Taylor Support Shropshire Premier Bowls League
The Salop Leisure Shropshire Premier Bowling League are saddened to hear the passing of one of its life members in Peter Roden.
Peter Roden lost a two month battle with cancer – which had been kept very private – just before noon yesterday (Tuesday 9th March) in hospital, aged 63.
But Peter, widely known as Harkin due to his passion for Shrewsbury Town Football Club, boasts a bowls CV that stretches back to the 1980s, being part of the brilliant Donnington Wood team that did the treble of the Mid Shropshire League, Harris Cup and County Cup in 1987.
He was a key founding father of the of our League in 1994, Peter served as our competition secretary for three years from 2005, a post he later went on to fill at Mid Shropshire and county association levels, before serving Shropshire as a senior selector. He was also a selector when the Junior County won the County Championship in 2006, with a number of those bowlers now playing in our league.
Having bowled for two seasons at Wrockwardine Wood, Peter eventually signed for Bowring with his son Rob, with the ultimate goal of getting the Wellington club into the Premier League.
He ruffled a few feathers but delivered the dream in 2008 when Bowring won the Mid Shropshire League’s first division and then beat his old club Donnington Wood in the Premier play-off final.
Another hugely proud moment was seeing his son crowned County Merit champion in 2015 at Allscott, followed a year later by Bowring winning the County Cup at Prees.
In 2018 he moved to bowl closer to home at Trench with wife Pauline, but he remained always happy to give his opinion from his vast knowledge of the sport he held so close to his heart.
The league would like to send its condolences and thoughts to his family, he will be sadly missed.
This post has published at the instigation of Peter’s family, who kindly request that everyone respects their privacy during these difficult days.
Below is the speech that was given when he received his life membership at Donnington Wood at the 25th Anniversary Competition in 2019.
Pete helped get the league off the ground and up and running after they both had the idea of a County league that had failed a few years earlier. He helped formed a “Document for Change” with Andy and Malcolm to be given out to clubs and leagues and this helped break down the barriers that some leagues had regarding change. He was given a donation from the league for all of the hard work and travelling he had done to spread the idea around the county. He became our first Competition Secretary in 2005 when the post was first created, for three seasons. He, like Andy and Ian, started at Donnington Wood in the league, but moved to Wrockwardine Wood for two seasons in 1996 and 1997. However he had two poor seasons there, so moved back to Donnington, where he remained till 2003, winning two Alan Mayhew Trophies with them. He also was best winner in the 2001 Pool B final to help them win that trophy. He moved to Bowring with his son Rob and helped try to get them in the league. But their path was blocked by St Georges’ second team, and he helped the club make the brave decision of replacing the ladies they had in their team with youth, and it paid off as they won the 2008 Mid Shropshire League. They comfortably beat his former club Donnington Wood in the final, and played a part in the team every season until 2018, when he moved closer to home and played at Trench.