'I flourished playing bowls after a stroke at 47'

A stroke survivor said playing bowls has improved her confidence and balance.

Caroline Griffin described how her "life fell apart" at age 47 when she collapsed at her home in Redbourn, Hertfordshire.

A stroke left her with weakness on her left side and she was later diagnosed with functional tremors in both hands and neuropathic pain in both legs.

The now 51-year-old said despite being one of the youngest on her team the sport helped her through isolation and she encouraged others to give it a go.

Ms Griffin had her stroke in 2020 during the Covid pandemic and felt she did not have much medical support.

She said she lost her job, lost a lot of her friends, was unable to drive and about a year later fell into deep depression.

"I met Headway [a brain injury charity] in 2021 and they seem to help and got me wanting to get out a bit more, so I went up to the Redbourn Bowls Club.

"Since August 2022 I've been a member which has been great because it's helped me with my balance, it's helped me open up a bit more and be able to talk about my stroke."

After an event with the Watford bowls club Ms Griffin met and played with the Disability Bowls England team and took advice on mobility aids to use while playing.

"I found that really helpful because I saw people with other disabilities and I thought to myself it's good, it gets people out and mentally and physically it does help," she added.

"I've flourished in Redbourn Bowls Club. I was in an internal competition last year… it gives me an incentive to actually improve and try and help myself.

"It's good to have a positive thing come out of it even if it is just something little like playing bowls."

Redbourn Bowls Club will host a free taster lawn bowls day alongside Headway Herts at the club on 2 June.

Simon Johnson, the secretary of the the Watford and District Bowling Association, hoped it would introduce more people disabilities or brain injuries to bowls.

He said of the nearly 3,000 lawn bowls clubs in England each with about 100 members, there were only 250 registered disabled bowlers eligible to play for England.

"This event is to highlight the disparity in those figures and encourage more participation allowing for competition to be included at a grass roots level.

"The plan is to introduce the game to people, get them playing and hopefully think about attending and competing in the National ABI Games in August."

He continued: "These events are few and far between and the divide between registered disability bowls players and ordinary players is so massive it's not even a drop in the ocean.

"Desperately we need something to be done about it because there are so many people missing out doing something that could enhance their lives."

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