Mavis Mary Steele (1928-1998) was an England 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 ...

Personal life

Mavis was born in Kenton,

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...

on 9 September 1928. She was a data preparation manager by trade.

Bowls career

In 1973 she secured a double silver at the

1973 World Outdoor Bowls Championship The 1973 Women's World Outdoor Bowls Championship was held at the Victoria Bowls Club in Wellington, New Zealand, from 3 to 18 December 1973. Elsie Wilkie won the singles which was held in a round robin format. The pairs was won by Australia whil ...

in Wellington, New Zealand in the singles and the pairs with Phyllis Derrick. Eight years later she her finest moment came when claiming double

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

in the fours with Eileen Fletcher,

Betty Stubbings Betty Stubbings was an England international lawn and indoor bowler. Bowls career Stubbings was an England International from 1978 until 1992. In 1980, she took part in the world championship qualifier at the Whitnash Bowls Club for the 198 ...

Gloria Thomas Gloria Thomas is a former international lawn and indoor bowls competitor for England. Bowls career In the 1960s, Thomas set up a ladies' section for her local bowling club in Helston. Thomas won the National Championships pairs title in 19 ...

and

Irene Molyneux Emily Irene Molyneux (née Drew) (1922-2019) was an international lawn bowls competitor for England. Bowls career In 1981 Molyneux won double gold in the fours with Eileen Fletcher, Mavis Steele, Betty Stubbings and Gloria Thomas and the ...

and the team event (Taylor Trophy), during the

1981 World Outdoor Bowls Championship The 1981 Women's World Outdoor Bowls Championship was held at the Willowdale Bowling Club in Toronto, Canada, from 1 to 15 August 1981. Swaziland replaced Samoa two weeks before the competition started due to the Samoan General Strike Norma Shaw ...

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

. Mavis was twice selected to represent England at the

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 ...

; the first in 1982 in Brisbane where she won a bronze medal in the

triples TripleS (; ; stylized as tripleS) is a South Korean 24-member multinational girl group formed by Modhaus. They aim to be the world's first decentralized idol group, where the members will rotate between the full group, sub-units, and solo activi ...

with Norma Shaw and Betty Stubbings and the second in 1990. She won eight outdoor National titles; the singles in 1961, 1962 and 1969, the pairs in 1964 & 1971, the triples in 1968 and the fours in 1963 & 1969. She played for Sunbury Sports Club outdoors and the Egham club indoors.

Awards

Steele was appointed a

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(MBE) in the

1983 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1983 were appointments by most of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries, and honorary ones to citizens of other countrie ...

for services to women's bowls.UK & Commonwealth list:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Steele, Mavis English female bowls players 1928 births 1998 deaths People from Kenton, London Sportspeople from the London Borough of Harrow Sportspeople from the London Borough of Brent Members of the Order of the British Empire Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for England Bowls players at the 1982 Commonwealth Games Bowls World Champions Medallists at the 1982 Commonwealth Games 20th-century English sportswomen Commonwealth Games bronze medallists in lawn bowls