Rock 'n' Bowl Podcast

On this month’s podcast we focus on youth bowls within Scotland as we move towards the Scottish Young Bowlers Association merging with Bowls Scotland in 2022.The SYBA’s International Team Manager, David Ferguson, is our special guest and tells us about the history of the organisation since it began in 1982. He also discusses the SYBA’s highlights throughout the last 39 years and what his longer-term hopes are for youth bowls once they become part of the National Governing Body’s remit. Bowls Scotland’s Coach & Volunteer Manager, Adam Martin, features on the show and shares his personal and professional experiences of working within the sports development industry. Adam outlines the responsibilities of his role as well as emphasising the importance coaching plays at all levels of our sport. He also previews some of the key projects to look out for in 2022 and beyond. After conducting an internal review of the existing format of our podcast, we can confirm we will be taking a short break from releasing episodes until early 2022. We hope you have enjoyed our seven shows so far and we can’t wait to return with bigger and better content next year!We round off with a few key club reminders. If you have any questions or future discussion topics, please get in touch via podcast@bowlsscotland.com. 

On our September podcast we are joined by one of the greatest players ever to grace our sport, Paul Foster MBE.Paul discusses his journey from joining Troon Portland Bowling Club at 12 years-old to becoming a five-time World Indoor Singles champion and four-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist. He also reveals the player he most admired when he was growing up, the secrets behind his formidable partnership with Alex Marshall MBE, what it’s like to receive an MBE at Buckingham Palace and much more!Congratulations to Alison Plenderleith who was drawn as the winner to receive the Bowls Scotland 10-year anniversary polo shirt and zip jacket courtesy of XX:20. A huge thank you to everyone that entered and to XX:20 for kindly providing us with this great prize. As always, we round off with a few key club reminders. If you have any questions or future discussion topics, please get in touch via podcast@bowlsscotland.com. We hope you enjoy the show! 

On this month’s podcast we are joined by Scotland’s Lawn Bowls Team Manager for the 2022 Commonwealth Games, Billy Mellors, and High Performance player, Megan Grantham.Billy is our special guest on this episode and discusses who had an influence on his bowls career since starting out at just 8 years old. We discuss representing Scotland on more than 100 occasions, his hope for next year’s Games and much more!Megan features on the show to tell us about the importance of promoting a positive and modern image of bowls to make the sport more attractive to the next generation. She shares the vision of her family’s bowls stocklist company XX:20. We also speak to Megan about competing at the 2019 Atlantic Championships and her goals for the future.Thank you to everyone who entered our competition giveaway to win a free set of Taylor Bowls. We received 46 entries and reveal the lucky winner on this month’s show! Thanks again to our partners, Taylor Bowls Ltd, for supplying us with this great prize. XX:20 have kindly provided us with a Bowls Scotland 10-year anniversary polo shirt and zip jacket to giveaway for free to one lucky winner this month. More details on how to enter are provided on the podcast!As always, we round off with a few key club reminders. If you have any questions or future discussion topics, please get in touch via podcast@bowlsscotland.com. We hope you enjoy the show! 

As our “Rock ‘n’ Bowl” podcast fast approaches 1,000 downloads, we are pleased to release our fourth show that focuses specifically on grassroots bowls. We look at the game from both a club and national governing body perspective with excellent insight from our guests, Jim Hiddleston, Rosslyn Bowling Club’s Club Secretary and Bowls Scotland’s Business Operations Manager, Sarah Pryde Smith. Rosslyn BC is a small club situated in Midlothian but are beginning to see huge rewards for their committee and members' hard work, as they have already attracted an incredible 35 new members in 2021! Jim gives us some interesting detail on what the club have done to make their facility more welcoming to the local community as well as sharing tips for other clubs looking to grow their membership.Sarah is our special guest for this episode and discusses her roles and responsibilities within the organisation after being appointed in December 2019. Many clubs have required assistance throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and Sarah highlights the support that Bowls Scotland have provided clubs throughout the last 16 months.On top of all this, we also have an exciting competition giveaway. As part of this episode we are giving away a free set of bowls to one lucky winner, courtesy of our partners Taylor Bowls. This competition is completely free to enter and more details are provided on the show!As always, we round off with our club reminders section. If you have any questions or future discussion topics, please get in touch via podcast@bowlsscotland.com. We hope you enjoy the show! 

After a 15-month layoff due to COVID-19 restrictions, we are excited to finally re-launch our “Rock ‘n’ Bowl” podcast in partnership with the University of the West of Scotland!On this month’s show, we are joined by two-time World Indoor Singles Champion and High Performance player, Stewart Anderson. Stewart discusses the adaptability that his own club, Eddlewood BC, have shown over the last year to overcome various challenges. The Scottish international also gives an insight into how he first became involved in bowls and what it feels like to become world champion at just 27 years old! We also highlight some of Stewart’s outdoor achievements as all eyes are now fully focused on being selected for the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. Also, on this episode, our hosts Darren Weir and Louise Noon share their lockdown experiences and how they spent their time away from the bowling green. Throughout the last year, many of our clubs have taken part in some inspiring community projects and we highlight some of the best stories from Haddington BC, Lochee BC, Arbroath BC and Rosslyn BC.As always, we round off with our club reminders section. If you have any questions or future discussion topics, please get in touch via podcast@bowlsscotland.com. We hope you enjoy the show! 

On our second show we are joined by special guest International para-bowler, Pauline Wilson (Willowbank BC), discussing the challenges and opportunities of being a disabled athlete. Pauline also gives us an insight into what it was like competing at the 2018 Commonwealth Games for Wales and she also takes part in our ’10-end quickfire questions’.We have an exclusive interview with Scotland U25 team captain Jason Banks (Inverurie BC), who talks us through Scotland’s recent triumph in the British Isles Indoor Junior International series. Jason also speaks about his preparations for upcoming World Championships set to be held in Australia in May & June. Also on this episode we have our very first podcast competition giveaway. The prize is a signed Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games top which has been kindly signed by all the players and support staff that competed at Kelvingrove. Please listen out for the trivia question during this episode and to enter you can submit your answers via email to podcast@bowlsscotland.com, entries close on Friday 27th March!We hope you enjoy the show!

On our first show we are joined by special guest, David Gourlay MBE, discussing how he got into bowls. David also gives insights into the best achievements from his incredible playing career and also the transition from being a player to becoming Bowls Scotland's High Performance Coach.As part of our Potters round-up we also have an exclusive interview with two-time Women's World Indoor Singles champion Julie Forrest.This episode also features our getting to know the hosts section with our two hosts Louise Noon and Darren Weir. We have a summary of our first Club Networking Event which was held at Whiteinch IBC and also some club reminders for the upcoming season.We hope you enjoy the show!