Paul, 52, from North Belfast, has recently purchased his grandchildren junior bowls, a foam mat ramp and target bowls set to enable them to enjoy the sport he has played since a teenager.
They are the fourth generation of the Donnelly family to take to the green. In fact, the generation thing seems to be something that runs in his family.
Paul’s father, Brendan, was a coal merchant and was the third generation of his family to continue in the business, needless to say that Paul from the age of seven developed a very strong interest in the coal and fuel trade and moved on to become the fourth generation to continue on within the business.
Back to bowls and Paul explained: “My mother (Anne) and father (Brendan) both took an interest in bowls around 1981/82 and within a few weeks of them joining an indoor short mat club called St. Patrick’s who played out of Trinity Street Community Centre in Belfast Central Zone, I went along with them and developed a strong interest in the sport.”
Paul was at that time a teenager so really and truly has played bowls most of his life.
He continued: “Although I never took the sport seriously, whilst I extremely enjoyed the bowls and the socialising within the circles of the sport, I used it as a stress release, somewhere to go relax and enjoy a little bit of fun.
“It was later on really in my life before I started to take the sport seriously, being selected and playing on both our zone teams in different years, Central Zone was where my heart lay, and then I also played in the City of Belfast (North Belfast) Zone.
“I played and won many zone, league, club and open short mat competitions over the years and generated many friends locally and abroad.
“I relished our club league team and the performance, winning many a league title and many, many cup finals, not forgetting a number of the Bowls International Hotshot Club badges and certificates.
“Around 2001-2002, I became an umpire for outdoors and stadium bowling and have officiated at many local and international events, including the Atlantic Rim Games when they were held in Ward Park Bangor County Down.
“My youngest daughter Joanna (19) took an interest in bowls when she was seven-eight-years-old, and my son Sean-Paul, also at an early age, but his interest dwindled away when he wasn’t getting selected to play in league games. At the age of 14, he took an interest again in outdoors playing for two seasons, but then he started dating girls so that was him away again for a few years. Four years ago, he had asked about re-joining Cliftonville and today he is still playing and is also playing at the Jim Baker Stadium. Sean-Paul won his first club title last year outdoor.
“Joanna’s claim to fame was beating me in the final of a club bowls singles competition at the age of nine!”
When Paul’s parents started playing in the 1980s, Paul says his favourite players were David Bryant, Andy Thompson and Greg Harlow.
Joanna’s bowls hero from a young age was Jim Baker and her dad even got Jim to give her his autograph 10 years ago which she was over the moon with, while Sean-Paul’s is Nicky Brett.
Continued Paul: “We all play together outdoor for Cliftonville who play in the Northern Ireland Private Greens League and indoors, we are all members at the Jim Baker Stadium at Parkgate County Antrim.
“This season outdoors within the NIPGL, we played a triples format within the league, so for the first time my grandson Eoin, son Sean-Paul and myself played all season together in our mid-week league, whilst Joanna was shunted around from rink to rink within the same team, so we had the four of us all playing together within the team each week.
“At the moment, whilst we are all playing league bowls together, we still haven’t ventured to playing in competitions together. I think that this will come very soon, and to me, win or lose, it will be a special occasion when that happens.
“My son’s level of knowledge and playing ability has jumped 300 per cent in the past year and Joanna just seems to be a natural and I will be surprised if she doesn’t make onto the ladies’ Under 25 international team.
“My grandson Eoin took an interest in bowls about three years ago at the age of eight.
“At such a young age at the start of and end of a season, it is pretty difficult for a child to deliver bowls to full heads outdoor, but this year now he is 11, he had a tremendous season.”
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Our full feature with the Donnelly family can be found in the December 2021 issue of Bowls International.
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We would love to hear about your family connections to feature in a future issue of Bowls International. Please drop an email to editor@bowlsinternational.com and we’ll be in touch!