04 Jul A brief introduction to our new President

Richard Armitage was elected as hvba President at this year’s AGM having previously held the role of Vice-President through 2023. As a long-standing Thongsbridge player Richard has been a familiar face on our greens for many years. He has also been a member of the hvba committee for the past four years though, as he confessed at the AGM, somewhat reluctantly at first. I caught up with him to find out a little more about this and his priorities as new president.

It was his good friend Alan Hirst who first coaxed him to get onboard and lend a hand. Richard really had no idea just how much hard work went into running the Association, he had his suspicions and hence reservations, but he certainly did not know what lay in store. His first year of 2020-21 was the toughest and something of a baptism of fire: personal health issues, Covid arrives, committee members walk out, the passing of President John Hoyle and then later President Allan Dobson sadly resigning with ill health.

The following years were challenging, as they were for everyone, under the shadow of Covid. Somehow a season was pieced together and played out in 2021 albeit compressed into just five months. And then thankfully some normality returned for 2022 and in subsequent years things have gone from strength to strength.

This season we have a record number of teams and bowlers participating. It is clear now, in talking to Richard, that when he looks back it is not the adversity but the success and accomplishments in the face of those challenges which he reflects on most. I think that tells us a lot about Richard and his positive outlook. It also reflects how satisfying and rewarding it can be helping to run the Association. But you’ll not catch Richard reminiscing for long and he made it clear his focus is on the future.

Amongst things Richard is keen to develop are our competitions and how they can be improved to attract more entries. He also wants to address the issue of finals days being undermined when players pull out at the last minute. Greater use of technology is also on his ‘to do’ list, especially for things like online payments and competition entries. That said, Richard is clear that anything new needs to be as well as, rather than instead of, more traditional methods in order not to exclude anyone.

It has struck me in my own time on the committee how receptive Richard is to new ideas, he is the last person to dismiss anything out of hand and is certainly willing to challenge tradition and sometimes take a risk by trying something different – but not for the sake of it. Richard also told me that he wants to increase engagement with members and encourage more ideas and feedback from individuals as well as clubs. He’d also like to see new, younger, members joining the Committee.

When asked to sum up his hopes and aims while President his number one thing was to enable as many veterans as possible, to enjoy playing as much bowls as possible, for as long as possible. I think that is something we can all relate to.

John Pearman