Presentations of the 2024 BTBA Annual Awards were made at the Senior ICC Finals Dinner, the Open Inter County Championships Dinner and at the YBE Endeavour Tour Finals.
The Youth Bowlers of the Year were presented at the end of the YBE Endeavour Tour /masters event, held at Airport Bowl. They were presented by Jeff Taylor of Shipley Bowl.
Award: Youth Bowler of the Year – Boy
Callam Hall
”The winner has worked hard over the years to overcome his social anxieties, which has paid off as he finally got his Team England call up this year, having missed out in 2020 due to the pandemic. He represented the U19 at Triple Crown in Ireland, Achieving Gold in the Team and Mixed Doubles.”
Award: Youth Bowler of the Year – Girl
Jasmine Snowball
“A lovely young athlete who has steadily developed over the years to become a regular Team England representative.”
“Having first played for Team England at the 2022 Triple Crown she was a leading performer at the 2024 event. A regular on the YBE tour and someone who Eastbourne YBC should be proud of.”
PREVIOUSLY
The Male Bowler of the Year, female Bowler of the Year and Volunteer of the Year were presented at the 2024 Open Inter County Championships Finals dinner on 9 November 2024. They were presented by BTBA Director of Sport Development Kim Johnson and BTBA Safeguarding Officer Jo Cundy.
Award: Male Bowler of the Year
Hadley Morgan
“The winner won both a Bronze and Gold Medals in the ECC 2023 and was second in the ESBT rankings in 2023.
“He managed his own successful bowling career alongside his Team England responsibilities. He was one of the coaches to the Super Senior Team England World Champion teams, the Bronze Medal England EWC team and the England Senior Triple Crown.”
Award: Female Bowler of the Year
Hayley Russell
“It was the winners first year back representing England after several years absence bringing up a young family.
“She was part of the Bronze Medal winning EWC team and the sole team member to make the Masters. She also won the Nationals All Events, the ESBT at Altrincham and finished second in two of the other stops.
“Currently she leads the Team England rankings with the highest average.”
Award: Volunteer of the Year
Cherise Moor
“For several years now, the winner has run the Strike Out Cancer Tournament over a two-day period, raising a great deal of money for different cancer charities. She arranged several sponsors to enable a very successful tournament for all those who have participated.
“The event brings together all levels of bowlers, male and female, young and old to raise money for many different cancer charities. So far they have raised over £34,000 with the event growing from strength to strength each year. She has given her time and energy into running this successful event, whilst raising a young family.”
PREVIOUSLY
The M.C. for the 2024 Annual Awards (Senior) was BTBA Chairman Geoff Brown.
Award: Senior Female Bowler of the Year
Sponsored by Stroud Bowl & presented by Kim Johnson
The nominees were: Angie Brown, Lynn Squibb & Sandra Simmonds
“She was the winner of the Senior Scottish Open in September 2023, winner of Airport Singles in October 2023, winner of 2023 TPT Ladies Order of Merit, winner of the Jan Steiner Plate at the Tenpin Tour Masters 2023 and part of winning team in 2024 Super Seniors Nationals. She also won a Gold and 2 Bronze medals in the 2024 Senior Triple Crown and is currently in 2nd place in 2024 Team England rankings”
“Ladies and Gents the senior female bowler of the year is Sandra Simmonds”
Award: Senior Male Bowler of the Year
Sponsored by Stroud Bowl & presented by Diane Johnson
The nominee were: Lol Ellis, Steven Flynn & Steve Thornton
“He has consistently been the best English Senior player for the last couple of years. Winning every round of the trials and qualifying for the Masters in last year’s European Championships. In the 2024 Senior Triple Crown, he won four Gold medals in the Singles, Trios, Team and All-Events and a Silver Medal in Doubles. He is currently leading the Senior Team Ranking.
“He is a dedicated bowler, who is always encouraging others and is a worthy winner of this award.
“Ladies and Gents the Senior Male Bowler of the year is Steve Thornton.”
Award: Official of the Year
Sponsored by Jack Trend & his team at Bowling Vision and presented by Chloe Dixon, BTBA Director of Governance & Legal
The nominees were: Jo Cundy & Paul Loberman
“His dedicated efforts to develop a tournament and league average database have been far more significant than most people realise. The fact that we have tried and failed to do this on at least 4 previous occasions should highlight jus how difficult a process this is. He has both captured the essential requirements of the tasks and the enthusiasm of a lot of the bowlers without whose support this would be another wasted effort. Unfortunately, we are still not quite there yet and we need to find a way to get all the scores reported in a simple format but his dedication to getting this done should be noted and rewarded. He also created the online tournament sanctioning process which dovetails into the certified centre list.
“Apart from that he also does a great deal more work in the background that goes on unseen.
”Ladies and Gents the Official of the year is our current tournaments officer Mr Paul Loberman.”
Award: Team of the Year
Sponsored by The BTBA and presented by Ron Griffin
The nominees were: Surrey Senior County Men’s team, Ladies EWC England team, Sussex Ladies Senior County team & Super Seniors World Championship teams.
“The citation was a short one, it read ’..World Champions in both Divisions .’, so I have taken it upon myself to elaborate.
”I did a little research and can tell you that the BTBA was formed in 1961. In the last 63 years England have won 6 Gold medals at word championships – 2 in Singles and 4 in Doubles.
“This squad won 4 Gold medals including the first ever team Golds at a World Championships.
“”Ladies and Gents the Team of the Year is the Super Seniors World Championship team – Angie Brown, Diane Johnson, Carole Orange, Lynn Squibb, Geoff Brown, Lol Ellis, Kim Johnson & Mike Sykes.”
Award: Chairman’s Award for outstanding Performance
Sponsored and presented by BTBA Chairman Geoff Brown
“In Colombia we had another first at a world championships. 2 double World Champions! Ladies All Events Gold and Team Gold went to Angie Brown and the Mens Singles Gold and Team Gold went to Lol Ellis.
“So ladies and gents the winners of the Chairmans outstanding performance awards are your double World Champions Angie and Lol.”
‘“In conclusion I must say a very big thank you to the sponsors and to those who took the time to make the nominations. Finally, many congratulations to the winners and indeed all those who were nominated” – Geoff Brown, BTBA Chairman