Shock at MBE for the "girl that just plays bowls"

Sunday 01 January 2023

After a year in which she secured an historic Commonwealth Games medal and has now been awarded an MBE, Lucy Beere is taking a welcome break to reflect.

When she won silver in the women’s singles bowls in Birmingham this summer, it was the Island’s first medal in 28 years.

But she barely got time to take it all in before she was back out on the green competing again.

That is in some ways a reflection of how bowls threads into her life as she works full time while trying to stay on top of the game each day, surviving off little sleep to do so.

Miss Beere was just home from a Saturday morning Park Run, feeling hot and bothered, when an unknown number rang her mobile to tell her she had been nominated for an MBE for services to sport in Guernsey.

“I thought, ‘what are they trying to sell?’ It was [Chief of Staff and Aide de Camp to the Lieutenant-Governor] Marco Ciotti and he told me the fantastic news and asked me if I wanted to accept, apparently some people don't, which baffles me, but each to their own,” she said.

“The hardest thing is not being able to talk about it. I’m looking at my family planning things for New Year's Day and thinking ‘I’ve got to be at the Royal Court’.”

It was all still sinking in, she said, with emotions running from being elated to being confused that a “girl that just plays bowls” would receive an MBE.

Pictured: Vale Rec Bowls Club.

Bowls remains a big part of her life, but events in recent years have led to a change in her mindset about the sport.

“It might sound awful, but it doesn’t mean as much as it did five years ago. Covid hit, and my partner had a cardiac arrest and is quite lucky to be alive, when things like that happen you realise that bowls is not the be all and end all in life. Five years ago, I would have said it meant everything, but I have learnt to accept it as a hobby rather than my life.”

She picked up the sport as a teenager in the Isle of Wight, introduced to it by her grandparents but initially dismissive at what she thought of as an “old people's game”.

“They said before you mock it, come and have a go.”

She played short mat, which has been a very big part of her sporting life and a form of the game that she feels does not get the credit that it deserves.

Over 28 years in the sport she has learnt something new every time she goes on the green - and she is out there five or six times a week.

“I don’t have a chance to get bored,” she said.

“It’s a cross between a snooker game, so the psychological side, and a game of chess. You are always predicting what your opponent will do next, you don’t always get it right because there are maybe five or six different options. Although it is a skill and physical game as well, you walk about one-and-a-half miles every game, it has a taxing psychological side.”

Her career has been marked by success.

She has 256 international caps for Bowls Guernsey and 18 international medals, including four European Championship golds and being crowned the Indoor Women’s Singles World Champion in 2018.

When asked what her highlight was, she said: “A lot of people would probably say ‘why not the Commonwealth Games?’ It’s up there, but to me winning the World cup in 2018 by beating an Aussie in the final in her own backyard was special.”

A typical day for Miss Beere starts at 5am, finishing work at 4.45pm, taking advantage of a small window of time for food before getting on the bowls green for 6pm and then back home three hours later.

“I don’t sleep a lot.”

The Commonwealth Games medal was the one achievement that had been missing from her bowls CV.

“What’s driving me next? I’m not sure, I’m waiting for those entry forms to be put in my hands and to feel the buzz. At the moment I’m enjoying not playing, having some hibernation time, it’s been quite nice to enjoy what I’ve done and to share that with people, because with so many competitions I don’t get a chance to do that, you so often have a bowls match the next day.”

That was the experience in Birmingham.

“I had the medal and then was on the green for the pairs. I’m thinking, ‘hang on a minute, I’ve just broken a record of 28 years and I’m not able to do anything about it’.”

She is keen to see bowls grow in the Island.

At her club, Vale Rec, there has been some success attracting people that may be in their 40s or 50s, no longer able to compete at the likes of football, rugby or hockey.

Pictured: Children enjoying bowls at Beau Sejour.

“These are the people that in my opinion I would like to target. A lot of people say about the youngsters, and Beau Sejour on a Sunday morning is fantastic and it’s lovely to see the children and be part of that, but there are so many wonderful sports for children at that age.”

Miss Beere does not know who nominated her for the MBE, but was keen to thank everyone that had supported her both in Guernsey, where she moved to 15 years ago, and in the Isle of Wight.

“The individual people that took time to help me when I started out must be remembered too,” she said.