Wishaw Disabled Games 2016

Saturday 13^th August dawned and the 25^th Annual Wishaw Disabled Games were taking place, over the week-end, with, on Saturday, indoor bowling, boccia and table tennis and athletics and, on Sunday, swimming in the pool. The Rotary Club of Motherwell and Wishaw are proud to have been supporting the Games since their inception.

Indoor bowling is the speciality of our Club and there was a surprise when we arrived at the usual venue, Wishaw Sports Centre. With a 50% increase in the number of competitors participating in boccia, the indoor bowling was displaced to the Wishaw Indoor Bowling Centre which is adjacent to the Sports Centre. Only eighteen competitors had registered for the indoor bowling and three members of NL Leisure staff had laid out six carpets. Competitors participant in one of three categories, wheelchair, learning difficulty and, finally, ambulant, who are mostly stroke and accident victims, and, normally, these categories and also split into male and female competitions. This year, however, there was only one entry male wheelchair competition and he was happy to play in the ambulant section.

We gathered at 9.30 to be kitted out with our white t-shirts and to prepare for the day. Tom McPherson, one of our very experienced members ‘manned’ the table and his first task was to draw up the ‘round robin’ schedule, taking account of the four competitors who did not arrive. John McDonald explained the rules of the game to the nine pupils, from Dalziel High School, who had volunteered to assist us.

Eventually, the pupils took charge of the carpets, supervised by Rotarians, who adjudicated close decisions and the competition ensued, with the ‘round robin’ stages of the competition being completed. As usual, there were some exciting games and, by lunchtime, given the reduced number of participants, the early rounds had been completed.

After enjoying a buffet lunch, provided by North Lanarkshire Council, and taking part in a presentation to Peggy Williams, the former chair of the Wishaw Disabled Club, to mark the Wishaw Games 25^th anniversary, we returned to the fray and the semi-finals and finals took place. After some excellent and skilful bowling, the winners emerged and the competitors moved back to the Sports Centre for the medals presentations and the bowling drew to another successful conclusion.

Thanks go to the participating members, , Jane Allan, Ian Carrol, James Gibbons, Katrina Gibbons, Bill McCallum, Peter McCrossan, John McDonald, , , Roy Simpson, Andrew Steven and Willie Talbot.

Special thanks must go the high school pupils and three members of NL Leisure staff, who assisted in running this event. These young people were all a delight to work with, and, with the Club members, all gained a great deal from this rewarding and thought provoking experience.