A TAVISTOCK visually impaired bowler who plays at the town’s club has been selected for a trial for disability bowls’ national squad.

Stephen Hartley and his guide dog are taking the train to Solihull in the West Midlands to take part in Disability Bowls England (DBE) trial for its ‘high performance squad’ on February 12.

The squad represent England in disability bowls at an international level.

‘If I am picked then my first match, the Para Home Nations will be in April,’ he said, adding ‘a big thank you’ to the sponsors who have helped him with the expenses of travelling to play in matches over the past year.

His timetable of national competitions is continuing at the same time, as he will be once again competing in DBE’s national indoor pairs championships on February 19.

And Stephen is also competing in the Visually Impaired Bowls England indoor pairs competition in Nottingham on Feburary 19.

Stephen, 50, used to be a dental hygienist in the town but had to give up dentistry when his sight started to fail.

He is now almost blind, but curiosity drew him to try lawn bowling with Tavistock Sir Francis Drake Bowling Club.

‘I kept walking past and saying I wonder if I could do that,’ he said.

‘The club told me about a visually impaired bowling club in Plymouth and I went along there, to the Life Centre, and it went from there.’

He plays by getting people to indicate just how far away from the jack he is.

‘I have a really good muscle memory for how hard I need to launch my ball, and I adjust my next ball to get closer and closer to the ball.

I use muscle memory to work out how strong my throw needs to be’.

With training from the local disability bowls club in Plymouth, Stephen found that he had a knack for the sport.

‘I grew up in Yorkshire and up they they have the don’t have the green bowls we have here, they have crown green bowls and I played that as a teenager. I think that is why I picked it up quite quickly, because I had bowled before.’

He started representing Tavistock in national competitions, finding it possible to take the train thanks to help on board.

In July 2019 he won Disability Bowls England’s national pairs championships with bowls partner Christopher Grey, being declared DBE’s national pairs champions.

This spurred him onto competing nationally, but finding himself unable to afford travel to competitions, he launched an appeal last summer to get others to support him, raising £1,800 in donations from local people and businesses.

He said his schedule of events for the coming year had only been possible ‘thanks to the kindness of my sponsors’.