National Development Officer 2025 Season Highlights. Stuart Bell - East of Scotland
Bowls Scotland’s National Development Officers (NDOs) are responsible for working with clubs to develop quality environments that provide increased, quality opportunities for people to participate at all levels. Our three NDOs work to support our member clubs year-round via both Try Bowls and BowlsMark, as well as other Bowls Scotland national programmes and projects.
Stuart joined the Bowls Scotland team in 2015 and celebrated his 10-year anniversary with the organisation this summer! Based in Alva and a member of Tillicoultry Bowling Club, Stuart offers support to clubs in the East of Scotland covering City of Edinburgh, Clackmannanshire, East Lothian, Falkirk, Fife, Midlothian, Scottish Borders, Stirling and West Lothian. Stuart also acts as the strategic lead for Bowls Scotland’s Facilities project, investigating and understanding the infrastructure and needs of bowling clubs across Scotland.
Key highlights from the 2025 season in the East:
- 82 club visits
- 14 Try Bowls events supported
- 6 school sessions supported
- 10 Club Development Forums hosted (165 attendees from 99 clubs)
- 14 BowlsMark awards - 10 Bronze, 2 Silver, 2 Gold
- 41 BowlsMark Clubs now in the East (15% of clubs in the East)
- 207 Try Bowls Clubs now in the East (76% of clubs in the East)
Stuart’s personal highlight from the 2025 season was hosting the ten Development Forums at the start of the season, he told us:
“These forums helped shape a lot of my support for the season ahead as they provided an opportunity to meet so many clubs and members and here from them in person. It also gave me a chance to spread awareness of the FREE support available for our sport and share tips on programmes such as Try Bowls and BowlsMark which clubs and committees could make use of during the outdoor season.
“I also received some great feedback from clubs who attended the forums, who benefitted from not only the content I delivered from Bowls Scotland but also the conversations around the room with other clubs and bowlers.”
Below is a quote from one of Stuart’s clubs who attended the Forums:
“Thank you for providing us with not only an informative but enjoyable Forum, you delivered the information with enthusiasm and encouragement to clubs. Enthusiasm like that can be infectious and encourage or reignite people.”
If you missed any of the success stories from clubs in the East over the season, check out a few of Stuart’s highlights below:
- Edinburgh Napier Students support Braid Bowling Club with their film project – read more here.
- Strathmiglo Bowling Club achieved their BowlsMark Gold award on the clubs 125th anniversary year – more here.
- Peebles Bowling club C complete work on a £200,000 funded clubhouse extension, aided by their Gold BowlsMark status – full story here.
Despite the outdoor bowling season coming to a close, our National Development Officers remain on hand to support our member clubs. Stuart told us what he is looking forward to working on over the winter months:
“I'm currently planning how our current, and future partners can best support clubs who are responsible for their own premises. The Facility Report from last season was stage 1 in understanding the bowling landscape, but now a bit more detail is required on how clubs are currently maintaining their facility which should help us to discover opportunities for Bowls Scotland to bring potential new partners that can provide either savings or support to clubs to enhance our current club facilities.”
Clubs in the East of Scotland can reach out to Stuart for support with BowlsMark, Try Bowls and more via stuartbell@bowlsscotland.com or 07525 134385. Our NDOs also send out monthly communications to their clubs with updates and regional news, if you are interested in being added to the mailing list for this newsletter, just speak to our friendly team.