BOB CHRISTIE
DOB - 13th January 1960.
Club - Montrose BC.
How you got into the sport – My first encounter with bowling was when I was around 10 years of age, our football match was called off at the local park and 5 of us saw the opportunity to go onto the local bowling green for a game only to be thrown off by the members who arrived a short time later.
Were they frightened that we would be able to beat them in a couple of years’ time? Who knows? This put me off until 1987 when I was serving in Brechin along with a colleague who was looking for a bowling partner to team up for the Tayside Police Championships. I went along and we managed to get to the semi-final. The following year I played with my father at his club and was hooked.
Bowling Highlights – The summer of 2022 and the Commonwealth Games at Birmingham came to fruition after a long two years of working under restrictions with the squad due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A reduced training schedule along with sacrifices that the players, directors, coaches, and family gave to great effect culminated in tremendous performances by the team. Garry Brown and Kevin Wallace started the ball rolling with victory in the Men’s Para Pairs was quickly followed by Rosemary Lenton and Pauline Wilson triumphing in the Women’s Para Pairs. The pressure was truly fixed on the Visually Impaired Mixed Pairs pairing of Melanie Inness and Robert Barr with George Miller and Sarah Jane Ewing supporting as directors. They rose to the challenge to give the team a clean sweep of gold medals in all the para disciplines of which I’m extremely proud to have been a part of, along with the other support staff.
Best bowls advice received - During your career on the bowling green you always get great advice from the side lines and other players. I always remember an old bowler when I first started saying, “you’re only as good as your last bowl” which made me concentrate on all bowls. I followed this along with hard work and never taking anything for granted.