert
24:43
Heath, the chairman, Kate Heath, the secretary and Rosie
24:46
Marchant, the young superstar coming up at the club.
24:49
If I turn to Robert again, just for a moment, you spoke about
24:54
your sort of personal history in in the bowl sport of bowls and
24:59
obviously reference to to the club itself.
25:01
So let's just kind of understand a bit more about the club
25:03
itself, the history of it and and obviously you do a an off
25:07
rink role at the at the club as well as as chairman.
25:10
Yes, indeed. What does that all involve?
25:12
Well, it's basically involves in running the club.
25:15
I'm the chair of a group of 13 committee members who who have a
25:20
secretary, a treasurer, a green keeper as a safety officer and
25:27
someone that's responsible for entertainment, organising bingo
25:31
drives and quizzes and things like that.
25:33
So it's just basically keeping them all in order.
25:36
Fantastic. Sound like you're doing a good
25:38
job job. I can tell you how bad it is.
25:41
So the club yourself, the the club badge suggests established
25:45
1950. But as we were speaking before
25:47
we came on there, there was some bowls action taking place in
25:50
that space well before that day, wasn't it?
25:52
Yeah, well, the the Bowls Club was formed in 1950, which we're
25:55
celebrating our 7050 year this year, obviously so.
25:59
But the actual Bowls Green was built in 1938.
26:02
The pub built it just before the war and then of course the war
26:06
happened and the green fell into disrepair and it just didn't get
26:12
used. Must have been used a year or so
26:14
before the war. But after the war they cut the
26:17
grass which was like a hay Meadow and had trouble making it
26:22
back into a balls green. When it rained the balls green
26:25
flooded and eventually they dug it up.
26:27
Went under, went major reconstruction, dug it up and
26:31
they used clinker from the brickworks that in stand ground
26:35
and around there as a base for the bowls green, which we still
26:38
have today. And so in 1950 a group of
26:42
farmers, and there was police officers and doctors and all the
26:46
local Gentry from around Yaxley joined together and formed the
26:50
bowls club and that's what we still run today.
26:52
Fantastic. The rest is history, as I say,
26:55
and in in terms of the history, any sort of low notable
26:59
milestones, achievements in in terms of the club itself.
27:02
Well we we have an honours board which celebrates our success in
27:06
EBA and EBF Federation Association. 1 Notable
27:11
achievement about 3 years ago, two of our players, Les Sharp
27:17
and Jill King, they won the senior pairs competition in
27:23
Skegness nationally so that was a real big boost for our club
27:26
for have the have a national winner in the club.
27:28
Amazing, fantastic. And as you mentioned earlier,
27:31
celebrating 75 years this year. Any plans to to mark that in any
27:35
way? Well, we're, we're waiting for a
27:38
new lease to be signed. The green is in need of
27:43
refurbishment, not the greens much itself, but the surrounds
27:47
of our club are in need of refurbishment.
27:49
And once we get the lease signed, we're we're looking for
27:52
raising money so that we can get the surrounds of the green, our
27:56
paving which goes all the way around and maybe a new roof on
27:59
our clubhouse. So that's the plans at the
28:01
moment. But we undertake, one of the
28:04
things Bowles England does is run an open day called the Big
28:08
Bowles Weekend. And although it goes over all
28:10
weekend, we go for the one day, a Sunday, and open the club up.
28:14
And the publicity that Bowles Igman gives us helps us do that.
28:19
And through that we've taken on quite a lot of new members.
28:22
It's a really good way of bringing new members into the
28:25
club, giving them a chance to have a game of bowls or even
28:29
just to roll up and some odd games, which is not really bowls
28:32
but more like targets, Skittles and things like that.
28:35
Just a fun day for people to come along and enjoy themselves
28:39
and as they like it take up the opportunity to join the club.
28:42
Fantastic. Sounds good.
28:43
Kate, if I could bring you back in for a moment, your club
28:45
secretary which is a, a key administrative role at any club
28:49
to be honest. So and I imagine that that
28:51
probably doesn't have a fixed job profile either, does it?
28:54
It tends to be quite open-ended, doesn't it?
28:56
No. It doesn't have a fixed job
28:57
profile and I can be huiking spiders out of toilets because
29:01
Rosie hates spiders. So I can be huiking spiders out
29:04
of the toilets. I can be making capsid teeth.
29:06
That's after I've washed my hands making cups of tea and
29:09
coffee, finding biscuits for children that are racing up and
29:13
yeah, usually rosy racing up and down the bowls green.
29:17
But then there's quite a lot of administrative paperwork to do
29:20
as well for both bowls Federation and Bowls
29:24
Association. I'm not going to moan about it
29:26
too much because I'm hoping to find a new secretary next
29:29
season. Yeah, you've got to make, got to
29:31
sell the roll, haven't you, We? Absolutely.
29:33
Work really closely with the Treasurer when we're doing
29:35
subscriptions and, and all sorts of things that you don't think
29:38
about like data protection, because social media is, you
29:42
know, everywhere. And it's a really good way for
29:45
us to get new members, younger members especially.
29:48
So we have to get mums and dads to guardians to to a.
29:51
Safeguarding element for obviously because youngsters are
29:54
involved as well. Yeah.
29:54
And work closely with our safeguarding officer Karen as
29:57
well. So it's a it used to be taking
30:01
notes at meetings and filing and it's not.
30:04
Not just that anymore. Not just that anymore.
30:06
Which is great. Absolutely.
30:07
See how everything works? So it's obviously just a
30:10
reference there to youngsters. Just tell us a little bit about
30:13
the, the, the, the number of teams or the age ranges that are
30:16
at the club and we'll have a chat with Rosie in a moment.
30:18
Yeah. Well, we've got, we've got about
30:19
88 members of I think there's no about about that, is there?
30:23
We've got 88 members, so we've got 81, not 88, Rosie, I can't
30:28
read 81 members this year. We are so fortunate.
30:32
We've got 10 junior members, whereas I think probably we had
30:36
less than a handful last year, but we've got 10 members that
30:39
actually play this year, so that's really great.
30:42
We've got what we call 8 lifers, so they're people that have been
30:47
with the club for a very, very long time.
30:50
Served the club. Served the club so have done
30:52
something special for our club for a very long time and we
30:56
tried to reward people like that each year with honouring
31:00
somebody. So we've got 88 lifetime members
31:03
and then we've got, what's that say, Rosie, 63 full members who
31:08
actually bowl. And our oldest bowler is 89.
31:13
And I'm not going to share who that is, but they bowl very,
31:16
very well and I have to say, LED me all the way through my
31:19
bowling crate. Well, they'll have, they'll
31:20
have. They'll have a mouse milestone
31:21
birthday, you see, weren't they? He's not Robert.
31:23
He's very great. But he's not 89.
31:26
And then our youngest member who has just done 10, and that's
31:30
Rosie. Brilliant.
31:31
Well, that's the perfect segue to bring Rosie in.
31:33
Rosie. Hello.
31:34
Hello. How are you?
31:35
Good. Thank you for coming in this
31:37
evening. You excited?
31:39
Yeah. Fantastic.
31:40
So just to confirm, how old are you?
31:42
10. Brilliant.
31:44
And you're the youngest member of the the bowls club.
31:47
Yeah. Are you proud of that?
31:48
Yeah, Excellent. How does it feel?
31:51
Good. Fantastic And how long have you
31:54
been playing bowls at the club? Can you remember?
31:56
One year. One year.
31:57
So you were nine when you joined?
31:58
Yeah, goodness me. And what what interested you in
32:01
in playing bowls and then joining the club?
32:04
My granddad got me bowling and my brother.
32:08
Wow. So it's a family kind of
32:09
tradition as to continue continuing with you, is it?
32:12
Yeah, brilliant. And did you used to go and watch
32:15
your granddad and your brother play before you started?
32:18
Yeah. And you thought, I like the look
32:19
of this and I'll give it a go. Yeah.
32:21
Fantastic. And what do you like best about
32:24
playing? Just being outdoors and.
32:28
Yeah, you like spending. Time with people.
32:30
In the good weather, sunshine and everything.
32:32
Most of the time, anyway. Yeah.
32:34
And have you made new friends of and what, what sort of friends
32:37
have you made since playing at the club?
32:39
How many friends? Are there?
32:41
Other children your age? Around your age?
32:42
Yeah, there is. So you have, you have lots of
32:45
new friends now. You'll have friends that you go
32:47
to school with, friends that you live down the same St. as.
32:49
And then you've got a new set of friends at the Bowling Club.
32:52
Yeah, yeah. So you must have lots of friends
32:54
now. Yeah.
32:56
Yeah, next time you have a birthday party, you're going to
32:58
get lots of presents. Yeah, Don't you think so?
33:01
Yeah. So in terms of your playing
33:05
then, have you played many games this season in the summer?
33:09
Yeah, I play. I don't know how many, but I
33:13
played lots. Yeah.
33:16
This year the Peterborough Bowls League set up a new league
33:22
called the Sixes. So usually when we play in the
33:25
league in the evening we play. How many in the team do we
33:30
normally play? We play nine people in a team.
33:33
There's normally 9, normally nine people who make up a team
33:37
of bowls, but there were some clubs that were struggling even
33:41
to get 9 players out for a game of bowls and asked if there
33:44
could be a Sixes League and Peterborough and District
33:47
considered that at their committee meets and and put it
33:50
towards the AGM and it was voted in.
33:52
And this year we've had the inaugural Sixes League and we
33:57
entered A-Team called the Cuckoos and that was
34:00
specifically for our youngsters, one or two older players help
34:06
them out, but specifically to give our youngsters.
34:09
And it's a different format to normal bowls.
34:13
Normally we play 21 ends or 18 ends depending whether you're
34:18
playing two bowl or or three bowl.
34:20
But in the Sixers league, they play 2 sets, 2 sets of seven
34:24
ends with a break in the middle and after one set you can change
34:28
your players around OK and so you get you get 2 points for
34:32
winning a set And so there's four sets being played over the
34:35
night and you get 10 another two points for the best overall
34:38
score throughout that night, the whole the whole overall score.
34:42
So there's a maximum of 10 points up for grabs that's been.
34:45
A deal for a new junior members to play.
34:49
I played one game and we lost. Will was very kind.
34:52
That's Rosie's older brother. Will was very kind and wasn't
34:55
horrible to me because we lost. And did Rosie's team win?
35:00
Yeah, so this year, not only have Rosie's team won, Rosie's
35:03
team have won the whole league. Oh wow.
35:06
So Yaxley Cuckoos are the league winners for the 60s?
35:10
So Rosie, Rosie, you are a champion already at the age of
35:13
10. Yeah.
35:14
Yeah. There can't be many people who
35:15
can say that. No.
35:17
Wow, that's amazing. It is.
35:19
It's absolutely. Fantastic.
35:20
Congratulations. Well done.
35:21
The. Rest of the Peterborough teams
35:23
in that league have been so welcoming to the Cuckoos.
35:25
It's been Absolutely Fabulous because it if you're an older,
35:29
an older bowler to, you know, you're coming to the end of your
35:34
wonderful career and you've got new people that need help and
35:37
need explanation and there's a whole etiquette.
35:41
There's a mentorship. Any sport, there's an etiquette
35:43
around it and Peterborough League have been so welcoming to
35:47
our bowlers. Passing that baton onto the next
35:50
generation, isn't it? Absolutely, yeah, it's a bowls
35:54
is a lovely community, a really lovely.
35:56
Community. So Rosie, you're a champion,
35:59
which is fantastic. If there are, if there are
36:02
children out there who are listening, who think maybe
36:04
bowls, should I try it? Should I not try it?
36:06
What would you say to them? Sure.
36:08
I would say to like come and try and then if they like it, to
36:14
come and practice. OK.
36:16
And is it easy to start playing? Yeah.
36:18
Yeah. And do you need any special
36:20
clothes or footwear, or can you just come along and play you?
36:26
Need shoes that are flat? Yeah, you need a white T-shirt,
36:30
OK, And a grey or black trousers or shorts.
36:37
So there's not much needed really, is it?
36:38
Anyone can give it a go quite easily and.
36:40
We've got lots of spare bowls at our club, haven't we?
36:43
Yeah. We've got, we've got little
36:45
bowls for little people and we've got lots of different
36:48
sizes, haven't we? Yeah, so and every Saturday
36:51
morning we run open sessions. And this year some of our
36:56
bowlers have done Monday evenings as well, haven't they?
36:59
For people that work to come along after 6:00, they're going
37:03
to finish soon, unfortunately. So our bowls grid closes at the
37:06
end of September, but we open again in April.
37:09
So if anybody wants to join us, they're very.
37:11
Well, we can do fantastic, right?
37:14
Let's just take a short and final break there and move back
37:16
with more bowls and and do stay with us.
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We make movies better. You're listening to PCR.
39:36
Sports. Welcome back to the PCR Sports
39:48
Show, myself, Dipam and Nilesh this week.
39:51
If you missed any show, you can catch up again after 7:00.
39:54
If you go to PCR FM dot co.uk, you can catch up as the show
39:59
will be uploaded. And later during the weekend
40:01
we'll be posting the podcast on our social media as well.
40:05
So do watch out for that. So we're just speaking to Rosie
40:08
before the weekend, who's a 10 year old who bowls at the
40:10
Broadway Bowls Club in Yaksi, who's a young champion at the
40:15
organization. She's just been telling us her
40:18
team won a title. Rosie, what's the name of the
40:21
cup or the trophy that you won the?
40:23
Monday Shield. The Monday Shield and is that a
40:26
big cup or trophy? It's a big cup.
40:29
Is it? Yeah, it's a.
40:30
Shield, it's a big. Shield.
40:32
And did you get to hold it up? Yeah.
40:34
Did you and did you take a photo of yourself holding this big
40:36
shield? Yeah.
40:37
Excellent. And were you proud of winning
40:39
it? Yeah.
40:40
Fantastic. And do you want to win more of
40:42
those again in future? Yeah, yeah.
40:44
How many more do you want to? Win 20,000. 20,000 That's
40:48
amazing. You'd be the best bowls person
40:50
in the world if you did that. Amazing.
40:52
And going forward into the future, what, what have you
40:56
thought about how much you want to achieve in bowls or how far
40:59
you want to take it? Or do you at the moment you're
41:01
just working alongside your schoolwork or have you thought
41:03
about how you want to do going forward?
41:05
No, not sure yet, just enjoying it while you can.
41:08
Well, I'll say something about Rosie because she's a brilliant
41:11
little bowler. She has got the most perfect
41:14
bowls action and there's no doubt that she gets the biggest
41:18
and she gets her balls close to the Jack to any player that
41:21
we've got in the club always gets a big cheer when Rosie's
41:24
there and that's quite often. It's not an odd occasion.
41:29
Balls is Rosie's on the Jack really often and we're proud of
41:34
her, really proud of her in the class, but I.
41:36
Think what's lovely to what's really lovely to see is even if
41:41
we're losing, Rosie's still cheerful and still wants to keep
41:46
going and have a go. Don't you?
41:48
You're it doesn't get you down, do you?
41:50
Just like playing bowls? Maybe when you get home you're a
41:52
bit fed up, but you're never fed up at the bowls club, are you?
41:55
No, no, you love it, don't you? Just enjoy it and you know,
41:59
you're getting better and better every time because you're
42:00
getting older, you're playing more and you're getting better
42:03
and, and, and like Robert says, you, you always bowl very well
42:06
and, and you get it close to the, to the Jack, don't you?
42:09
Yeah. So do you think you inherited
42:11
your skill from your granddad or from your dad or from your Big
42:14
Brother? Or is it just hard work and lots
42:16
of practice? Hard work?
42:18
Yeah. I've seen your granddad bowl as
42:20
well. It's just hard work and lots of
42:22
practice, isn't it? Yeah.
42:24
Rosie, who's better, you or your brother?
42:26
Me. Well, well, Will is in a club
42:33
finals this weekend. He's playing Robert, isn't he?
42:37
This weekend? Who?
42:37
Who do you reckon is going to win?
42:39
Rosie, Robert or Will? Careful, because you sat between
42:41
the two of them. Who do you think?
42:44
Who? Do you think?
42:45
You know you can say it. Don't worry.
42:46
No. Will you?
42:47
Oh well. She's siding, she's siding with
42:49
family. She's.
42:50
I don't blame you, I've got Big Brothers as well.
42:53
Good idea. Do you ever play against Will?
42:55
Sometimes. Do you?
42:57
And have you beaten him? Yes.
42:58
Yes, you have. Excellent.
42:59
That's good. We've got a special competition
43:01
on Sunday just for our juniors we've created.
43:04
Yeah, our cat. On Saturday.
43:06
On Saturday is it sorry? And captain Mike has created a
43:09
special competition just for the juniors on Saturday.
43:12
Fantastic. And he's got a lovely trophy.
43:14
Maybe you could win it, Rosie. So what's the pathway for
43:17
youngsters like Rosie, like Will to get to that sort of adult
43:20
playing age? What happens at the club?
43:22
How do you kind of do that? Well, I think bringing them into
43:25
something like the Cuckoos where they've played in a league with
43:28
adult supervision, it's been brilliant.
43:30
We we now know that there's of the eight players that we've got
43:35
in there playing in the youngsters, there's 234 maybe
43:39
that have learnt enough this year to move up into the senior
43:42
senior game and play next year in one or the other more senior
43:45
squads. Amazing.
43:47
And what at what age would you then start playing them
43:49
exclusively with with adults then?
43:51
Well, we're going to do that. Next year that is.
43:53
That's yeah, from all I see. OK.
43:55
So hopefully next season we might have enough members.
43:59
At the moment we play in the top divisions and we're hoping that
44:06
next year we'll have enough members to be able to create a
44:08
team in one of the lower divisions.
44:11
But there's no reason, to be honest why Will and a couple of
44:14
our other members can't play in one of the top division teams
44:16
next year. They're very, very good.
44:19
Amazing. Sounds brilliant.
44:20
There's 33 leagues in Pittsborough.
44:23
There's the weekend league, there's the midweek league which
44:25
plays in the evening and there's an over 55 league which plays on
44:30
a Tuesday afternoon. And Yaxley have got 2 club 2
44:34
teams in each of those leagues, one in the Premier and one in
44:38
Division One of each league. So we've done.
44:41
Dominating really. Well, Fantastic.
44:43
We're not dominating by any means.
44:44
But there's good representation there.
44:46
Isn't it we're finished, we're finished mid table in most of
44:48
our with most of our teams this year We can.
44:51
Certainly. Hold our heads, hold ahead.
44:52
Yeah, the the the weekend team in the Premier Division finished
44:56
second to a really strong Stamford Blackstone side, but
45:01
we've done well this year. Yeah, that's incredible.
45:03
Amazing. Right.
45:04
Just a couple of minutes left, Kate.
45:06
So before we go off the air, obviously your your secretary,
45:08
as you mentioned earlier, there's a, it takes hard work to
45:11
run a club like you have, like you do.
45:13
What kind of do you, what sort of things are you looking out
45:15
for as a club that the maybe listeners or people out there
45:18
could help with? It's it's hard work and it's
45:20
expensive too. And we do charge subscription,
45:24
but we try to keep it obtainable and we don't charge for junior
45:27
members at all. So we do try to keep it within
45:31
the reach of everybody. But our walkway surrounding our
45:35
green and parts of our green really need some work over the
45:39
winter and we've only had one quote so far and that's £28,000
45:44
which is a lot of money. So we're really looking for
45:48
sponsorship and we'd love new kit next year as well.
45:52
Lots of clubs play in really jazzy kit now, a bit like
45:56
crickets move from white to the pajama colours and we want to
46:01
move to the colours as well, which we think will attract a
46:03
lot more junior members as well. So we would really like
46:06
sponsorship for that as well and because we've got players that
46:09
are playing in national finals at Skegness, staying in finals
46:14
at Leamington as well, you know, we can take a sponsor, we can
46:18
show off our sponsor. I mean we are lucky.
46:20
We do get sponsorship around the green from local businesses and
46:25
the parish council have supported us and Nisa have
46:29
supported us as well. So we do get sponsorship.
46:32
We're very lucky but we really need some serious money over the
46:36
winter to help us make our greens safe and accessible.
46:40
We've used some money in previous years from the parish
46:42
council to build steps so we can help people on and off the green
46:46
because it really is a sport for all ages and all ability as
46:50
well. We don't have many, we don't
46:55
have any wheelchair access onto the green at the moment, but
46:58
that's something we'd like to be able to do and that side of
47:01
bowls is I watched a match at Leamington.
47:04
It's incredible what people can achieve and we'd be very happy
47:08
to help people. To become more inclusive as.
47:10
Absolutely. Become more inclusive.
47:12
So it's not just demographic social age, or it is it's
47:17
something for everybody, but we need the money to be able to do
47:20
that. So if anyone interested in
47:21
becoming a partner with the club sponsorship, how do they get in
47:24
touch with you? We have a Facebook page, Yaxi
47:26
Bowls, we have an Instagram site, Yaxi Bowls, and we have a
47:30
web page as well, Yaxi Bowls. Excellent.
47:33
And we can be reached through there or this weekend is our
47:37
finals weekend. If anybody wants to come and
47:39
watch and see, see what it's like.
47:41
You're very welcome as well. Sure, Rosie, you'll make a cup
47:43
of tea. Or Rosie's.
47:44
Mum will make us a cup of tea fantastic and again before we
47:49
finish, anyone who's interested in joining their club to come
47:52
and play rather than just volunteer as well, Again, same
47:56
way to contact. Same way to contact us and we
47:59
will finish bowling at the end of September because it's not
48:02
much fun in the snow. But sometimes in April it's when
48:06
we open again. It's rainy, snowy.
48:09
You just don't know what weather you're going to play in.
48:11
But we start to send our Subs forms out in January, February.
48:16
So if people drop us their emails, we'll make sure they're
48:19
contacted. Yeah, just drop your emails
48:22
through now and we'll contact you in the in the spring.
48:25
Fantastic. Brilliant.
48:27
Thank you very much Robert, Kate and Rosie for being fantastic
48:31
guests of this evening and wishing you continued success
48:35
and all the best for your 75th anniversary year.
48:38
And thank you. Please do keep in touch any
48:40
announcements you want us to make then just let us know.
48:42
We'll give you a shout out and and hopefully come back on the
48:44
show at some point. Well.
48:46
And there'll be a coach to watch Will and Rosie play in
48:48
Leamington next year, I'm sure. And once Rosie's won just 10,000
48:52
of her 20,000 titles, she'll be back on the show as a reigning
48:55
champion again. Brilliant.
48:57
Thank you very much. Thank you, Rosie.
48:58
Yes, pleasure. Brilliant.
49:00
Thanks for listening. We're back again.
49:01
Same time, same place next week. Women's rugby.
49:04
Nilesh, isn't it? Next week, I believe.
49:06
Yeah, we're gonna be focusing the rugby, Women's Rugby World
49:08
Cup is taking place currently. So yeah, we've got members of
49:13
the Peterborough Rugby Union Football Club that are in the
49:16
city, their women's section in next Friday evening, so do join
49:19
us at 6:00 PM. Fantastic, brilliant.
49:21
Thank you Nilesh. All the best for Posh tomorrow.
49:23
Huddersfield. You'll be going along, I
49:24
presume. Yeah, Posh at Huddersfield
49:26
tomorrow, sports at home to field, there's cricket, there's
49:31
athletics, there's lots of sport going on in the city, so
49:33
whatever you're doing, have a good one.
49:35
Brilliant. Thank you very much, Nash, and
49:37
thanks for listening. We'll be back again, same time,
49:38
same place. Until then, have a great
49:40
sporting weekend and bye for now.