Mary Price (27 August 1943 – 5 May 2023) was an English international

lawn bowler Bowls, also known as lawn bowls or lawn bowling, is a sport in which players try to roll their ball (called a bowl) closest to a smaller ball (known as a "jack" or sometimes a "kitty"). The bowls are shaped (biased), so that they follow a curve ...

and indoor bowler.

Bowls career

Mary Price was from Farnham Common in Slough and played competitive

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racket (sports equipment), racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net (device), net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per s ...

, squash, and

hockey ''Hockey'' is a family of List of stick sports, stick sports where two opposing teams use hockey sticks to propel a ball or disk into a goal. There are many types of hockey, and the individual sports vary in rules, numbers of players, apparel, ...

but achieved her greatest successes in bowls. After winning the National title in 1988 she became the first woman in England to win both the indoor and outdoor singles titles. She subsequently won the singles at the

British Isles Bowls Championships The British Isles Bowls Championships is a tournament held between the champions of their respective nations, from England, Scotland, Wales, a combined Ireland, and more recently Guernsey and Jersey. It was first held in 1960 although the triple ...

in 1989. Her greatest win was arguably the singles title at the 1991

World Indoor Bowls Championships The World Indoor Bowls Championship is an international bowls competition held annually at Potters Resorts in Hopton on Sea. In recent history matches are streamed live on YouTube & Facebook, attracting around four million views annually. T ...

World Outdoor Championships

Price won five

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

medals at consecutive Championships starting with a bronze medal in the pairs and silver medal in the fours at the 1988 World Outdoor Bowls Championship. Four years later in Ayr she won a fours bronze and at the

1996 World Outdoor Bowls Championship The 1996 Men's World Outdoor Bowls Championship was held at the Lockleys Bowls Club in Adelaide, Australia, from 18 to 31 March 1996. The 1996 Women's World Outdoor Bowls Championship was held at Victoria Park, Leamington Spa, England ...

in Leamington Spa she won another fours bronze medal. the fifth and final medal arrived in Johannesburg in 2000 when she won a pairs bronze with Jean Baker at the

2000 World Outdoor Bowls Championship The 2000 Men's World Outdoor Bowls Championship was held at Marks Park Bowling Club, in Johannesburg, South Africa, from 1 to 15 April 2000. The 2000 Women's World Outdoor Bowls Championship was held at Moama Bowling Club in Moama Moama ( ...

Commonwealth Games

Price won three bronze medals at consecutive

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games is a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations, which consists mostly, but not exclusively, of territories of the former British Empire. The event was first held in 1930 ...

. She gained a bronze medal in the fours at the

1986 Commonwealth Games The 1986 Commonwealth Games were held in Edinburgh, Scotland, between 24 July and 2 August 1986. This was the second Commonwealth Games to be held in Edinburgh. Thirty two of the eligible fifty nine countries (largely African, Asian and Caribbe ...

and bronze medals in the

pairs Concentration is a round game in which all of the cards are laid face down on a surface and two cards are flipped face up over each turn. The object of the game is to turn over pairs of matching cards. Concentration can be played with any number ...

at the

1990 Commonwealth Games The 1990 Commonwealth Games () were held in Auckland, New Zealand from 24 January – 3 February 1990. It was the 14th Commonwealth Games, and part of New Zealand's 1990 sesquicentennial celebrations. Participants competed in ten sports: at ...

and

1994 Commonwealth Games The 1994 Commonwealth Games ( French: ''XVéme Jeux du Commonwealth'') were held in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, between 18 and 28 August 1994. Ten types of sports were featured at the Victoria Games: athletics, aquatics, badminton, box ...

Atlantic Championships

Price won four medals at the

Atlantic Bowls Championships The Atlantic Bowls Championships was a bowls, lawn bowling competition held between national bowls organisations in the Atlantic region. The event was a qualifying event for the World Bowls Championship, World Outdoor Bowls Championships until ...

. In 1995 she won the fours bronze medal in Durban. Two years later in Wales she won double gold in the singles and pairs (with Katherine Hawes). Her fourth and final medal was in 1999 in the fours.

Management

After retiring from international bowls she continued to participate in regional tournaments with her last win coming in the 2023 EIBA Over-60 pairs tournament. She was also the manager of the England women's team for the 2004 World Championships and on the management team for the Commonwealth Games in 2002, 2006 and 2010. She was also a regional selector until she retired in 2020.

Death

Price died on 5 May 2023, at the age of 79.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Price, Mary 1943 births 2023 deaths English female bowls players Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for England Indoor Bowls World Champions Bowls players at the 1986 Commonwealth Games Bowls players at the 1990 Commonwealth Games Bowls players at the 1994 Commonwealth Games Bowls players at the 1998 Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 1986 Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 1990 Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 1994 Commonwealth Games 20th-century English sportswomen Commonwealth Games bronze medallists in lawn bowls