Bourne Royal British Legion Club Bowls Section
Our President, Fred Collins celebrated his 100th Birthday in September 2011. He is still an active bowler, taking part in EVERY friendly game and in the West Surrey Men’s league and the Farnham & District League.
The club members arranged a surprise special bowls day for Fred. We invited past members and opponents from the past to participate in a bowls match on 18th September 2011, to be followed by a finger buffet. Fred thought it would be our normal once-a-year fixture of Ladies v Gents and didn’t twig what was happening until he opened the door of the club to be met by a crowd of faces from the past.
The deputy mayor of Farnham gave a speech and read out a message from our local MP. The president of the Surrey County Bowls Association also gave a speech and read out a message from Tony Alcock.
Everyone was so busy talking and catching up with each other’s news that the bowls match was totally ignored. Fred had a wonderful day.
We also managed to arrange for one of Fred’s ambitions to be fulfilled - a ride in a helicopter on the following Saturday. The take-off was from Dunsfold aerodrome.
Unfortunately there was a bit of fog on that particular morning and the pilot was unable to fly Fred over Farnham as planned, but he had a lovely flight over the coast near Bognor Regis. He was accompanied by his daughter-in-law Bernie Collins.
They were both thrilled by the experience.
