National Volunteer Award Profile - Janice Maxwell
The latest winner of Bowls Scotland National Volunteer Awards is Janice Maxwell from Castle Douglas Bowling Club. Janice was chosen as a winner due to her excellent leadership, committed long service to volunteering and being a positive role model to others.
Janice joined Castle Douglas Bowling Club in 1976, first taking on a volunteer role in 1977, she has volunteered ever since in a variety of roles, boasting a volunteer career of 48 years. An extremely talented bowler, Janice represented Scotland over a 12-year period including at two Commonwealth Games and during this time also turned her hand to coaching in order to give back to the sport. With a wealth of World and Commonwealth medals to her name, Janice now needs to find space for another bowls award, this time for volunteering in the sport!
We asked Janice about the various voluntary roles she has held at the club over the years and the rewards she gets from dedicating her time to both her club and the sport…
“I joined Castle Douglas Bowling Club in 1976 and volunteered from 1977 until 2024, all the time being part of either the Ladies’ committee (1977 to 1998), or part of the full Club committee (1999 to 2024). At the end of the 2024 season for personal reasons I decided to end my run of 48 years volunteering at the Club. Over that period I have been Ladies’ Secretary, Ladies’ President, Ladies’ Competition Convenor, Club President, Bar Convenor, Catering Convenor, Child Protection Officer, and a Qualified Umpire and Coach. I have worked many shifts in the bar, and in the kitchen I have organised, cooked and served countless meals for Andrew Hamilton Trophy, Top Ten and Top Five matches, open tournaments, gents league games and more. Over 13 years recently I organised prize bingo nights in the off season to raise funds for the Club.
“Volunteering in bowls has brought many benefits. I was always much involved in Club matters, as detailed above, and I received great support from my clubmates, friends and family during my twelve years representing Scotland (1986 to 1997), particularly in response to the fundraising I undertook to enable me and my team-mates to go to the international events I was selected for. Back then the women’s game was not well funded, with the national associations being separate entities – the Scottish Bowling Association being the men’s national association and the Scottish Women’s Bowling Association looking after the women’s game. The cost of sending teams to competitions was very similar for both the SBA and the SWBA, however the funding limitations meant that the women needed to undertake a lot of fundraising to allow them to take part.
“I became a Qualified Coach in 1990 to give back more to the game, and, together with other volunteers, we looked to get the kids from the local primary school involved in bowling. I gained great satisfaction from seeing some of the young people I coached become junior members and grow into Club players, then County players, and I was very proud when one of the youngsters I coached, Alan Davies, became a Scottish Under 25 Internationalist. I’m pleased to say that some of these young players are still members of the Club and now have children of their own.
“I have also coached adult players, and it is always satisfying to see their game improve following coaching sessions, and to be appreciated for the time spent with them. Being part of a successful, happy Club where members of all levels and capabilities get along together and enjoy their bowling is satisfying and simply knowing that the time and energy you have put in has helped the Club reach this position is a reward in itself.”
As Janice played a part in the amalgamation of her club, we asked about the progress she has seen in the women’s side of the sport in recent years. She explained:
“In recent years I have seen greater acceptance and support of women’s bowling. For example, locally the Stewartry Bowling Association, which was formerly the county association for men only, has recently become a fully inclusive association and it now runs men’s and women’s competitions, with ties played in the evenings. At club level at Castle Douglas the men’s Thursday night sweep is now open to all members. On the other side, however, there is still some way to go as lots of women’s competitions are still held on weekday afternoons, and younger working women are more often than not unable to play. These competitions are organised by women’s bowling associations, and so sometimes it is we women ourselves, who are preventing other women from being able to play.”
Janice represented Team Scotland at the 1990 Commonwealth Games in Auckland and in 1994 in Victoria, with the Games coming back to Glasgow next summer, we asked Janice to share some of her experiences from the event and what benefits she thinks a ‘home’ games may bring to bowls in Scotland in 2026 and beyond…
“Skipping the four to the bronze medal at the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Victoria came later on in my international bowls career, which began in 1986 when I was first selected to play in the Scottish team in the Home International series. Later that summer I won the SWBA Scottish Singles, and in 1987 I was runner up in the British Isles Women’s Singles competition. I played third in the four in the 1990 Commonwealth Games in Auckland, New Zealand, where we lost in a play-off for bronze. At the 1992 Women’s World Bowls Championships held at Ayr Northfield I played second in the triples and third in the fours, and we won gold in both events. The five-woman team (Sarah Gourlay, Joyce Lindores, Frances Whyte, Senga McCrone and I) also won the overall team gold medal based on the placings in the four events. In 1993 the same five played a test tour against South Africa’s women’s team in Durban, Capetown and Johannesburg, alongside a five-man team from England who played against South Africa’s top men. I was also fortunate enough to play in three Atlantic Rim Games in Orlando (1993), Durban (1995) and Llandrindod Wells (1997), winning a gold and a bronze.
“During my entire time bowling I have always enjoyed meeting new people. At the two Commonwealth Games and World Bowls it was wonderful to meet bowlers from around the world, and to play practice games with them and compete against them. Meeting athletes from across the range of sports was fantastic, and I loved watching and supporting Scottish bowling and non-bowls teammates when they were competing. In Victoria I was disappointed that we missed out on playing for the gold, but we were determined to come home with a medal, and we were all overjoyed to win the play-off for bronze. It meant even more to me that I had skipped the four as I usually played at third for the national team, and I’m still very proud to have won the medal, although I’d have loved it to be gold!
“It’s great that bowls will feature at the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow – it’s a great opportunity to promote the sport and to encourage more people to try bowls, and to as always work on getting people to realise that bowls is NOT an old person’s game!"
The time and dedication that Janice has committed to her various roles hasn’t gone unnoticed by her peers in the bowling community. Helen Weymss, Secretary of Castle Douglas Bowling Club, nominated Janice to see her volunteering efforts across the years’ acknowledged at a national level.
When asked what led to nominating Janice for a National Volunteer Award, Helen said:
“Janice joined Castle Douglas Bowling Club in 1976 and became part of the ladies committee in 1977 serving as ladies secretary. In 1999 the club amalgamated and she became a member of the new committee becoming President in 2002 & 2003 and has now completed 48 years helping to run the club. She organised and catered for the club over decades, fundraised, working in the bar and ran competitions. Janice gave up her time to tutor youngsters, many still continuing in the sport and some playing internationally. She played internationally for Scotland from 1986 to 1994 all over the world. Janice was successful along with her teammates winning several gold medals. Janice played for Scotland while bringing up three young boys and working at the local hospital. At that time there was no funding for ladies bowls so she fundraised to enable her to play for her country. Janice has been club champion 30 times, national singles champion in 1986 and represented district 31 many times in the national competition. Everything Janice has done for the club and for bowling she has done with great love, commitment, dedication and on a voluntary basis. After 48 years Janice has decided to retire from such an active role in the club but will always have an interest in the world of bowling.”
Janice was presented with her National Volunteer Award at Castle Douglas Bowling Club’s opening day for the 2025 season. When asked what it meant to be presented her award, Janice told us:
“I was surprised, but extremely honoured, to receive this award. I joined Castle Douglas Bowling Club in 1976, and so 2025 is my 50th season as a member. The Club made me an honorary member in 2010, and now receiving this award nicely caps off my time being actively involved at the club."
Congratulations to Janice on behalf of everyone at Bowls Scotland for receiving her thoroughly deserved National Volunteer Award!
Applications for our next round of nominations close on Friday 26th September. For more information or to nominate someone, please visit: https://www.bowlsscotland.com/club-development/volunteering