Betty Forsyth Obituary

Bowls Scotland are saddened to learn of the passing of former Scottish women’s internationalist, Betty Forsyth.

Betty was involved in bowls for over 40 years and first took up the sport in 1977 when she joined her local club, Blantyre BC. She was an incredibly popular member of the club, always willing to give up her time to help in any way possible. Her caring and unselfish nature reflected in the duties she carried out for the club, being President twice in 1992 and 2018, match secretary for several years and more recently dedicating time to help coach the junior members.

An extremely talented player in her own right, Betty received her first full international cap in 1987 and went on to gain more than 50 caps for Scotland. Her best achievements were representing Scotland at nine major championships, including four Commonwealth Games.

She was a well-respected player throughout the bowling world and went on to win a bronze medal in the women’s fours at the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Victoria, Canada. Betty followed up this success with a silver medal in the women’s fours at the 2000 World Bowls Championships in Moama, Australia, and a gold and silver medal at the 1995 and 2005 Atlantic Championships respectively.  

Betty retired from playing for Scotland in 2006, but she was far from finished at international level and went on to have more triumphs as the nation’s ladies team manager. Scotland won team gold at a home Atlantic Championships in 2007, held at Northfield and her senior international team incredibly won the home international series three years in a row between 2010 and 2012. She would also be given the honour of being team manager at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi and was immensely proud to have carried the Commonwealth Baton in the lead up to the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.

We would like to pass on our sincere condolences to Betty’s family, friends, and everyone at Blantyre BC at this incredibly sad time. She will be sorely missed by all who knew her but her contribution to our sport will live on forever.